Pictionary

01Discover the game

Pictionary is a game of teams where words are guessed with quick drawings. The cartoonist does not look for a beautiful work: he builds an idea that his partners can recognize before the end of the hourglass. A clumsy but clear sketch is often more useful than a magnificent drawing started too slowly.

The overall difficulty is Medium, because you have to choose the right signs, listen to the assumptions and work together. This tutorial follows the edition to two teams Mattel DKD47, notice ©2015, with adult and junior cards and circuit board. The words of the DKD47 package consulted are English; a French-speaking box must use its own compatible package. This is neither Pictionary Air nor an edition where it simply chooses a category without moving on the set.

02Equipment

The DKD47 notice shows 120 adult cards, 80 junior cards, 2 card boxes, 4 category cards, 2 eraseable felts, 2 slates, 1 tray, 2 pawns, 1 hourglass and 1 dice. A hourglass gives one minute per drawing. Category cards are removed from the package before playing.

Each team uses a slate and felt. The adult categories are Object, Person/Location/Animal, Action, Difficult and Popular Culture, associated with the printed colors. Junior cards display a category at the top and words in color bands. An educational drawing can represent these tapes and the link to the box of the tray, without copying the commercial lists.

03The goal

Advance your pawn from the Start box to the Arrival box, then win a final drawing All play with the control of the dice. The course progresses thanks to the words found, not thanks to an automatic launch at the beginning of each round. Getting to the finish is necessary, but therefore not enough to win.

04Preparing the teams

Make up two teams with at least one drawer and one partner who guesses in each. More participants can join a team; the printed number "two teams" is not a limit to two people. Each team takes a pawn on Departure, a slate, a felt and a category helper.

Separate adult and junior packages in their boxes. If a team has a young player, the package leaflet provides that they always use the junior package. Place the hourglass within reach of everyone. Each team chooses its first drawer and launches the dice to determine who starts: the biggest result starts. In case of equality at this single draw, our agreement is to restart between the teams concerned.

Before playing, set the expected accuracy: do you accept "bike" for "bike", a family name alone, a singular instead of a plural? Decide it together, without changing the requirement according to the team.

05Drawing, guessing and moving forward

Select Word

At first, the box is yellow: the first word belongs to the yellow category. We don't start the dice to move forward before this first drawing. The draftsman takes a card, secretly looks at the word corresponding to the color of the box where his pawn is located, then prepares his slate. With a junior card, he announces the category of the top, but not the word to draw.

Turn the hourglass: the team has a minute to guess. Partners can offer several answers. The cartoonist remains silent and sketches; he does not mime and does not make any gestures to help outside the drawing.

After success or failure

If the word is found in time, the team will keep hands, launch the dice and advance its pawn of the number indicated. She chooses a new draftsman, takes a new card and plays the category corresponding to her new box. The draftsmen change to each new word. As long as she succeeds, therefore, a team can chain several drawings and moves.

If it fails, the dice goes to the other team. This team starts directly by drawing a word corresponding to its own current box: it does not start the dice to move forward before it succeeds. Several pawns can occupy the same box.

The boxes All play

If a team arrives in a All play box, a draftsman of each team looks at the same word and the two teams search simultaneously. The color of this box determines the word. If one of the draftsmen is junior, use the junior package for both teams.

The first team to find immediately gains control of the dice, throws it, advances it and continues with a new word. If no one finds it during the minute, the control passes to the team that had not arrived on the All play box; it starts again from its own box, without starting to move forward.

The Joker boxes and the drawings allowed

In a Joker box, the drawer can choose the category of the adult card and must announce it before drawing. With a junior card, he can choose the word. The rules allow the associations of ideas, the cutting of a word into drawn elements and the words that have the same sound.

They prohibit letters, numbers, dashes indicating the number of letters, speech, sign language and the gesture of the ear for "it looks like the sound of". A calendar drawing with numbers therefore remains forbidden, even if the numbers appear only decorative.

06A series of tricks

The team of Alice starts on the yellow box. Alice draws a handle and a container; Bob proposes "cup", the word chosen for this exercise. They find before the end of the minute. They then throw 4, advance by four boxes and Bob becomes a draftsman. Their new box imposes an Action category. If they fail this time, the opposing team starts with a card tied to its own box, without going forward first.

Later, the two teams draw the same word on a box All play. Chloe's partners find the first: his team recovers the dice, even if the other one had triggered the challenge. This difference is important: All play can completely change the pace of the course.

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07Win the last drawing

It is not necessary to get an exact account to reach the Arrival box. This box is a All play. To win, the already arrived team must have control of the dice and be the first to guess this last drawing. If it wins a All play cast during the opposing round, it only recovers control: it must then pass its own final attempt.

If the other team finds it before it, this other team takes the dice and continues. If no one finds it, the control changes team. The teams still on the course follow their usual travels. There are no points of beauty or vote on the best drawing.

08Frequent errors

• Launch to move forward at the beginning of each round, even after a failure.
• Keep the same cartoonist during all the words of a team.
• Show the map to partners who have to guess.
• Write a letter or number to speed up a response.
• Forgetting that everyone plays can give the dice to the other team.
• Declare the victory from the finish on the last box.

09Tips for starting

Starts with the general idea, then adds the details required by the assumptions of your partners. An object often recognizes itself to two or three characteristic traits. Partners must say their ideas out loud; the cartoonist can then specify his drawing without talking.

The game is based on a living cooperation, not on a drawing contest. Rotate the roles and use the junior package when requested by the notice. A refused answer must be according to the precision agreement set at the beginning, not according to the desire to slow down the opponent.