Who's That Baby? How to Play the Guess the Baby Photo Game (Rules, Score Sheet, 8 Twists)

There is a moment at every good baby shower when the room goes quiet, twenty people squint at a wall of black-and-white photos, and someone whispers: "That has to be Uncle Mark. Look at the ears." That is the guess the baby photo game, and it is the one shower game nobody ever refuses to play.

It costs nothing, it works for a crowd of eight or eighty, and it hands the grandparents a starring role for once. Here is how to run it so it is fair, fast and funny, plus eight twists to make it your own.

What the guess the baby photo game is

Every guest brings a photo of themselves as a baby. You number the photos, put them on a board, and everyone tries to match each baby to the grown-up in the room. Most correct matches wins.

If you searched "guess the baby" and were looking for the other game, the one where everyone guesses the birth date, weight and gender of the baby on the way, we have that covered too: see our baby guessing game. The two go together beautifully, and we will get to that at the end.

What you need

• One baby photo per guest, ideally under age two. Prints work best, but a phone photo printed at the pharmacy is fine.
• A board or a wall with painter's tape, string and mini pegs, or a corkboard.
• Numbered stickers or a marker for the photos.
• A score sheet per guest and pens (copy ours below).
• An answer key that only the host sees.
• A small prize for the winner. Something silly beats something expensive.

How to play, step by step

1. Ask for photos two weeks ahead. Put it in the invitation: "Bring or send a baby photo of yourself. Yes, you." Send a reminder five days before. Someone will still forget, so keep a phone handy to snap the family album on the day.
2. Number the photos and mount them. Shuffle them first so couples and siblings are not side by side. Write the number on a sticker, never on the photo itself.
3. Hand out score sheets as guests arrive. Give people the whole first hour to wander past the board with a drink. Do not make it a sit-down quiz.
4. Call time. Collect the sheets, or have guests swap and mark each other's.
5. Reveal one by one. Read the number, pause, then say the name. Let the room react before you move on. The reveal is the whole game.

The score sheet (copy this)

#	Who is this baby?	Correct?
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

Add as many rows as you have photos. Most groups land between twelve and twenty. Above twenty-five the game drags, so if you have a big crowd, run it in two rounds or use the team twist below.

Scoring that keeps it fair

• One point per correct match. Simple beats clever.
• Your own photo does not count. Everyone knows their own baby face. Take that row out of the scoring, or nobody minds if you give it as a free point to all.
• Tiebreaker: the hardest photo. Before the reveal, ask everyone to write down which number they found hardest. If two people tie on points, whoever got the most-missed photo right wins.
• Couples and siblings may not whisper. Enforce this with theatrical seriousness.

8 twists to make it yours

1. Grandparents' edition. Ask the grandparents-to-be to bring a baby photo of the mom- or dad-to-be, and their own. Three generations on one board, and Grandma finally gets to open the old albums for an audience.
2. Then and now. Ask for a baby photo and a current photo, mount them in two columns, and let guests draw lines between them. Faster to score, and the side-by-side comparisons are the funniest part.
3. Guess the age too. Under each photo, guests also guess how old the baby was. One bonus point if you are within six months. It is much harder than it looks.
4. Which parent will the baby look like? Put the parents-to-be's baby photos in the middle of the board and let everyone vote: mom's nose, dad's chin. Keep the ballots. You will want them in a year.
5. Celebrity mix. Slip four celebrity baby photos in among the guests. Anyone who "recognizes" Aunt Sue in a famous singer's baby picture buys the next round of cupcakes.
6. Team play. With more than twenty-five guests, split into tables. Each table hands in one sheet. Loud arguments about ears are encouraged.
7. The long-distance round. Guests who cannot be there send their photo anyway. Number them the same, share the board as one photo in the family chat, and have remote guests send their guesses before the reveal. Our guide to a family baby guessing game has more on keeping faraway family in the loop.
8. The keepsake finish. Leave slot number zero empty on the board. After the birth, the parents fill it with the newborn's first photo and send everyone the picture. The board becomes the first page of the baby book.

Hosting tips from a hundred showers

• Timebox it. Ten minutes for the reveal, tops. Read fast, pause only for the big laughs.
• Photograph the board before anyone takes their picture back. Parents love this picture later.
• Return the photos. They are originals, and someone's grandmother wants hers back.
• Do not print the answer key on the back of the score sheet. Yes, this has happened.
• Prize ideas: a "Baby Face Detective" badge, the first cuddle after the parents, or a framed print of the board.

Looking for more games to fill the afternoon? Our list of baby shower games everyone actually loves pairs well with this one.

The other guess the baby game (play both)

The photo game is over in an afternoon. The prediction game runs until the baby arrives. While everyone is standing at the photo board, hand them one more question: when will the baby come, how much will they weigh, boy or girl? Collect those guesses in a free online baby pool, post the link in the shower group, and the fun keeps going long after the last cupcake.

Then, when the baby is born, you reveal two winners at once: the guest who knew every baby face, and the guest who called the birth date. Two prizes, one very happy family chat.