How to Play Drawing Charades

By Jaques of London · Est. 1795 · Updated 2026-08-17

Drawing Charades is a team-based party game in which players take turns sketching words, phrases, or concepts for their teammates to guess, all without uttering a single sound or writing any letters or numbers. It is fast, loud, and genuinely funny, making it a reliable choice when you need a game that works across a wide age range in the same room.

It sits comfortably at kitchen tables, school classrooms, youth clubs, and family gatherings. Because the rules are simple to explain in under two minutes, it needs no warm-up and virtually no reading ability to enjoy, which is a large part of why it remains a staple at parties and social events.

A little history

The origins of Drawing Charades are not precisely documented. It grew as a natural offshoot of spoken charades, the parlour game that was popular in Britain and France from at least the eighteenth century, by replacing mimed or spoken syllable clues with pencil-and-paper sketches. Versions of drawing-based guessing games were being played informally in homes and schools throughout the twentieth century before the format was widely commercialised. Traditionally the game required nothing more than paper, a pencil, and a group of willing players.

Setting up

1. Divide all players into two teams of roughly equal size. Aim for at least two players per team.
2. Prepare a pool of words or phrases by writing each one on a separate slip of paper and folding it, or use a ready-made set of clue cards. Aim for at least ten clues per round.
3. Place the folded slips into a bowl or container where the drawing player can draw one without seeing the others.
4. Give every player paper and a pencil or pen. The drawing player will use their own sheet to sketch on.
5. Agree on the turn time limit before play begins. Sixty seconds is the standard; reduce to forty-five for a harder game.
6. Decide how many rounds the game will run, or agree to play until the clue pool is exhausted. Nominate someone to keep score.

How to play

1. Teams take turns. Within each turn, one player from the active team becomes the Drawer.
2. The Drawer picks a folded slip from the bowl (or takes the top card from the deck) and reads it silently. They must not reveal the word or phrase to anyone.
3. When everyone is ready, start the timer. The Drawer immediately begins sketching on their paper to help their own team guess the word or phrase.
4. The Drawer may not speak, mouth words, make sounds, point at objects in the room, or write any letters, numbers, or symbols on their drawing.
5. Teammates call out guesses freely and continuously. There is no penalty for wrong guesses, so encourage rapid-fire shouting.
6. If the team guesses correctly before time expires, they score one point. The Drawer confirms a correct guess by nodding or giving a thumbs up.
7. If time runs out without a correct guess, no point is scored. The slip is set aside and play passes to the other team.
8. The opposing team then sends their own Drawer, who takes a new slip and the process repeats.
9. Continue alternating turns until the agreed number of rounds is complete or the clue pool runs out.
10. The team with the most points at the end wins. In the event of a tie, each team plays one sudden-death round: first correct guess takes the win.

Winning and scoring

Each correctly guessed clue within the time limit scores one point for the guessing team. The Drawer does not score separately. At the end of the agreed number of rounds, the team with the higher total wins. If scores are level, a single tie-breaker round is played: both teams nominate a Drawer simultaneously, a shared clue is revealed to both Drawers at once, and the first team to shout the correct answer claims victory.

The fine points

The most common dispute is whether a Drawer's sketch contains a forbidden letter, number, or symbol. Arrow indicators pointing to a specific part of a drawing are generally permitted because they direct attention rather than spell out information, but writing a question mark, an ampersand, or any recognisable letter is not allowed and should result in a warning from the opposing team. If the Drawer continues after a warning, the standard ruling is to forfeit that turn and award no point. Agree on this rule explicitly before play starts to avoid arguments mid-game.

A second regular dispute concerns partial guesses. If a teammate shouts a word that is almost but not exactly the clue, for example saying 'volcano' when the clue is 'erupting volcano', the Drawer may sketch additional detail to push the team to the full answer. They may not nod encouragingly at a near-miss in a way that confirms part of the guess, as this effectively communicates information outside the drawing. The safest house rule is that a point is only awarded when the guess matches the clue word for word, or close enough that any reasonable person would accept it as identical in meaning.

How to win more often

• Start with the most distinctive visual feature of the clue. If the word is 'lighthouse', draw the striped tower and beam first, not the surrounding sea.
• For abstract words or phrases, sketch a simple scene that implies the concept rather than trying to illustrate the word literally. 'Freedom', for example, can be shown as open prison doors or a bird leaving a cage.
• Break compound words and two-word phrases into separate sketches in sequence, drawing a dividing line between them so your team knows there are two distinct parts to solve.
• As a guesser, keep talking even when you are unsure. Hearing wrong guesses can prompt the Drawer to change approach, and the noise often triggers the right answer by association.
• As a Drawer, if your first approach is not working after ten seconds, abandon it and try a completely different angle rather than adding more detail to a sketch that is already confusing your team.

Variations

Category Rounds

Before each round, nominate a category such as animals, films, famous people, or household objects. All clues drawn that round must fall within that category. This makes guessing both easier and faster, which suits younger players, but can be made harder by choosing narrow categories such as 'birds of prey' or 'things found in a bathroom'.

No Erasing

Once the pencil touches the paper, the Drawer cannot erase or cross anything out. Every line is permanent. This adds a layer of pressure and comedy because early mistakes cannot be corrected, and it rewards confident, decisive sketching over fussy revision.

Solo Speed Round

Remove the teams entirely. One player at a time attempts to get the whole group to guess as many clues as possible in ninety seconds, drawing continuously and moving to the next slip the moment a correct guess is called. Each correct answer is one point for that individual. The player with the highest personal score after everyone has had the same number of turns wins.

Blind Drawing

The Drawer completes their sketch without looking at the paper, keeping their eyes on the ceiling or ceiling ward while their hand moves. This variant produces chaotic results and is best used as a single silly round rather than the basis of a full game, but it is reliably entertaining and works well as an icebreaker with groups who have not played together before.

Drawing Charades: frequently asked questions