72 This or That Pairs That Are Not the Same Twenty

Good this or that questions do one thing: they split the room. Not because one answer is obviously better, but because both options are genuinely tempting and the debate that follows is the whole point. This list skips coffee versus tea, dogs versus cats, and every other pair that has been on every list since 2018. What you get instead: six rounds of twelve fresh pairs, printable card sheets for each, and a game that actually goes somewhere.

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How to Play

Read each pair aloud and have every player call out their choice at the same time. No thinking out loud beforehand, no hedging. Once the room splits, anyone who wants to can defend their side in thirty seconds. Work through one round before moving to the next. The rounds escalate in difficulty and depth, so play them in order. Six rounds of twelve pairs gives you roughly an hour of conversation before the game naturally closes.

Round One: Pairs Nobody Uses

These are the pairs that should have been on every list but never made it, which means no one has a rehearsed answer and the room genuinely splits.

1. Attic or basement?
2. First flight of the day or last flight of the day?
3. New sponge or worn-in sponge?
4. Overhead lighting or lamps only?
5. Knowing the spoiler or watching cold?
6. Folding laundry while it is warm or leaving it in the basket?
7. A quiet table at the back or a seat at the bar?
8. Arriving first or arriving when the party is already going?
9. Fan on while you sleep or window open?
10. Finishing a bad book or putting it down unfinished?
11. Grocery delivery or shopping yourself?
12. Waking up before your alarm or sleeping to the last second?

Round Two: Household Divides

Every home has its silent wars, and these pairs surface them in ninety seconds flat.

1. Dishes left to air dry or towel dried immediately?
2. Toilet paper over or under?
3. Shoes off at the door or shoes on inside?
4. Shower in the morning or shower at night?
5. Thermostat set high or extra blankets?
6. All the lights on or only the room you are in?
7. Fridge organised by category or first-in-first-out stacking?
8. Cleaning as you cook or cleaning everything at the end?
9. Tv on in the background or silence while working?
10. Tucking the duvet in at the sides or leaving it loose?
11. Buying a replacement before the last one runs out or waiting until it is gone?
12. Keeping boxes for electronics or recycling them immediately?

Round Three: Unexpected Categories

These pairs pull from corners nobody expects, which is exactly why the conversations last longer than the round does.

1. The smell of petrol or the smell of old books?
2. A map on paper or directions in your ear?
3. Knowing every word of a song or knowing the feeling but never the lyrics?
4. One long trip per year or three short ones?
5. Old keys that open nothing or postcards from places you have not been?
6. Getting the window seat on a train or the aisle seat on a plane?
7. Remembering your dreams or clean-slate sleep?
8. A long queue that moves steadily or a short queue that keeps stopping?
9. Buying one excellent thing or three decent things for the same price?
10. Handwriting that is small and neat or big and fast?
11. Knowing the exact time always or losing track of it on purpose?
12. A gift that is wrapped beautifully or delivered in a tote bag?

Round Four: Modern Life

This round is where phones, notifications, and the general texture of living right now become fair game.

1. Read receipts on or read receipts off?
2. Group chat or individual messages?
3. Streaming with subtitles always or subtitles only when needed?
4. Saving everything to the cloud or keeping a physical backup?
5. Curated feed or chronological chaos?
6. Answering calls from unknown numbers or letting everything go to voicemail?
7. One account for everything or separate emails for different parts of life?
8. Ordering at a kiosk or ordering from a person?
9. Unsubscribing immediately or deleting without opening?
10. Airplane mode on holiday or staying half-connected?
11. A playlist someone else built or building your own for every occasion?
12. A smart speaker in every room or none at all?

Round Five: The Surprising Round

These pairs sound easy until someone in the room picks the answer nobody expected, and then the real conversation starts.

1. Knowing exactly how a trick is done or keeping the magic?
2. Being famous for fifteen minutes or anonymously influential for life?
3. A skill you learn fast and plateau at or one that takes years but keeps growing?
4. Hearing the honest opinion or the kind one?
5. A world where everyone can read minds or a world where no one can lie?
6. Remembering every face you have ever seen or every conversation you have ever had?
7. Choosing your own name or keeping the one you were given?
8. A shorter life that feels full or a longer one that sometimes drags?
9. The ability to pause time or to rewind it once?
10. Knowing what people genuinely think of you or staying happily unaware?
11. Being the person who always knows the answer or the one who always knows the right question?
12. A life with no regrets because nothing went wrong or one with regrets because you took every risk?

Round Six: The Closing Round

The final round lands somewhere between reflective and absurd, which is exactly the right note to end on.

1. The last slice of pizza or the first slice from a fresh one?
2. Being overdressed for every occasion or always slightly underdressed?
3. A surprise party thrown for you or no party at all?
4. Winning an argument you were wrong about or losing one you were right about?
5. The morning after a great night or the night itself?
6. Being the person who always brings the snacks or the person who always brings the playlist?
7. Leaving a party before it peaks or staying until the very end?
8. The first day of a holiday or the last night before you go home?
9. Telling a story everyone has heard before or hearing one for the first time?
10. A standing ovation from strangers or a quiet nod from someone whose opinion you respect?
11. Being remembered as funny or being remembered as kind?
12. One more round or ending here while it is still good?

How to Keep It Moving and When to Stop

The one rule that saves every game: keep the reveal simultaneous. If players wait to see which way the room leans before they commit, the split collapses and so does the fun. Call a count of three, everyone calls their answer at once, and the debate opens from there.

Set a soft timer of ninety seconds per pair during the debate phase. When someone is deep in an argument about overhead lighting, they will keep going until the party ends. The timer is not a buzzer, it is a permission slip to move on without anyone feeling cut off. For a larger group where you need the whole room engaged, have each side pick one spokesperson to make the case rather than everyone talking at once.

Skip any pair that lands flat. Not every question works for every group, and a blank silence is not a sign to push harder, it is a sign to read the next card. The beauty of having seventy-two pairs is that you have room to drop six and still run a complete game.

Know when to close. The Closing Round exists for a reason: it gives the game a real ending rather than a slow fade. When you finish pair twelve of Round Six, stop. Resist the urge to invent more on the spot. A game that ends while the room is still laughing is the one people ask to play again. If your group wants more good this or that questions for a different occasion, the full 120-question bank here runs longer without repeating a single pair from this list.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many players do you need for This or That?

The game works with as few as two people and as many as a full room. The split is more entertaining with six or more players because the sides end up genuinely divided, but smaller groups get more debate time per person, which is its own kind of fun.

Do you need the cards to play, or can you just read from a screen?

Reading from a screen works fine. The printable cards are for groups who want something physical to pass around, or for hosts who want to prepare in advance and not manage a phone during the game. Print them on cardstock, run them through a laminator if you plan to reuse them, and cut along the dashed lines.

How long does one full game take?

Six rounds of twelve pairs, with a short debate after each, runs about fifty to seventy minutes. Drop the debate phase and play fast-call only and you can finish all seventy-two pairs in under thirty minutes.

Is this suitable for all ages?

Every pair in this list is PG-13 and works for a mixed adult crowd. Rounds One through Three are comfortable for older kids and teens too. Round Five and Six touch on deeper hypothetical questions that land better with adults who are willing to reflect a little.

What if a pair gets a unanimous answer and the room does not split?

Move on. A unanimous answer is interesting information but it kills the debate. Read the next card. With seventy-two pairs, there is no shortage of ones that will divide the group.

Can this be used as an icebreaker at a work event or baby shower?

Rounds One and Two work well as low-stakes icebreakers at any kind of gathering. For a baby shower or work event, stick to those rounds and skip Five and Six, which run deeper and work better when the group already knows each other a little.