What Is Pinoy Henyo?

Pinoy Henyo is a word-guessing game popularised by a noontime television show Eat Bulaga! It is a game of logical thinking, common sense, visualisation, wit in words-association, strategies and stock knowledge.

Strategies To Win The Game

Think logically and coherently. Guessing randomly is not a good strategy. Enumerate the words in specific order or relation. For example, it the word is part of a face, start guessing from forehead down to the chin. Look at the face of your team mate.
Have common sense. If a word does not fit a specific category, it should fall somewhere else. If a thing or a body part is not quite correct because you guessed in Tagalog, immediately translate the word in English. No need to ask if it was in English or Tagalog.
Visualise. If an item can be found in a living room, visualise what you can see in your living room starting from the door, then walk clockwise; then to the middle. If it is a place, have a visual recall of the geographical locations of the countries.
Use word association and stick to it. When responding to a category, give a hint that your team-player is getting near. For example, if a person is related to another person, you can respond yes-puede to give your teammate a hint that you are getting close.
Develop strategies. Devise techniques that lead your teammate to the correct word. Avoid responses that causes confusion. For example, you can respond a long hindeeeeeee to give a hint that your teammate is guessing all-wrong or he misunderstood a category.
Boost your stock knowledge. It is very helpful if you have stock knowledge of words that are homogenous, connected, related or falling under the same classes or categories. Before playing the game, you and your teammates write and list together words that are related to specific categories.
Categorise horizontally then vertically. Zero in or narrow down in giving clues or hints. Enumerate the categories, first laterally; then once you hit the correct category; drill down to the most specific category. If a word fits two categories or more, stick to the major or most common one. Ignore the exceptions. For example, a burger can fall both under the type snack food or fast food. Which type do you associate burger more?
Answer quickly but clearly. Be quick in responding and giving clues. Remember that the game is timed but make sure that you utter the words clearly; otherwise, the technical committee might not consider your answers.
Be prepared. Practice before playing the game. A good practice is listing down words under each category. Do this together with your teammate. Though body language is not allowed, use the expression of your voice to communicate with your team player.

Voice and Expression Codes

Use varying vocal tones and facial expressions to communicate your intention to your game partner. You may reply with conviction, or with uncertainty. Replying with conviction tells your partner that he is on the right track. Replying without conviction means you are not familiar with the word. Learn how to read your partner's face and to listen to your partner's tone of voice. Avoid however facial expressions that are too obvious, such as pointing your lips, that may disqualify you from continuing the game.

Response Codes

There are only three valid responses: oo, hindi, puede. You may, however, combine these words to mean something else.

Multiple OO — means you're on the right track; keep on enumerating related words; and don't jump to other words outside the category you agreed to.
Multiple HINDI — means that you're entirely wrong and that you have to jump to the next category.
Multiple PUEDEs — means that you can get there but not quite. The word may be a cross-category word; word that falls under multiple categories.
OO PUEDE — means that your guess or category is partly correct.
HINDI PUEDE — means that your guess or category is not entirely wrong but might as well jump to the next category.
Silent multiple OO — tells your partner to keep on enumerating the possible words.
Disgusting multiple HINDI — this tells your partner that you are not familiar with the word, so might as well PASS.

Briefly...

Pinoy Henyo started some time in 2006 as a segment of this noontime show Eat Bulaga! With the help of hints, a player guesses a word that's on the forehead of the other player. The player must be able to guess exactly the word in two or three minutes. The team, which is in pair, that guesses words more than their opponent in the shortest time wins the game.

The game has become so popular that people started playing them at homes, parties, and even in corporate team buildings. There is even an online app that you can download via iTunes and Google Play.

Pinoy is a colloquial word for Filipino. Henyo means genius.

When Eat Bulaga! moved to TV5, the TVJ Productions rebranded Pinoy Henyo as Gimme5.

From Eat... Bulaga! to E.A.T. then back to Eat... Bulaga!

Eat Bulaga! is a variety TV program currently being produced by TVJ productions. It airs Mondays through Saturdays at noon over TV5. Pinoy Henyo was rebranded with a new name of the game — Gimme 5. This noontime show is hosted by three pillars of Philippine showbiz: Vic Sotto, Joey de Leon, and Tito Sotto. First aired in 1979 through RPN-9, Eat Bulaga is the longest TV show in the Philippines.

Eat Bulaga used to air over GMA Network, starting in 1995, as an independent production of Tape Inc owned by the Romeo Jalosjos Sr and Antonio Tuviera. However, in March 2023, Tuviera resigned as CEO of Tape Inc. The Jalosjos' took over its management and decided to rebrand the show with a new set of hosts. For four days starting on May 31 2024, Tape Inc suspended production of Eat Bulaga. Consequently, the team of TVJ (Tito, Vic and Joey), together with the other hosts, cut their ties with the company. A legal dispute followed as to who owns the rights to the name "Eat Bulaga."

Eat Bulaga! continued to air with a new set of hosts over GMA Network under Tape's Jalosjos managment.

Meanwhile, in July 2024, the team of TVJ started airing over TV5 a new noontime show entitled E.A.T. as a joint venture production of TV5 and TVJ Productions. On December 4, 2023, the law favoured TVJ as the rightful copyright owner of the trade name "Eat Bulaga!" As a consequence, the noontime show started airing with its original name Eat Bulaga!

Similar Game

In the movie Inglourious Basterds (2009) starring Brad Pitt, there was a scene where German Nazis played a name game called Who Am I? In that scene, each player wrote a name on a card and passed it to the next person. Then, they sticked the card on their forehead. Each player then guessed the name on his forehead by asking questions to the other players.

Here's a clip from that movie.

How To Play Pinoy Henyo

Eat Bulaga! Original Version

In playing Pinoy Henyo, the word to guess is not limited to a name of a person. It can be a place, food, part of a body, animal, or a thing. Here are the mechanics on how to play Pinoy Henyo as played in Eat Bulaga!

Three teams play. Each team has 2 members. One is called a guesser (taga-hula) — the one who guesses the word and asks hints. The other is the responder (taga-sagot) — the one who responds to the given hints. The teams play one at a time.
Players are seated facing each other. Hands are tied because no hand gesture is allowed, and no looking around.
The word that the player should guess is flashed on a digital board, which is above the head of the other player. The words are predetermined and prepared by the organizers of Eat Bulaga!
The word should be under any of these categories: people, places, animals, food, things. The word may be a single or a compound word; but not a phrase. It may be in Filipino or English.
In two minutes, the guesser must be able to guess the correct and exact word or words.
To guess the word, the guesser asks his fellow player questions that can give clues to the word. The question should only be answerable by yes or no or may be. In Filipino, that is oo, hindi, puede.
Consequently, the other player (responder) can only answer yes or no or may be. If he or she answers other than yes, no, or may be, the team is given a 3-second deduction from its allotted time.
The game is timed. Whichever team guesses the word in the shortest time wins the game.

Leveled Up Version of Pinoy Henyo in Eat Bulaga!

In 2023, Eat Bulaga! re-opened Pinoy Henyo with a twist. The letters of the words are mixed up or shuffled. Therefore, the responder must be able to immediately decipher the word ahead of time so that he or she can give clues the soonest; otherwise, some seconds from the allotted time would be wasted.

To find out how it is done in Eat Bulaga, watch this video.

Gimme5 Version

In the new Eat Bulaga! on TV5, Pinoy Henyo was shortened under a new name Gimme5. This version is played as follows:

Round 1

In the first round, players are asked to enumerate 5 henyo words based on the category given. For example: name 5 countries in Asia that begins with the letter I. The top 2 winners proceed to the next round.

Round 2

In round 2, each team must be able to guess correctly 3 of the 5 henyo words based on one category as picked by the players. Whoever guessed more at the shortest time proceeds to the jackpot round.

Jackpot Round

In the jackpot round, the players must be able to guess correctly 3 or less of the 5 henyo words; but this time, the word can be based on multiple categories.

Improvised Home Version

To play Pinoy Henyo at home or at private events, you can improvise.

To play as individuals, each player writes five words on each card. Each word must be under each different category. Drop the cards into a bin or box. On a player's turn, he picks a card from the box without looking at it. Another player sticks the card on his forehead. You may also use a hat to where you can stick the card. The guesser then starts asking questions that can only be answered by a yes or no or may be. Any of the other players can respond.
To play in groups, a team may have more than two members. In each turn, assign a guesser. A guesser can only act a guesser once. The rest of the team act as responders. Playing in groups could be more fun and exciting because it adds confusion to the guesser as the respondents reply with different answers.

In the Philippines, the players may answer in Filipino or English. If in Filipino, the only allowed answers are – oo, hindi, puede – which mean yes, no, may be. For non-Filipinos, you can play the game in your own language. Instead of Pinoy Henyo, call the game Word Genius or Name That Word, or anything similar in your language. For example, Génie Français or Genio Español.

Illustration On How To Play The Game

Taga-hula — The one who guesses the mystery or henyo word. By mentioning a category, he asks his teammate if the mystery word fits the category that he just said. He follows a hierarchy of categories to zero in the exact word. He begins with the primary categories, followed by a major category, then a minor category, a subcategory, if any; and finally enumerating the possible answers.
Taga-sagot — The one who responds to a category. If the word belongs to the correct category, he responds with YES or OO; otherwise, he says NO or HINDI. If the answer is somewhat yes or no, he replies with PUEDE.

Let's illustrate that the mystery henyo word is a name of a person: Jose Rizal. This is how the players would do it.

Henyo Word : Jose Rizal
Taga-hula	Taga-sagot	Remarks
Tao	Oo	:
Celebrity	Hindi	: It is understood that the person is not a celebrity
Living	Hindi	: If not living, the person can either be a historical figure or a fictional character.
Historical	Oo	: If historical, the person can be a hero, a politician, or some other historical figure.
Bayani	Oo	: The next thing to determine is if the person a male of female.
Babae	Hindi	: There are only a few female heroes so might as well ask this first. If female, it is understood that the hero is a male.
Jose Rizal	OO!	: You guessed it correctly.

Hierarchy of Words

The 5 Main or Primary Categories

Currently, the game focuses on 5 main categories. These are:

Tao (Persons)
Hayop (Animals)
Bagay (Objects other than food)
Lugar (Places)
Pagkain (Food and drinks)

Under each primary category, there are major, minor and subcategories. The lower categories are not defined by the show. The players have the liberty to devise their own hierarchical classification of people, animal, objects, places and food. The various categories are detailed in individual posts on this blog.

Following are examples of lower-level categories.

Person: Part of the body, celebrity, politician, president, hero, fictional
Animal: Land (terrestrial), water (aquatic), air (aerial), amphibian (land-water)
Place: Local, abroad, town, city, landmark
Food: Solid, liquid, dish, condiments
Object: Home, school, office, outdoor, personal

Here are examples of sub-categories.

Part of the body: External, internal, upper, lower, full body
Land animals (terrestrial): Pet, farm, zoo, insect, invertebrate, wild, two-legged
Places abroad: Asia, North America, South America, Europe, Pacific, Africa, country, city, town, district, landmark, park
Food, solid food: Fruit, vegetable, root crop, spice
Objects (found at home): Furniture, fixture, appliance, decor

Pinoy Henyo Game Online

There are apps available online related to Pinoy Henyo.

To boost your skill in playing Pinoy Henyo, browse through the other pages of this blog.

Tao (Persons)
Hayop (Animals)
Bagay (Objects)
Lugar (Places)
Pagkain (Food and drinks)

Pinoy Henyo Words

Pages

About Pinoy Henyo