How to Play Pictionary

If you’re looking for a fun drawing game to whip out the next time you’re with a group of friends, Pictionary is a classic that you should definitely try out. In Pictionary, everyone takes turns drawing a picture that represents a word to make the rest of their team guess it correctly. It’s fast-paced, extremely fun, and super easy to learn. We know you’re excited to start sketching and get your game night started, so keep reading for all the rules you’ll need to play!

[Edit]Things You Should Know

• Play Pictionary with 3 or more players split into 2 teams. Each team gets a pad of paper, pencil, pawn, and reference card.
• One player on a team picks a card and looks at the word matching the color of the space their pawn is on. The player has to sketch the prompt.
• The person sketching has 1 minute to draw the word without using letters or symbols. If their team guesses the word, they roll a die and move around the board.
• ​​Win if you’re the first team to reach the Finish square and correctly guess a drawing.

[Edit]Steps

[Edit]Objective

1. Get your team to guess the word being drawn. On your team’s turn, one person has 60 seconds to sketch a word or prompt from a card they draw. If you’re the one sketching, try to quickly draw the prompt so your team can correctly guess what it is. Every other member of the person’s team looks at the drawing and tries to figure out what the word or prompt is.^[1]
   

[Edit]Setup

1. Shuffle the deck of cards and place it in the holder. Each card in the Pictionary deck has a list of different words to use as drawing prompts. Shuffle all of the cards so they’re thoroughly mixed together, and set them in the holder so they all face the same direction.^[2]
   
   • If some of the cards don’t fit into the holder, just set them aside to use later.
   • Some Pictionary games have a deck of trickier prompts for adults and a separate stack of cards with easier prompts for kids. Choose the deck you use based on the ages of the people you’re playing with.^[3]
2. Split the players into even teams. You can play with up to 4 separate teams, but you’ll have more fun if you split into fewer teams that have more people. Split up your group of friends as evenly as possible to keep the game fair.^[4]
   
   • If you want to play Pictionary with only 3 people, then choose one player to draw. They’ll draw the clues for both of the other players.
3. Give each team a pencil, pad of paper, and reference card. You only need 1 pencil and pad of paper for the team since there’s only 1 person drawing each turn. Set the reference card somewhere where all your team members can reach it. The card lists the colors and categories for the spaces on the board and other cards so you have an idea of what you’ll have to draw.^[5]
   
4. Put the teams’ pawns on the Start space on the board. Find the space labeled “Start” on the board and choose a pawn color for your team. All the members of your team will use the same pawn since you’re working together to win.^[6]
   
5. Clarify how precise an answer should be before you start. Chat with your friends about house rules right away so you don’t get into a dispute later in the game. Discuss if players need to say the full prompt to win a round or if you’ll accept shortened or partial answers.^[7]
   
   • Example: If the prompt is “bunk bed,” decide if someone answering “bunk” is OK.
   • Example: You may decide “floss” is an acceptable answer for the prompt “dental floss.”

[Edit]Drawing Categories

1. Objects (yellow){endbold} Objects are things that can be touched or seen, like “apple” or “table.”^[8]
   
2. Person/Place/Animal (blue){endbold} This includes regular nouns, such as “construction worker,” “bedroom,” or “camel.” This category could also include proper nouns, like “Abraham Lincoln” or “The United States.”^[9]
   
3. Action (orange){endbold} Actions are usually verbs and something that can be performed, such as “skydiving” or “singing.”^[10]
   
4. Difficult or challenging words (green){endbold} These words are more complex, so they’re harder to draw, like “stained glass” or “frozen food.”^[11]
   
5. Miscellaneous (red){endbold} Miscellaneous can be any word from any of the existing categories.^[12]
   
6. Wild (multicolor){endbold} The wild category lets you choose any word on a card that you draw.^[13]
   

[Edit]Gameplay

1. Roll a die to choose the starting team. Each team picks a member to roll the game die. Whatever team gets the higher number gets to go first.^[14]
   
2. Choose the first person sketching for your team. You can pick any player on your team to be the first “Picturist,” or the person who’s drawing for the round. All the other team members will try to guess what the Picturist is drawing so they can move around the board on their turn.^[15]
   
3. The Picturist draws a card and uses the word matching the space's color. The Picturist chooses a random card from the holder. The Picturist secretly looks at the word without telling any of the other players.^[16]
   
   • If the board space or word has an icon with 4 pencil icons or is labeled “AP,” it’s an “All Play” prompt. Picturists from each team will draw the prompt at the same time. Let all the Picturists look at the card for 5 seconds.
4. The Picturist flips the sand timer and starts sketching their word. After getting a good look at the prompt, the Picturist picks up their pencil. Quickly flip the sand timer so the Picturist can start drawing. If you’re drawing, try to quickly sketch the prompt on your pad of paper while the sand timer is running.^[17]
   
   • You can draw anything related to the prompt that you want. You can even use homophones and rhyming words, such as drawing a piece of mail for the word “male.”
   • You cannot use letters or symbols or communicate with your teammates if you’re the Picturist.
   • Avoid drawing ears as a “sounds like” clue or putting dashes for the number of letters in the word.
5. The Picturist’s team tries to guess the word before the timer runs out. As a member of the team, shout out your guesses for what you think the Picturist is drawing. It’s okay if you say the wrong answer, but try to pay close attention to the new details the Picturist adds to help narrow down your guesses. If you’re able to guess the prompt within 1 minute before the timer runs out, your team wins the round.^[18]
   
   • If you’re playing an “All Play” prompt, then the first team to correctly guess the word wins the round.
   • If you’re unable to guess the prompt correctly, then you don’t get to move and the next team takes their turn.
6. The guessing team rolls the die and moves if they get the word right. If you got the word right or were the first team to guess correctly during an “All Play”, you get to advance your pawn. Move your team’s pawn a number of spaces forward equal to your dice roll.^[19]
   
7. The guessing team switches Picturists and takes another turn. Switch Picturists for each new turn so every player has an equal opportunity to sketch. The new Picturist draws another card and finds the word matching the color of the new board space. If the team is able to guess the prompt, they’ll continue taking turns.^[20]
   
8. The next team takes a turn if no one guesses the prompt correctly. If the guessing team doesn’t figure out what the Picturist is drawing before time runs out, then they lose their turn and don’t get to move. The next team clockwise chooses their Picturist and starts their turn.^[21]
   

[Edit]Winning

1. Reach the Finish square and guess one more drawing correctly to win. The Finish square is at the end of the game board. After a team moves onto the square, they sketch one more prompt. If the team guesses the prompt, then they immediately win the game.^[22]
   
   • The Finish space is usually an “All Play,” so another team could answer the prompt first and prevent a team from winning.
   • If the team isn’t able to answer the prompt, then they have to wait until their next turn to try winning again.

[Edit]Video

[Edit]Tips

• If you want to play Pictionary online, hop on a video call with your friends. Find a word list and use the “Draw” feature to make your sketches on-screen.
• You can use different colors in your drawings, but just remember you only have 1 minute before time runs out so don’t worry about making your sketch look perfect.^[23]

[Edit]Related wikiHows

• Play Monopoly
• Play Hangman
• Play Backgammon
• Play Bingo
• Win at Monopoly
• Make a Realistic and Fun Board Game
• Play Draw Something
• Play Charades

[Edit]References

[Edit]Quick Summary

1. ↑ https://www.hasbro.com/common/instruct/Pictionary_2000.PDF
2. ↑ https://www.hasbro.com/common/instruct/Pictionary_2000.PDF
3. ↑ https://service.mattel.com/instruction_sheets/BJM16-ENG.pdf
4. ↑ https://www.hasbro.com/common/instruct/Pictionary_2000.PDF
5. ↑ https://youtu.be/3HXg1r0TK94?t=267
6. ↑ https://service.mattel.com/instruction_sheets/dwv65-eng.pdf
7. ↑ https://service.mattel.com/instruction_sheets/BJM16-ENG.pdf
8. ↑ https://service.mattel.com/instruction_sheets/BJM16-ENG.pdf
9. ↑ https://www.hasbro.com/common/instruct/Pictionary_2000.PDF
10. ↑ https://service.mattel.com/instruction_sheets/BJM16-ENG.pdf
11. ↑ https://www.hasbro.com/common/instruct/Pictionary_2000.PDF
12. ↑ https://www.hasbro.com/common/instruct/Pictionary_2000.PDF
13. ↑ https://service.mattel.com/instruction_sheets/BJM16-ENG.pdf
14. ↑ https://service.mattel.com/instruction_sheets/dwv65-eng.pdf
15. ↑ https://service.mattel.com/instruction_sheets/dwv65-eng.pdf
16. ↑ https://service.mattel.com/instruction_sheets/BJM16-ENG.pdf
17. ↑ https://youtu.be/mZXXZxtAy_w?t=93
18. ↑ https://youtu.be/3HXg1r0TK94?t=339
19. ↑ https://www.hasbro.com/common/instruct/Pictionary_2000.PDF
20. ↑ https://youtu.be/mZXXZxtAy_w?t=108
21. ↑ https://www.hasbro.com/common/instruct/Pictionary_2000.PDF
22. ↑ https://www.hasbro.com/common/instruct/Pictionary_2000.PDF
23. ↑ https://service.mattel.com/instruction_sheets/dwv65-eng.pdf