Classic
Charades
One player acts out a word or phrase in complete silence while the others guess. Every correct guess before the timer runs out scores a point for their team.
The oldest party game there is, and the only one nobody has ever needed explained twice. Capsule replaces the torn paper and the hat.
How to play, step by step
- Two teams. One player steps up in front of the group holding the phone.
- They read the card privately, put the phone down and start acting.
- No sound at all: no words, no noises, no finger snapping. No props from the room either, unless the group agreed beforehand.
- Their team guesses continuously. On a correct guess the actor taps Found and moves to the next card. Stuck? Skip.
- When the timer runs out, sixty seconds by default, adjustable in the settings, the recap lists the cards found and skipped. Pass the phone to the other team.
- An actor who speaks loses the card. No second chance.
Variants
- Chain charades. The first player acts for the second, who repeats it for the third, and so on. The last one says what they understood. Worth the detour.
- One guess only. The team gets a single guess per card. The silence before the answer is worth every laugh.
- Statue. The actor cannot move around, only arms and face.
Playing tips
- Agree on a gesture for the category first: film, object, action. Without it the opening rounds go nowhere.
- The timer starts at sixty seconds. Drop it to forty-five in the settings if the room is flagging: a charades round that drags kills the energy.
- Standing up, always. A seated mime is not a mime.
Frequently asked questions
Sixty seconds, the app's default. The timer is adjustable from five seconds to five minutes in the settings, and forty-five suits a group that knows the game.
Traditionally no, and it plays better that way: the constraint forces invention. Decide before the first round, not during it.
Yes: one acts, one guesses. The app sets no minimum and no maximum. At three you play without teams, the actor against the clock, and the game is much better from six players up.
Other games
13 party games. One app.
Forbidden Words, Guess in X Words, Charades, Puppet Charades, Directed Charades, Headbands, Hum the Song, Sing the Song, Spicy Questions, Debates, Drawing Game, Imposter and Whose Photo Is This?