Pictionary

  • Pictionary is a paper-pencil game for four or more people, played in two teams.
  • Invented by Robert Angel and his friends in 1981, Pictionary is published as a board game in 1985 and became popular all over the world.
  • Players are divided into two teams. Also one person may be chosen as referee.
  • Per each round, one person in each team is picked as ‘picturer’. The picturer is told a word or phrase by the referee (or the other team). Preferably, the word is in one of categories object, person, place, animal, action, and its category is announced in advance.
  • The picturer is given 5 seconds to think and 1 minute to convey the given word to their teammates by drawing pictures. No letters, numbers, symbols, sounds or gestures are allowed.
  • Within the 1 minute period, teammates can make as many guesses as they want. If they can correctly guess the word, the team is awarded one point.
  • Then it is the other team’s turn to draw and guess. The game continues in this manner. The team with the most points at the end is the winner.
  • If the players happen to be at remote locations for some (!) reason, it is possible to play the game on video conferencing platforms, by using shared whiteboards. All you need is some place to draw pictures and something to draw with.
  • Also there are many mobile applications and online versions of the game available, such as skribbl.io.
  • On another note, if you have difficulty coming up with good words to play with, a useful tool is the pictionary word generator.