How to Play Charades

Co-authored by wikiHow Staff

Charades is a game suitable for all ages. It involves acting out words or phrases written on a slip of paper. The object is to get your team to guess the answer using gestures alone. That’s right, when a player is acting out the word or phrase, they aren’t allowed to talk! This game requires little preparation, a lot of imagination, and is great for a laugh.

Things You Should Know

To set up, write phrases onto paper slips and fold them up before placing them in a container; divide into teams and set a time limit for players.
Convey general info first and act things out until your team guesses correctly, playing until you run out of paper prompts.
Discuss common gestures with players and express categories with standard gestures; encourage teammates when they’re on the right track.

Method 1

Method 1 of 3:

Setting up the Game

1
Divide players into even teams. Technically, you don’t need even teams to play, but every extra person on the other team is one more person who might guess the answer. Once teams are decided, have each team head to a separate room, or at least opposite sides of the same room.^{[1]
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- Alternatively, you could play a less competitive version of this game where players act out a word or phrase and anyone can answer. The person who gets it right first is usually the next to act things out.
- If you aren’t playing with teams, you can have the player act out a phrase they have picked out on their own. This can simplify the game by eliminating the need for slips of paper.
2
Write phrases or words on slips of paper. Now that teams are in different rooms (or at least on opposite sides), write out common words or phrases on slips of paper with a pen or pencil. Keep these secret! These phrases will be given to the opposite team to draw at random when it’s their turn.
- There are six common categories in traditional charades: book titles, movies, TV shows, song titles, plays, and well-known quotes or phrases.
- Generally, long phrases and foreign phrases are not allowed. When in doubt, poll your teammates. If half have heard it before, it should be fine.
- Avoid writing down a single proper name on the slip. Without context, if a player doesn’t know who the person is, they’ll have a difficult time.^{[2]
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3
Fold slips in half and put them in a container. You’re almost ready to get started. Fold each of the slips of paper in half so the word or phrase is hidden. Put these slips in a container and rejoin the other team in the room you’ll play the game. Exchange containers, but don’t look at the slips of paper!^{[3]
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- Baskets or hats are commonly used as containers for the slips, but in a pinch, you can get creative. Pull an empty drawer from a coffee table or use a pillowcase.
4
Select the starting team with a coin toss and set a time limit. Flip a coin to determine which team goes first (or something similar). Each round usually has a set amount of time, but you can adjust this depending on the age group and skill level of players. Two minutes might be a good starting time limit.
- If you don’t mind rounds going on for a long time, you don’t have to use a time limit. In this situation, teams would try to guess until they gave up.
- At this point, you might want to agree upon a penalty for anyone who speaks when they should only be gesturing. For example, you might deduct a half point or forfeit the round.

Method 2

Method 2 of 3:

Jumping into the Competition

1
Have the starting player draw a slip. The team that won the coin toss starts things off. They should choose a single player to act out a slip first. All players on a team must act out a slip at least once before anyone can go for a second turn.
- If you have difficulty deciding who goes first, have the winner of a quick rock, paper, scissors tournament select a strip and get the game started.
2
Convey general info to help your team narrow down their guesses. Things like the category and the number of words in the phrase will give your teammates a better idea of where to focus their guesses. You can come up with gestures all your own, but usually:
- Holding up a number of fingers at the start of a turn indicates the total number of words.
- Following this with another number of fingers indicates the word you’ll first act out.
- Laying a number of fingers on your arm indicates the number of syllables for the word.
- Sweeping your arms broadly through the air indicates “the entire concept.”^{[4]
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3
Act things out until your team gets it right or you run out of time. Some gestures you think will work out great turn out to be a dud. Don’t be afraid to switch to a new gesture. The more hints you give your team with gestures, the more likely they’ll be to figure it out.
- When your team guesses the answer, the round ends and your team gets a point. Then the other team repeats this process.
- If your team doesn’t guess the answer and time runs out, your team passes the turn without getting a point, then the other team tries.
4
Play until you run out of slips or there is a clear winner. If you and your friends are having fun, you don’t have to stop when you run out! Split up and write up some new slips. In some cases, there might be a few really good players on one team, making things imbalanced. Reshuffle teams to make things more fair.

Method 3

Method 3 of 3:

Mastering Common Gestures

1
Discuss common gestures with all players. Common gestures allow you to bypass concepts you'll have to express each turn, like categories, so you can get to the good stuff. But it would be unfair if a few players didn't know these, so run through common gestures with all players before starting.
2
Express categories with standard gestures. Because every word or phrase will fall into a category, it helps to have standard gestures for these. This way you don’t have to waste time thinking up a unique gesture on the spot and can instead focus on gestures useful for the words on the slip.
- Indicate book titles by unfolding your hands, as though opening a book.
- Gesture as though you are cranking old fashioned camera for movies.
- Draw a square or rectangle in front of you to signify TV shows.
- Pretend to sing (without actually singing) for song titles.
- Pull on a rope to raise a theatre curtain to indicate plays.
- Make air quotes with your fingers when your slip has a quote or phrase.^{[5]
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3
Encourage guesses on the right track. When a teammate is close, allow excitement to show on your face. Use the distance between your fingers or hands to indicate closeness. To discourage teammates on the wrong track, point at them and shake your head “No” or form an X with your arms.
- If a teammate is on a roll and they seem like they might say the right word, use a beckoning “come here” gesture or roll your hands in a circle.
- Moving your hands farther apart usually means “more,” but in some cases, this can also mean the word is “bigger,” like when it has a prefix or suffix.
4
Guide teammates to the right tense or form of words. In some situations, your teammates might have the right word, but it might not be in the right tense, or it may need to be plural when they've said it in the singular. When a teammate is close, point to them and then:
- Link your little fingers together to indicate a word is plural.
- Wave your hand behind you in a “way back” gesture for past tense. Do the opposite of this for future tense.^{[6]
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5
Use similar sounding words to your advantage. By cupping your hand to an ear, you’ll signal to your team that you’re only acting out a word that sounds like the one you’re working on. After that gesture, if you pointed to your eye, it would be obvious the word you’re working on is “I.”^{[7]
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6
Improve your game with practice and speed. The faster you clearly gesture, the more quickly your team will be able to guess your phrase. Practice by playing Charades often so gestures come to you naturally, without wasting time thinking.
- If you have difficulty clearly expressing yourself through gestures and you really want to get good, take an improv class or a mime class.

Community Q&A

Question

What's the allotted time for charades?

sayyida rania

Community Answer

You may select the time, but mostly people do it for a minute.
Question

Can you signal how many letters are in a word?

Community Answer

To signal the letters in Charades, hold the appropriate amount of fingers to your forehead; hold them to your arm for syllables; and in the air for the amount of words. You also may hold your hand to your ear for "sounds like," or make a pinching motion for "short word."
Question

How do you earn points?

Community Answer

When someone guesses the answer correctly, they get a point and then it's their turn to act.