Pictionary Rules: How to Play, Pick Words and Score Fairly

Pictionary is the drawing-and-guessing game where one player sketches a word and their team races to guess it before time runs out. The boxed game comes with a board, cards and a timer, but you can play the same idea with paper, a pen and a word list. Here are the rules, how to pick words at random so nobody sees the same one twice, and how to make teams and scoring fair.

What You Need

• Two or more teams of at least two players.
• Paper or a whiteboard and something to draw with.
• A list of words or phrases, or the cards from the boxed game.
• A timer: one minute per turn is the usual length.

Rules

1. Split into teams and decide which team starts with a coin flip.
2. The first team picks a drawer. The drawer looks at a word secretly, without showing it to anyone.
3. When the timer starts, the drawer draws clues on paper. Their own team calls out guesses.
4. The drawer may not speak, use letters or numbers, or make gestures that act out the word. Only drawings are allowed.
5. If the team guesses the word before the minute is up, they score. If not, the turn passes to the next team.
6. Teams take turns, and each team rotates who draws so everyone has a go.
7. The first team to reach the target score, or the team with most points after an agreed number of rounds, wins.

The boxed game adds a board: teams roll a die to move and the square they land on sets the word category, such as an object, an action or a difficult word. Some squares are “all play”, where one drawer from every team draws the same word at once and the first team to guess wins the turn.

Picking Words at Random

If you draw words from a list by picking a random number each turn, repeats come up far sooner than most people expect. Here is the chance that at least one word comes up twice in a game of 20 turns, worked out from the birthday-problem formula:

With a 100-word list, a repeat is very likely. The fix is to shuffle the list once and go through it in order, so no word can come up twice. Write the words on slips and mix them in a bowl, or paste the list into the Random Name Picker and remove each word once it is used.

• Keep words concrete and drawable: volcano, birthday cake, snowman.
• Mix easy and hard words so no team is stuck with only hard ones; or sort the list into easy and hard and let each team choose a level for a different score.
• For children, use simple, picture-friendly nouns and allow 90 seconds.

Making Fair Teams

Uneven teams spoil the game, so let chance decide. Even with a small group there are many possible ways to split into two equal teams:

Put every name into the Random Name Picker and pick one at a time, alternating teams, or use a random number generator to assign each player a number and put odd numbers on one team and even on the other. For more ideas, see how to make random teams. If one team is clearly stronger after a round, shuffle and split again.

Scoring

• Simple: one point for each word guessed in time.
• Speed bonus: two points if the word is guessed in the first 20 seconds.
• Difficulty: one point for an easy word, two for a hard word.
• Steal: if a team fails, the other team gets one guess to steal the point.
• All play: the first team to guess scores, the others score nothing.

Tips for Drawers

• Start with the biggest shape, then add detail.
• Break long words into parts: draw sun and then flower for sunflower.
• Use arrows to point at the part of the drawing that matters.
• Draw a small ear to mean “sounds like” if your group allows it.
• When your team gets close, circle the part of the drawing they should focus on.

If you would rather act than draw, try Charades, which uses the same team-and-timer format.

FAQ

How do you play Pictionary?

One player secretly reads a word and draws clues without speaking or writing letters, while their team guesses. A correct guess within the time limit scores a point, then the next team takes a turn.

How long is a turn in Pictionary?

One minute is the usual length. For young children, 90 seconds works better.

Can you write letters or numbers in Pictionary?

No. Only drawings are allowed. Letters, numbers and spoken hints are against the rules.

How do you pick Pictionary words fairly?

Shuffle a word list once and work through it in order, or draw slips from a bowl. Picking a random word each turn from a 100-word list gives about an 87% chance of a repeat in 20 turns.

How many players do you need for Pictionary?

At least four, in two teams of two. More teams or bigger teams work well for parties.