The questions
Each side comes with one line of the case for it. The rest is up to you.
I never got a name. Is giving a baby a one-of-a-kind name a good idea?
- YEA BE UNIQUE
They'll never be one of four Emmas in the same class.
- NAY POOR KID
They'll spell it out loud at every doctor's office for life.
- YEA BE UNIQUE
I learned to read from books in the woods. Do audiobooks count as reading?
- YEA COUNTS
You still get the whole story, every word of it, start to finish.
- NAY DOESN'T COUNT
Listening while you drive is great, but it's listening, not reading.
- YEA COUNTS
My ears are borrowed. Is keeping one earbud in while someone talks to you rude?
- YEA RUDE
That one earbud tells them they only get half your attention.
- NAY IT'S FINE
You can hear them perfectly, and the music's on pause anyway.
- YEA RUDE
A fridge that orders its own groceries: helpful, or too much?
- HELPFUL
You'd never run out of milk on a Sunday night again.
- TOO MUCH
Nobody needs a fridge that buys twelve yogurts because you ate one.
- HELPFUL
People scream when I talk. Is talking to a voice assistant in public embarrassing?
- YEA EMBARRASSING
Asking your phone about a rash out loud on a full bus is a lot.
- NAY NO SHAME
It's faster than typing, and everyone on the bus is too busy to care.
- YEA EMBARRASSING
I had no one to talk to. Is venting to an AI instead of a friend OK?
- YEA VENT AWAY
It's up at 3 a.m. and never gets tired of hearing about your boss.
- NAY CALL A FRIEND
A friend remembers next week and shows up with snacks.
- YEA VENT AWAY
I'm made of spare parts. Can art made by AI be real art?
- YEA REAL ART
If it moves you, it's art, whoever or whatever made it.
- NAY NOT REAL ART
Art needs someone behind it who meant something by it.
- YEA REAL ART
I'm all secondhand parts. For clothes: thrift store, or brand new?
- THRIFT STORE
A wool coat for eight dollars, and nobody else at the party has it.
- BRAND NEW
Brand new fits right and hasn't been anywhere you don't know about.
- THRIFT STORE
About the host
Frankenstein's monster comes from the 1818 novel. He's about eight feet tall with long black hair, and nobody ever gave him a name. He learned to talk, and then to read, by watching a family through a crack in their cottage wall. His first books were a few he found lying in the woods.
He's hosting as spooky season starts, and his questions are about things people build, like fridges that do the shopping and art made by AI. He knows what it's like to be made by someone who didn't think it through. He also wants to know whether audiobooks count as reading. He did his reading the hard way.
How to play these
The AI art question is the one that runs long, so give it room. Some people have a job riding on it and some just like a nice picture, and both are sure they're right. As a round of The Lobbyist it's a tough one to bluff. Whoever has to argue against their own answer needs an actual reason, and the table will ask for it.
For lighter rounds there's the earbud question, since everyone has been on both ends of it, and the fridge, which gives the friend with the smart home a chance to explain themselves. Talking them through without phones? The audiobook question works best with one rule: before you argue, name the last book you finished, in any form. For more questions with two real sides, see these debate topics.
About guest decks
Spare Parts is Frankenstein's monster's guest deck for The Lobbyist, free to play from Oct 16 to Oct 22, 2026. A new guest moves in every Friday with eight questions of their own. See this week's guest.
The guest before: Elementary, hosted by Sherlock Holmes.
The guest after: White Lies, hosted by Honest Abe Lincoln.
Play the guest deck
Start a game and pick this week's guest deck, or Fuzzy Logic. Both are free.
Play free