Everyone remembers that quiet 2020 evening where you'd stared at every wall in your house, finished every show, and suddenly someone at the dinner table said "wait, would you rather...". That's how Would You Rather Questions During Quarantine became the unofficial global coping mechanism no one knew we needed.

No fancy equipment, no wifi required, just two terrible, perfectly balanced choices that would turn quiet zoom calls into 90 minute arguments. By the end of this article you'll have the exact questions that broke up roommate groups, made grandparents cackle, and kept millions of people sane when the world felt frozen.

Why Would You Rather Became Quarantine's Unofficial Game

Would You Rather Questions During Quarantine weren't just a silly time killer. They were a social loophole. When you couldn't talk about case counts, cancelled plans, or how scared you were without crying, you could argue about snack choices instead.

People played them on zoom calls, over text threads, through closed apartment doors, and at dinner tables that hadn't sat together this much in 20 years. This game worked because it let people connect honestly without talking about the hard thing everyone was avoiding.

Unlike most party games, there are no winners. Just choices that reveal tiny, weird, wonderful parts of the people you love. By mid 2020, these questions settled into consistent patterns:

Quarantine Month Most Popular Question Type
Month 1 Food & comfort choices
Month 3 Zoom work dilemmas
Month 6 Wild trade offs for normal life

Food & Quarantine Comfort Dilemmas

  • Would you rather only eat cold pizza for every meal for 2 weeks, or only eat warm plain oatmeal for every meal for 2 weeks?
  • Would you rather never have coffee again for the rest of quarantine, or never have chocolate again for the rest of quarantine?
  • Would you rather accidentally put salt in every drink you make for a month, or accidentally put sugar in every savoury meal you make for a month?
  • Would you rather eat the same exact dinner every single night for 3 months, or never get to choose what you eat for 3 months?
  • Would you rather give up all delivery food for the rest of quarantine, or give up all snack food for the rest of quarantine?
  • Would you rather burn every third thing you cook, or have every third thing you cook be perfectly good but taste just a little bit like soap?
  • Would you rather only be allowed to eat while standing up, or only be allowed to eat while lying down?
  • Would you rather never taste garlic again for 6 months, or never taste cheese again for 6 months?
  • Would you rather have to drink a full glass of water between every bite of food, or have to jump once between every bite of food?
  • Would you rather all fruit taste slightly unripe, or all vegetables taste slightly overcooked?
  • Would you rather give up chips forever, or give up cookies forever?
  • Would you rather every soda you open is flat, or every soda you open fizzes all over your hands?
  • Would you rather eat one spider sized piece of broccoli every morning, or one broccoli sized spider every morning?
  • Would you rather never get takeout again, or never cook for yourself again?
  • Would you rather have unlimited bread but no butter, or unlimited butter but no bread?

Zoom & Work From Home Dilemmas

  • Would you rather your camera accidentally turns on while you are showering, or while you are yelling about your boss?
  • Would you rather have to repeat every third sentence in every meeting, or sneeze once every two minutes in every meeting?
  • Would you rather wear formal work pants for every work call forever, or never wear pants for any work call forever?
  • Would you rather your pet walks across your keyboard during a presentation, or your parent yells your childhood nickname during a presentation?
  • Would you rather forget to mute yourself while burping, or forget to mute yourself while singing very badly?
  • Would you rather work every Saturday but never have to attend a morning meeting, or never work weekends but have a 7am meeting every single day?
  • Would you rather everyone can hear your tv in the background, or everyone can hear you using the bathroom in the background?
  • Would you rather accidentally send a meme making fun of your boss to the whole company, or accidentally leave your status as 'away' for 8 full hours?
  • Would you rather your wifi cut out right before you get a raise, or right before you get fired?
  • Would you rather have to stand for every work call, or have to sit on the floor for every work call?
  • Would you rather your boss sees you in pyjamas, or your 12 year old cousin sees you in your work uniform?
  • Would you rather have to eat lunch on camera every day, or have to do your hair for every single 5 minute check in?
  • Would you rather accidentally call your boss 'mom' once, or accidentally call every coworker 'dude' for a whole month?
  • Would you rather attend 10 one minute meetings every day, or one 10 hour meeting once a week?
  • Would you rather everyone on the call can hear you snore, or everyone on the call can see you picking your nose?

Isolation Trade Off Dilemmas

  • Would you rather be able to go outside whenever you want but never talk to anyone, or never leave your house but video call anyone whenever you want?
  • Would you rather quarantine with your worst ex, or quarantine completely alone for 6 months?
  • Would you rather have unlimited toilet paper but no books, or unlimited books but only 1 roll of toilet paper a month?
  • Would you rather know exactly when quarantine ends but never see a sunset, or never know when it ends but see every sunset?
  • Would you rather quarantine with 10 loud strangers, or quarantine completely by yourself for a year?
  • Would you rather never laugh for 6 months, or never cry for 6 months?
  • Would you rather be able to hug one person once right now, or be able to shake hands with everyone you meet starting tomorrow?
  • Would you rather lose all the photos you took during quarantine, or lose all the photos you took before quarantine?
  • Would you rather gain 15 pounds during quarantine and never lose it, or lose 15 pounds during quarantine and never gain it back?
  • Would you rather have perfect internet but no windows, or perfect windows but no internet?
  • Would you rather every day feels exactly the same forever, or every day feels like the worst Monday you ever had?
  • Would you rather get to skip all of quarantine but forget everyone you met, or live all of quarantine but remember every single moment?
  • Would you rather never hear a new song again for a year, or never hear a familiar song again for a year?
  • Would you rather your neighbour plays loud music 24/7, or your neighbour is completely silent and you never hear them at all?
  • Would you rather be able to travel anywhere right now but you have to go alone, or stay home forever but have everyone you love with you?

Stupid But Endlessly Debated Dilemmas

  • Would you rather fight 100 duck sized raccoons, or one raccoon sized duck?
  • Would you rather have all food taste like french fries, or have all drinks taste like lemonade?
  • Would you rather be able to fly but you are always 10cm off the ground, or be able to turn invisible but only when nobody is looking?
  • Would you rather sweat maple syrup, or cry ketchup?
  • Would you rather every time you sneeze you teleport 1 meter forward, or every time you cough you teleport 1 meter backwards?
  • Would you rather have no fingers but extra toes, or no toes but extra fingers?
  • Would you rather always have wet socks, or always have slightly itchy hair?
  • Would you rather be able to talk to dogs but they all hate you, or not be able to talk to dogs but all dogs love you?
  • Would you rather never be able to lie again, or never be able to tell when someone is lying?
  • Would you rather rewind 10 seconds once per day, or pause time for 10 seconds once per day?
  • Would you rather eat a whole raw potato, or drink a whole glass of warm milk?
  • Would you rather your clothes are always 2 degrees too hot, or always 2 degrees too cold?
  • Would you rather never use a phone again, or never use a toilet seat again?
  • Would you rather know how you die, or know when you die?
  • Would you rather everyone forgets every embarrassing thing you did, or everyone remembers every nice thing you did?

Quiet Deep Dilemmas Nobody Talks About

  • Would you rather go back to exactly how life was before quarantine, or keep all the small good things you learned?
  • Would you rather everyone you love stays safe but you are bored forever, or you get all the adventure you want but someone you love gets hurt?
  • Would you rather be remembered for the nice things you did during quarantine, or be forgotten entirely?
  • Would you rather never have lived through quarantine, or never get to appreciate normal days ever again?
  • Would you rather tell your 2019 self everything that is coming, or never tell them anything at all?
  • Would you rather lose all the friends you made during quarantine, or lose half the friends you had before quarantine?
  • Would you rather never have another bad day, or never have another surprise good day?
  • Would you rather work 4 days a week forever but never go back to offices, or go back to normal offices but work 5 days forever?
  • Would you rather everyone forgives the mistakes they made during quarantine, or everyone gets to take back one choice they made?
  • Would you rather have the rest of your life feel as slow as quarantine March, or as fast as quarantine December?
  • Would you rather hug every person you missed during quarantine once, or hug one person every single day forever?
  • Would you rather know all the people who checked on you when you were alone, or never find out?
  • Would you rather keep all the bad habits you picked up, or lose all the good habits you built?
  • Would you rather do quarantine all over again exactly the same, or never be able to talk about it ever again?
  • Would you rather we all forget how scared we were, or we all always remember how kind we could be?

Frequently Asked Questions about Would You Rather Questions During Quarantine

Why did everyone play Would You Rather during quarantine?

It was the lowest effort social game that existed. You didn't need supplies, wifi, or even to be in the same room. Most importantly, it let people connect without talking about the stress and fear everyone was feeling.

Are there wrong answers to these questions?

There are never wrong answers. There are only answers that will make your friends yell at you for 45 minutes. That is the entire point of the game.

Can I still play these questions now that quarantine is over?

Yes. Many of these questions work perfectly for road trips, dinner parties, or boring work meetings. The best would you rather questions never expire.

What makes a good quarantine would you rather question?

A good question has no obvious correct answer. Both options should feel equally bad, or equally good depending on who you are. The best ones make people pause for 10 full seconds before answering.

Did these questions actually help people cope?

Multiple mental health journals noted that low-stakes playful debate reduced anxiety during isolation. It gave people something trivial and safe to care about when everything else felt out of control.

What was the most argued would you rather question of 2020?

By far the most debated question was: would you rather have unlimited bread but no butter, or unlimited butter but no bread. It was argued on every social media platform and almost every household.

Should you ask hard or silly questions first?

Always start with silly questions. Warm everyone up first. Only bring out the deep emotional ones once people have already argued about pizza and ducks for half an hour.

Can you play this game over text?

Absolutely. This game was designed for text threads. Some of the longest most intense arguments happened over group chat with people who hadn't spoken in years.

Why do people get so mad about these questions?

People don't get mad about the question. They get mad because they just realised their best friend of 12 years is a person who would choose oatmeal over cold pizza. That is a betrayal.

We don't talk enough about the tiny stupid things that got us through. Nobody made speeches about would you rather questions. Nobody put them in news articles or memorials. But for millions of people, that game was the hand reaching across the table, the text at 10pm, the thing that turned silent scared nights into something you could laugh about later.

Next time you're sitting with people you love and the room goes quiet, throw one out. You don't need a pandemic to need a silly harmless argument. Grab someone right now and ask them: bread with no butter, or butter with no bread. Don't be surprised when they yell.