Charades rewards a few simple habits more than acting talent. Actors who start with the big idea, guessers who say everything out loud and teams who pass at the right moment score far more words in the same minute. This tutorial walks through a first game on one phone, then gives tips for actors and guessers in both modes, and ends with the decks that work best for kids and for family nights. If you need the rules first, start with the complete charades rules.
What you will learn
- How a game on one phone flows, from setup to the final scores
- How to act a word so your team gets it quickly
- How to describe fast in forehead mode without saying the word
- When to pass, and how to use the end-of-round check
- Which decks and settings suit kids, families and adults
Your first game, step by step
- Set up. Open Charades, choose Teams and type two team names. Keep Forehead mode, leave the decks as they are and press Start.
- Pass the phone. The first team takes the phone. They pick a guesser and confirm on the pass screen.
- Get ready. The guesser presses Start round and lifts the phone to their forehead during the 3-2-1 countdown, screen facing the team.
- Play the round. The team describes the word on screen. When the guesser gets it, they tilt the phone down; to skip, they tilt it up. A brief “Correct” or “Pass” confirms each answer.
- Check the list. When time is up, the phone goes on the table. Everyone reads the list, taps any word that was marked wrongly and confirms.
- Next team. The phone moves to the next team, and the turns continue until every team has played its rounds. The final scores show who won, with equal scores sharing a place.
Tips for actors
1. Show the category first
Before acting the word, act the kind of thing it is. Flap your arms for a bird, pretend to stir a pot for food, or mime a steering wheel for a vehicle. Once the team says “it’s a vehicle”, they are guessing from a small list instead of the whole world.
2. Act the use, not the shape
Most things are easier to show by what you do with them. For Umbrella, open one above your head and look up at the rain; for Toothbrush, brush your teeth. Drawing shapes in the air is slow and easy to misread.
3. Build on close guesses
Watch the guessers, not the floor. When someone says “dog”, nod hard and point at them, then add the detail that turns it into Walking a dog. A guess that is close is the best clue you have.
4. Use the signals for long words
For a word like Snowboarding, show two syllables on your forearm and act “snow” first. For a phrase like Hot air balloon, hold up three fingers and act one word at a time. The hand signals in the rules guide cover the rest.
Tips for describers in forehead mode
5. Describe, don’t define
“You wear them on your hands in winter” beats a careful definition of Mittens. Short, everyday sentences get answers faster.
6. Everyone talks, one at a time
When the whole team shouts different clues at once, the guesser hears nothing. Let one person lead, and jump in only when they get stuck.
7. Rhymes and sounds are fair
If a word is hard to describe, give a rhyme (“sounds like boat” for Goat) or make the noise an animal or a machine makes. Just never say the word itself or a part of it.
Tips for guessers
8. Say everything out loud
Guess constantly, even when you are not sure. Every wrong guess tells the actor or the describers what to change, and silence tells them nothing.
9. Tilt clearly, then come back to upright
In forehead mode, tilt the phone well down for a correct answer and bring it back to upright before the next word. The game ignores a second tilt until the phone is level again, so a half-hearted wobble does nothing.
When to pass
Pass early. A pass costs nothing, and a minute is only a minute: if nobody is close after about ten seconds, the next word is a better bet. At the end of the round, use the check to be fair, not generous: if a word was passed by mistake, tap it to count it; if the team said part of the word, tap it to remove it.
Good decks for kids and family
| Group | Mode | Decks | Round time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Young kids (about 5 to 7) | Acting, teams with an adult each | Easy for kids, Animals | 90 s |
| Older kids | Forehead or Acting | Easy for kids, Animals, Actions, Sports | 60 s |
| Family night | Forehead, teams | Food, Jobs, Around the house, Things that move | 60 s |
| Adults | Forehead, players | Places, Nature, Actions, Sports | 30 or 60 s |
For a longer game, raise the rounds under More options; for a quick one between dinner and dessert, play one round each. Recently seen words are kept for later, so back-to-back games start with words you haven’t seen lately as long as your decks have some. With only one or two decks, a long game can use every word: the passed ones then come round again first and every team still plays all its rounds, but adding another deck keeps the words fresher.
Ideas for tricky words
Some words in the decks look hard to act until you find the one action that belongs to them. A few ideas to borrow:
- Alarm clock (Around the house): pretend to sleep, jump when it rings, then slap the top of the clock.
- Lighthouse (Places): stand tall, hold your arms up as the light and turn slowly while your team watches for ships.
- Volcano (Nature): crouch low, rumble with your shoulders, then burst upward with your hands.
- Juggling (Actions): throw invisible balls one after another and follow each one with your eyes.
- Astronaut (Jobs): float in slow motion, then pretend to plant a flag.
In forehead mode the same ideas work as spoken clues: “it wakes you up in the morning and you want to throw it” gets Alarm clock fast.
A practice plan
For a first evening, play two short games. Start with one round each in Acting mode and the Easy for kids deck, so everyone learns the flow and the end-of-round check. Then switch to Forehead mode with three or four decks and 60-second rounds. Once the group is comfortable, try 30-second rounds: they force quick passes and short clues, which is where most of the laughs come from.
Common beginner mistakes
- Spelling with your fingers. Drawing letters in the air is not allowed in classic charades and is slow anyway.
- Acting the whole phrase at once. For a multi-word item, show the number of words and act the easiest one first.
- Holding the phone flat. In forehead mode, keep the screen upright and facing the team, or the describers can’t read it.
- Forgetting the check. Look at the list together before confirming; it is the only moment a mistake can be fixed.
Play it now
Play charades with your group, or find more ideas in our party games, family games and games for kids.