Pictionary

Overview

Teams race around a board by guessing words from a teammate's sketches. The sketcher may not speak, or use letters or numbers.

Checked against Mattel's Pictionary instructions (BJM16, ©2013). Pictionary is a trademark of Pictionary Incorporated. Other editions differ.

1. Setup

2 to 4 teams, as equal as possible. Mattel says fewer, bigger teams make a quicker game.

Each team gets a pencil, a category card and a mover on the Start square, and picks a Picturist to sketch first. Roll the die: the highest roll starts.

The box has an Adult deck and a Junior deck. Any team with a younger player always draws from the Junior deck.

2. Categories

Each Adult card has five words, one for each colour of square:

Colour	Category
Yellow	Object: things that can be touched or seen
Blue	Person, place or animal, including names
Orange	Action: things that can be performed
Green	Difficult: challenging words
Red	Miscellaneous: any type of word

3. A turn

1. The Picturist draws a card and secretly reads the word for the colour of the team's square. Start is yellow, and the die isn't rolled to start.
2. Turn the one-minute timer. The Picturist sketches and the team guesses until someone gets it or time runs out.
3. Correct: roll the die, move that many squares, pick a new Picturist, and sketch the word for your new square's colour. Keep going as long as you keep guessing right.
4. Time up: the die passes left. That team doesn't roll; it starts by drawing a card for the square it's already on.

The die is only rolled after a correct guess. A team stays on its square until it gets the word, and teams can share a square.

All Play squares

Land on an All Play square and every team's Picturist sketches the same word at once. The first team to guess it rolls and moves, and carries on with a new word. If nobody gets it, the die passes left, and that team starts with a card, not a roll.

Wild squares

On a Wild square the Picturist may choose any category on the card, and must announce it before sketching.

4. Sketching rules

You can:

• Draw anything related to the word, however loose the link.
• Break the word into syllables.
• Draw a word that sounds the same: "dock" for "doc", "flu" for "flue".

You can't:

• Use "ears" to mean "sounds like", or dashes to show the number of letters.
• Use letters or numbers.
• Speak to your teammates.
• Use sign language.

How exact an answer must be ("bunk" for "bunk bed"?) is for the teams to agree before the game.

5. Winning

Reach the final All Play square. You don't need an exact roll. To win, your team must have control of the die and be first to guess the word in the All Play round that follows. Winning another team's All Play round isn't enough: you have to win back the die first.

Commonly argued

• No talking, and no sign language.
• No letters or numbers.
• Breaking a word into syllables is allowed. Dashes for letter counts aren't.
• You only roll after a correct guess.
• A new Picturist for every new word.
• No exact roll is needed to reach the final square.