Charades

Set up

Split into two or more teams of similar size. Give everyone three slips of paper and ask them to write a word or phrase on each: a movie, a book, a job, an animal, an everyday action. Fold the slips into a bowl. If you would rather skip the writing, use the charades generator and hand the phone to the actor.

Agree on the turn length. One minute is standard.

How to play

1. A player from the first team draws a slip and reads it silently.
2. Start the timer. The actor acts out the prompt for their own team without speaking, making sounds or pointing at objects in the room.
3. The team shouts guesses. The actor can nod, shake their head or beckon when a guess is close.
4. If the team gets it before the time runs out, they score a point. If not, nobody does.
5. The next team sends up an actor. Keep going until everyone has acted at least once, then count the points.

The standard gestures

These are optional, but they speed the game up once everyone knows them.

• Number of words: hold up that many fingers.
• Which word you are acting: hold up one finger for the first word, two for the second.
• Syllables: lay that many fingers on your forearm.
• Sounds like: cup a hand behind your ear.
• A small word such as “the” or “of”: hold thumb and finger close together.
• Movie, book, song: crank an old camera, open your hands like a book, or mime singing.

Ways to change it

• Reverse charades: the whole team acts and one player guesses. Good for shy groups, because nobody performs alone.
• Speed round: an actor gets through as many slips as they can in the minute, one point each.
• For young children: allow sound effects and stick to animals and actions. A grown-up can whisper the prompt to a child who cannot read yet.
• On a video call: send the prompt to the actor by private message and have them stand back from the camera.

Who it suits, and who it doesn’t

Charades works for almost any mixed-age group and needs no space beyond a patch of floor. It is a poor fit for a group of strangers in the first ten minutes of a party; warm up with something seated first. Do not push anyone to act. Let them be the timekeeper instead.