Pictionary

This article is about the game. For the 1989 game show, see Pictionary (1989 game show). For the 1997 game show, see Pictionary (1997 game show). For the video game, see Pictionary (video game).

Pictionary

Two unrelated drawings from an actual Pictionary game: for the clues "dragon" and "return address." The key is to draw just enough to get your teammate to figure out the clue.
Players	4 or more
Setup time	< 5 minutes
Playing time	1 hour
Chance	Medium
Age range	8 and up
Skills	Drawing, Team play

Pictionary is a guessing word game first published in 1985. The game is played with teams with players trying to identify specific words from their teammates' drawings.

Objective

Each team moves a piece on a game board formed by a sequence of squares. Each square has a letter or shape identifying the type of picture to be drawn on it. The objective is to be the first team to reach the last space on the board.

Gameplay

The team chooses one person to begin drawing; this position rotates with each word. The drawer chooses a card out of a deck of special Pictionary cards and tries to draw pictures which suggest the word printed on the card. The pictures cannot contain any numbers or letters. The teammates try to guess the word the drawing is intended to represent.

There are five types of squares on the board, and each Pictionary card has a list of five words printed on it. Players must draw the word which corresponds to the square on the board on which the team's marker is:

• P - Person/Place/Animal (or any noun) , or related characteristics
• O - Object (things that can be touched or seen)
• A - Action (things that can be performed)
• D - Difficult (challenging words)
• AP - All Play (any type of word)

AP category (and a few other words) are designated as "All Play". For "All Play," the teams compete against each other. Each team designates a player whose purpose will be to draw pictures. The team that guesses the word first gets to advance and take the next turn. If none of the teams guess the word, the turn passes to whichever team should have been next.

A one-minute timer, usually a sand timer, is used to compel players to rapidly complete their drawing and guessing.

Winning a turn

If a team wins its turn by correctly guessing a drawing inside the time interval, that team then rolls a die and advances that number of squares to take another turn. If the team runs out of the time allotted for guessing a word, that team does not advance and the next team takes a turn. Also, if the drawing member of a team draws an incorrect picture and the team guesses what s/he is drawing and s/he is caught, then that turn is awarded to the next team in line.

See also

• Sketch Onilne, a Pictionary-like online game over iPod/iPhone and Android mobile phone.
• iSketch, a Pictionary-like online game
• Pictionary (1989 game show) and Pictionary (game show), two television shows that were based on Pictionary
• Win, Lose or Draw, a game show with a similar concept to Pictionary
• Pictionary (video game)

External links

• GuessASketch, Online Pictionary in your browser.
• XSketch, Another Online Pictionary in your browser.
• Pictionary at BoardGameGeek
• Sketchorama and XSketch, pictionary-like online games
• PictionaryAttempts.com, share and discuss your Pictionary drawings.
• Sketcheee! on Facebook, Online pictionary on Facebook.