Heads Up!

Ellen DeGeneres's smartphone-era Charades — hold a phone to your forehead, guess the word as your friends shout clues.

🌤both

What is Heads Up!?

Heads Up! is a mobile-app party game launched in 2013 by Warner Bros. and popularised by Ellen DeGeneres. One player holds a phone displaying a word to their forehead (screen facing outward); their friends give clues while the player guesses. Tilt down to advance, tilt up for a skip. The app records the whole round on the front camera for hilarious replay. Effectively a smartphone-era Charades.

Quick facts

Category

Party Games

Type

Team sport

Players

3–20

Where played

both

Country of origin

🇺🇸 United States

Estimated origin

2013, Ellen DeGeneres show / Warner Bros mobile app — reinvented for smartphones

Olympic

No

Popularity

global

Sources & provenance

Last verified 2026-08-24.verified