Draw and Guess is a party game where one player draws a secret word and everyone else tries to guess it from the drawing. It needs no artistic skill: the fun is in the race between a quick sketch and a room full of people shouting answers. This guide explains the rules exactly as the game on this site plays them, with the scoring, the timer, skips, what to do about disputes and some house variants you can add. If you just want to start, the Draw and Guess game runs on one phone or tablet and handles the words, the timer and the scores for you.
Overview
- Players: 3 to 12, sharing one device.
- Goal: score the most points by guessing other people’s drawings quickly and by drawing your own words clearly.
- Equipment: the game gives you the drawing paper, eight pen colors, three pen sizes, an eraser, a timer and the word deck. On paper you would need a pad, a pen, word cards and a timer.
- Length: about 15 to 30 minutes, depending on the number of players and turns.
The game is played in turns. Each turn one player is the artist and all the others are guessers. Everyone guesses on every turn, so nobody sits out.
Setup
- Enter the names of everyone playing, in the order you are sitting. That order is the turn order.
- Choose the words: Easy, Medium, Hard or Mixed. Easy words are single, simple things; Medium words need a little more detail; Hard words are scenes, actions or compound ideas. Mixed deals from all three.
- Choose one or more categories: Animals, Food, Objects, Actions, Places, Sports and games, Nature, Jobs and people, Things that go and Make-believe. You can add your own word packs here too.
- Under More options, set the drawing time (60, 90 or 120 seconds, default 90) and the number of turns each (1, 2 or 3, default 2).
- Press Start game.
The built-in deck has more than 400 words. The game deals each match from the categories and level you chose, and no word comes up twice in the same game. If a long game with a small selection runs out of chosen words, the extra words come from the same categories at other levels first, then from the other categories, so there is still no repeat.
Objective
Have the highest score after every player has drawn the chosen number of times. You score by guessing (2 points) and by having your own drawing guessed (1 point), so both roles matter.
Taking turns
Turns rotate in seat order, starting with the first player in the list. In a rematch the first artist moves one seat on, so a different person starts each game.
The artist reads the secret word while everyone else looks away.
The artist draws it: no letters, no numbers, no talking.
Everyone else calls out guesses until someone says the word.
Guessed: 2 points to the guesser and 1 to the artist.
A turn has four steps:
- Pass the device. The game shows a pass screen naming the artist. Everyone else looks away while the artist takes the phone.
- See the word. The artist taps Show my word. The word appears on a card that only the artist should see. The artist can use the turn’s one skip here to get a different word, then taps Start drawing.
- Draw and guess. The timer starts. The artist draws on the paper while everyone else calls out guesses. The artist can press and hold Peek at any time to check the word; it disappears as soon as they let go.
- Score. When someone says the word, the artist taps Guessed! and picks who got it. If the timer runs out, or the artist taps Give up, the word is shown and nobody scores. Everyone sees the answer, then the phone moves to the next artist.
The drawing rules
The artist communicates only through the drawing. These are the standard rules, and the game assumes them:
- No letters or numbers. Nothing that spells or counts out the word. Writing “CAT” or drawing the digit 3 for Three is not allowed.
- No talking. The artist may not speak, mouth the word, hum or make sound effects. Nodding, shaking your head and pointing at parts of your own drawing are fine and very useful.
- No pointing at the room. Pointing at a real chair when the word is Chair gives it away.
- Symbols are allowed. Arrows, plus signs, motion lines, a big X to cross something out and circles to highlight a part of the drawing are all fair. They are not letters, and they help a lot with compound words.
- Keep drawing. The artist can add to a drawing, erase part of it, use Undo line to take back the last stroke, or Clear the paper and start again. Clearing asks first, and the timer keeps running.
Pictures, arrows and other symbols are fine.
Letters and numbers are not: never write the word.
The drawing tools are the same for every turn: eight colors, three sizes, an eraser, Undo line and Clear. The paper stays light in dark mode so everyone sees the same thing.
Guessing
- Guessers call out answers out loud, as many as they like, at any time during the drawing.
- Only the word itself counts. The artist decides when it has been said; a plural or singular form normally counts.
- Wrong guesses cost nothing. Saying them out loud helps the artist, who can nod at a close guess or add a detail.
- The artist cannot guess, and the game will not let you pick the artist as the guesser.
Skips
Each artist has one skip per turn. A skip swaps the word for a new one at no cost to the score. You can skip on the word card before you start, or during the drawing, which clears the paper and leaves the timer running: hold Peek to see the new word. The skip count is shown on the button, and the allowance comes back at the start of every turn.
The timer
The drawing time starts when the artist taps Start drawing. The game announces “30 seconds left”, “10 seconds left” and “Time is up” for anyone using a screen reader, and the bar turns red in the last ten seconds. The timer pauses while the group picks who guessed (if you tap Guessed! by mistake, Keep drawing goes back with the time that was left), and it pauses when the page is hidden.
Scoring
The scoring on this site is simple and the same for every turn:
| What happens | Guesser | Artist | Everyone else |
|---|---|---|---|
| Someone guesses the word | +2 | +1 | 0 |
| The timer runs out | – | 0 | 0 |
| The artist gives up | – | 0 | 0 |
| The artist skips a word | – | 0 | 0 |
The guesser earns more than the artist because guessing is a race against everyone else, while the artist gets a point every time their drawing works. That keeps everyone trying on every turn: guessers want to be first, and artists want to draw clearly rather than make it hard.
A sample turn
Maya is the artist. She taps Show my word and reads Lighthouse. She decides to keep it and taps Start drawing. She draws a tall striped tower on a rock with waves below. Leo calls “Tower!”, Ana says “Rocket!” Maya shakes her head and adds beams of light coming from the top. Ana shouts “Lighthouse!” Maya taps Guessed! and picks Ana. Ana scores 2 points and Maya scores 1. The word and the drawing are shown to everyone, then the pass screen hands the phone to Leo for his turn.
The end of the game
The game ends after every player has drawn the chosen number of times. The final scores list everyone from highest to lowest. Equal totals share a place, and if everyone has the same total the result is a tie. The session score adds up over rematches, so you can play several games and keep a running total.
Mistakes, undo and reloads
- Picked the wrong guesser? On the answer screen, Undo goes back to the list so you can pick again.
- Tapped Give up by mistake? Undo on the answer screen goes back to the drawing with the time that was left.
- Undo is not offered during a drawing, after the timer has run out, or once the next artist has the phone.
- The page reloaded? The game is saved after every step. A reload during a drawing brings back the drawing so far and the time that was left. A reload on the word card puts the pass screen back first, so the word is never shown to the wrong person.
Variants and house rules
These are not built into the game, but they are easy to play on top of it:
- Team draw and guess: with a big group, split into teams that take seats in the list. One member of the team draws, the rest of their team guesses, and the team earns the points. Agree that other teams stay quiet, or let them steal with a correct guess.
- One guess at a time: each guesser may call out only one guess every few seconds, which slows down a fast group and gives quieter players a chance.
- No erasing: the artist may not use the eraser, Undo line or Clear. Harder and funnier.
- One color only: stick to black for the whole game, so the drawing has to do all the work.
- Kids first: when a younger child and an adult say the word together, the child gets the points.
- Own words: make a word pack of family names, school topics or holiday memories and play it on its own.
Sample words by category
Draw a word at random to try your hand, or read a few words from each category below, from easy to hard, to get an idea of the deck.
Pick a random word to draw
Nature · Medium
Draw this
Forest
- Animals: Cat, Penguin, Octopus, Chameleon
- Food: Apple, Pancakes, Popcorn, Gingerbread man
- Objects: Key, Umbrella, Ladder, Hourglass
- Actions: Sleeping, Juggling, Brushing teeth, Sleepwalking
- Places: Beach, Lighthouse, Treehouse, Skyscraper
- Sports and games: Kite, Archery, Tug of war, Pole vault
- Nature: Rainbow, Volcano, Snowflake, Eclipse
- Jobs and people: Chef, Astronaut, Lifeguard, Beekeeper
- Things that go: Rocket, Submarine, Hot air balloon, Traffic jam
- Make-believe: Dragon, Robot, Treasure map, Phoenix
Common disputes
“That was a letter!” A common house rule: if the artist draws a letter or number on purpose, they tap Give up and nobody scores that turn. An accidental shape doesn’t count, so give the artist the benefit of the doubt once.
“I said it first!” The artist decides who said the word first. If the artist really can’t tell, the player with fewer points gets it.
“That’s close enough.” Agree before the game how strict to be. A good default: plurals and small word-order changes count; a different thing does not.
“The word was too hard.” That is what the skip is for. Use it early, before half the timer is gone. If your group finds Hard too hard, play Medium or Mixed.
Play it now
Ready to draw? Open Draw and Guess, type in your names and press Start game. For tips on drawing fast and guessing well, read the Draw and Guess tutorial. If you like word games for a group, try Charades, where you act instead of draw, Imposter, and the other party games.
