A round, on the clock

The host picks how many turns each person will draw: one, two, or three. Total rounds are that number times the number of players, so three each with six people is a long commitment. The host also picks the word list, English or Swedish, in the lobby. Each language has 597 prompts: 273 easy, 220 medium, and 104 hard. Each drawer is offered three words, one easy, one medium, one hard, and has ten seconds to choose. If the timer expires, the server picks the middle choice. A prompt that has been offered is not offered again until every prompt in that language has been shown. The list then reshuffles. Easy scores ×1, medium ×1.25, and hard ×1.5.

Drawing lasts 75 seconds. Strokes, the eraser, undo, and clear all happen on the drawer’s phone and show up on the shared canvas. Guessers type on their phones. A correct guess is the word, ignoring case and extra punctuation. Swedish letters å, ä, and ö are kept. Spaces are kept, so a two-word prompt has to come through as two words. The drawer can end the round early with “done drawing.” After the word is revealed there is a short pause, about five seconds, and the pen moves to the next person. At the end, everyone has twenty seconds to vote on a rematch.

Points, hints, and near misses

A correct guess scores from the time left. The formula is 100 times the fraction of the 75 seconds remaining, times a difficulty bonus, and never below 10. Easy is a bonus of 1, medium 1.25, hard 1.5. Guessing a hard word with most of the clock left is the jackpot. Guessing it in the last moments still pays the floor of 10. The drawer earns 25 points times the same bonus for each person who gets it, so a hard word that three people solve pays the artist more than an easy word that one person solves.

While the clock runs, the television reveals letters of the word as a hint, up to a little over half of them by the end. It is a hint, not a free solution. A guess that is close — a small typo, or a substantial chunk of the word — shows up in the feed marked as close. It does not score. Only an exact match, after the normalizer strips stray punctuation, scores. The drawer sees the real word. Everyone else sees the hint and the canvas.

Setting the room so the drawing reads

Host on the largest screen you have. A doodle of a bicycle is obvious at two meters and a scribble at five. If the TV browser lags and strokes arrive late, move Main screen to a laptop on HDMI before you start. The phones are the pens and the keyboards. They do not need to be powerful. Touch helps the drawer. A trackpad works and feels worse.

People in other places can draw and guess on one phone, tablet, or computer each, with the canvas on that device. It works. It is less funny than a room yelling at one television, because the joke is often the bad drawing at a size everyone shares. Use the remote version when the group is actually remote. Use the TV when they are on the same sofa.

Choices that change the night

There is no solo mode on this page. The game is the other people’s guesses. Host a room when at least one other person can type.

• One round each is the right opener. You will know in fifteen minutes if this group wants a second game.
• Match the word list to the language people will shout. A Swedish prompt with an English-only couch is a different game, and a meaner one.
• Hard words pay more and get drawn worse. If the group is new, tell the drawer to take the easy card once.
• Let a shy drawer pass the social pressure. The ten-second choice is short on purpose. Do not narrate their strokes.
• Look at the hint only when the canvas has gone abstract. Reading letters early turns it into a word puzzle and wastes the drawing.

FAQ

How many people can play?

From 2 to 8. The host chooses one, two, or three drawing turns per player before the game starts. Total rounds are that number times the size of the group.

How long is a drawing turn?

The drawer has 10 seconds to pick a word, then 75 seconds to draw. A short reveal follows. After the last round, a rematch vote lasts 20 seconds.

Do faster guesses score more?

Yes. A correct guess pays about 100 points scaled by the time left and by difficulty (easy ×1, medium ×1.25, hard ×1.5), with a minimum of 10. The drawer gets 25 times the difficulty bonus for each person who solves it.

Are the words in Swedish?

The host picks English or Swedish in the lobby. Guesses keep the letters å, ä, and ö. A close-but-wrong guess is shown as close and does not score.

Where do I draw?

On your phone, if the television is the shared canvas. If you joined with the board and controls on one device, you draw and guess there instead. Everyone else still should not see your word.