Charades is a party game in which one player gets a word across to their team without saying it, usually by acting it out in silence, while the team races the clock to guess it. Each word guessed is a point; after an agreed number of rounds, the team with the most points wins. This guide covers the classic rules and hand signals, the forehead version that many groups now play with a phone, team scoring, house rules and a short list of sample charades words from every deck on this site.
Watch: how to play Charades
How to Play Charades: Rules Explained Simply
Chapters
Overview
| Feature | Details |
|---|---|
| Players | 3 or more: one actor and at least two guessers. On this site: 2 to 4 teams, or 2 to 12 players |
| Typical time | 10 to 20 minutes for a game of three rounds each |
| Ages | About 5 and up with simple words; any age in mixed teams |
| Equipment | Word slips and a timer, or one shared phone |
| Other names | Guess the Word, Forehead guessing game |
Charades began as a written riddle game in 18th-century France, in which a word was described one syllable at a time. Acting the clues out instead of writing them became a popular parlour game in 19th-century Britain, and the acted version is the one most families know today.
Setup
Split into teams of roughly equal size, or play as individuals if there are only a few of you. Write words on slips of paper and put them in a bowl, or let a phone deal them. Agree on how long a turn lasts (one minute is common) and how many turns each team gets.
On this site, the setup panel does all of this:
- Play as: Teams (2 to 4, each with a name) or Players (2 to 12 names).
- Mode: Forehead (the guesser holds the phone) or Acting (the actor holds it).
- Decks: any mix of the ten decks.
- More options: round time of 30, 60 or 90 seconds, and 1 to 5 rounds for each team or player.
Objective
Get as many words across as possible before the time runs out. The team, or player, with the most correct words after the last round wins.
Taking turns
Teams take turns in a fixed order. On a team’s turn, one member acts, or in Forehead mode guesses, and the rest of the team plays the other role. Change the actor or guesser every turn so that everyone gets a go. In Players mode on this site, each person plays their own round in turn, and the words they get across score for them.
Classic charades rules
Acting without words
The actor may not speak, whisper, mouth words or make word sounds. They also may not spell letters in the air, write anything, or point at an object in the room that is the answer. Everything else is fair: mime, facial expressions, pointing at their own body, and the agreed hand signals.
The hand signals
Most groups use the same handful of signals, so a guessing team can follow along:
- Number of words: hold up that many fingers. Then hold up fingers again to show which word you are acting now.
- Syllables: lay fingers on your forearm to show how many syllables the word has, then again to show which syllable comes next.
- Sounds like: cup a hand behind your ear, then act a word that rhymes with the answer.
- Short word: hold your thumb and index finger close together, for words like “a”, “on” or “the”.
- Longer or shorter: pull your hands apart to ask for a longer form of a guess (run, running), or push them together for a shorter one.
- The whole thing: sweep your arms in a big circle to act the whole answer at once.
- On the nose: touch your nose and point at the guesser who got it exactly right.
Passing and the timer
In timed rounds with several words, the actor may pass on a word that isn’t working. A pass scores nothing and costs nothing, but the clock keeps running. The word that is in play when time runs out does not count.
Forehead mode
In the forehead version the guesser can’t see the word, and the rest of the team can talk. The guesser holds a card, or a phone, against their forehead facing outward. The others describe the word, act it, or hum a tune that fits, without saying the word or any part of it. Rhymes and “sounds like” clues are usually allowed.
On this site, the guesser tilts the phone down (screen toward the floor) for a correct guess and tilts it up to pass. The phone has to come back upright before the next tilt counts, and it works in portrait and in both landscape directions. On iPhone and iPad the browser asks for motion permission when you press Start; without it, the large Correct and Pass buttons do the same job. On a keyboard, Down arrow or C is Correct and Up arrow or P is Pass.
A sample round
Two teams play in Forehead mode with 60-second rounds. The Lions go first and choose Maya as their guesser. She presses Start round, lifts the phone to her forehead during the countdown and turns the screen toward her team.
The first word is Penguin. Her teammates waddle with their arms pinned to their sides and say “a bird that can’t fly, lives where it’s cold”. Maya says “penguin” and tilts the phone down: one point. The next word is Escalator. “Stairs that move by themselves” gets “lift?”, then “moving stairs”, then “escalator”, and she tilts down again. Tug of war stumps everyone for a few seconds, so Maya tilts the phone up to pass and goes straight on to the next word.
When the bar runs out, the phone goes on the table and both teams read the list. The other team asks whether “moving stairs” was too close, but nobody said the word or a part of it, so the point stands. The Lions confirm their score and the phone passes to the other team.
Scoring
- One point for each word guessed within the time.
- Passes cost nothing, so skipping a hard word is often the right move.
- Check the list together at the end of the turn. On this site you can tap any word to switch it between correct and passed before confirming, and Undo also works right after confirming.
- After the last round, the highest total wins. Equal totals share the place, so two teams on 12 both finish first.
In Players mode on this site, the words a player gets across in their own round count for that player. Some groups instead give the point to whoever shouted the right answer; agree on it before you start if you play on paper.
When every word has come up
On this site no word comes up twice in a game while the chosen decks still have unused words. With one or two decks and many rounds, a game can use them all, but it never ends early because of that: the words come round again, shuffled, starting with the ones nobody guessed, so every team or player still gets the same number of rounds. When only a few new words are left, the get-ready screen says how many.
When the page reloads
A round on this site is not saved halfway. If the page is reloaded during a round, the same team or player starts that round again with fresh words, and nothing from the interrupted round counts. This keeps it fair: the words from the interrupted round have already been seen.
Variants and house rules
- Kids’ rules: let young actors make animal sounds, use longer rounds, and pick the Easy for kids deck.
- Sound effects allowed: a relaxed version where the actor may make noises but not words.
- Steal: if the acting team fails, the other team gets one guess to steal the point.
- Team relay: each team member acts one word in turn during a single long round.
- Word slips: everyone writes a few words before the game, which are mixed into the bowl.
Sample charades words by deck
| Deck | Sample words |
|---|---|
| Animals | Kangaroo, Penguin, Octopus, Sloth |
| Actions | Brushing your teeth, Juggling, Blowing bubbles, Tiptoeing |
| Food | Spaghetti, Popcorn, Corn on the cob, Milkshake |
| Jobs | Firefighter, Astronaut, Lifeguard, Magician |
| Sports | Table tennis, Pole vault, Tug of war, Archery |
| Around the house | Vacuum cleaner, Alarm clock, Hairdryer, Rolling pin |
| Places | Lighthouse, Haunted house, Car wash, Aquarium |
| Nature | Volcano, Thunderstorm, Iceberg, Rainbow |
| Things that move | Hot air balloon, Escalator, Submarine, Roller coaster |
| Easy for kids | Snowman, Rubber duck, Robot, Teddy bear |
Common disputes
- “They said part of the word.” In Forehead mode, saying the word or a part of it (saying “snow” for Snowman) usually means the word is passed. Agree before you start.
- “Pointing at the answer.” Pointing at a real lamp for Lamp is not allowed in classic charades. Pointing at your own nose or ear for a body part usually is.
- “We got it just as time ran out.” The timer decides. On this site the round ends when the bar runs out, and the word on screen then is not scored.
Play it now
Play charades on one phone with any mix of decks, or read the tips for actors and guessers. For more games for a group around one screen, browse our party games and family games.