Straight Face! Guide: How to Win a Try Not To Laugh Game

Straight Face! is a try not to laugh game you play with your actual face. Your camera puts your head on a paper puppet, and everything in the room tries to make you crack. This guide covers how the giggle meter works, how to read the watcher and how to set up your camera.

How a post works

Every gag raises the giggle meter. If it fills, you burst out laughing and the post is over. Holding it in does not make the meter go down. The only way to let it out is to smile.

The catch is that you may only smile while nobody is looking. When the watcher is facing you, smiling fills a red glow around the screen. Fill it and you earn a strike. Three strikes and you are dismissed.

Reading the watcher

The watcher always gives a warning. You hear two boot heels, the card starts to flip, and the banner turns yellow. You have about a second on the early posts and a good deal less later on.

• The band stops dead when you are being watched. If the music is playing, you are safe.
• From the second post, some turns are fake. The card twitches and goes back.
• Later posts time their best gags for the moment the watcher turns. Assume the worst joke arrives at the worst time.

Let it out early

The most common mistake is waiting until the meter is nearly full. A long smile in a safe window is worth far more than a panicked one. Open your mouth and really laugh, and the meter falls twice as fast. Just stop before they turn.

Orders

Cards appear telling you to nod, shake your head, look sad, raise your eyebrows, close your eyes or open your mouth. You have a few seconds. Missing one is a strike, and getting one right calms a suspicious watcher. Orders are also a trap: pulling faces on purpose is exactly what makes people start laughing.

Camera tips

• Face a window or a lamp. A bright light behind you makes your face hard to read.
• Keep your whole face in the picture. If it leaves, the ceremony pauses and waits for you.
• Make your serious face honestly during setup. The game learns your resting face, so a naturally smiley person is not punished.
• Everything happens on your device. Nothing is uploaded, and a blooper is only saved if you save it.

Playing without a camera

Hold the Grin button, the screen or Space to smile, and let go when the watcher turns. Tap the order card or press Up to obey. It is the same game, though your own face can no longer betray you.

The two-face duel

Two people squeeze into one webcam, and the game throws everything at both of them. Smile for half a second and you lose the round. Best of three. Do not look at each other.

Modes

The Daily Deadpan is the same 60 seconds for everyone that day, with a code to challenge a friend. The Long Ceremony never ends and gets worse the longer it runs. Stars unlock costumes that sit on your real face, including a handlebar moustache and a very small hat.