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