Section 5: Rules of Play
Starting the Game
- Form teams, choose team names, and establish the drawing order within each team.
- Agree on the turn length, winning score, acceptable-answer standard, and any variations.
- Randomly select the first team. Turns then proceed in the agreed team order.
- The first drawer takes a concealed card and privately reads the prompt.
- When the drawer is ready, the timekeeper starts the timer and announces the beginning of play.
Drawing and Guessing
The drawer may create any nonverbal picture that does not reproduce letters, words, numbers, or conventional written abbreviations. The image may be literal or may break a phrase into several pictured ideas. The drawer may add to, erase, cross out, circle, or point at parts of the drawing using the marker.
The drawer may not speak, mouth words, hum, make sound effects, act out the answer, trace letters in the air, indicate the number of letters or syllables with fingers, or signal whether a guess is close. Facial reactions should be kept neutral. The drawing itself must carry the clue.
Guessers may call out continuously and do not need to wait for permission. Multiple guesses can overlap. A correct answer must identify the prompt before the timer's expiration signal begins. Ordinary differences in capitalization, singular or plural form, tense, or minor pronunciation are acceptable when they preserve the prompt's meaning.
Completing a Turn
The turn ends immediately when the active team gives an accepted answer or when time expires. The drawer then reveals the card, the scorekeeper records the result, and play passes to the next team. A used card is set aside until the supply is exhausted, after which the group may reshuffle it if continued play is necessary.
Common House Rules and Variations
- All-play round: Every team receives the same prompt and draws simultaneously. The first team to call out the exact answer earns the point.
- Steal chance: If the active team fails, each opposing team receives one guess in turn. The first correct steal earns one point.
- Rapid draw: Use 30-second turns for a faster and more demanding game.
- Relaxed play: Use 90-second turns, simpler prompts, or category hints for younger or less experienced players.
- Three-clue round: The drawer may create no more than three separate pictured elements.
- Relay drawing: Teammates switch drawers at fixed intervals during one prompt without speaking to one another.
- Cooperative mode: All players share a score and try to solve a set number of prompts within a total time limit.