How it works
This charades generator deals one thing to act out at a time from a deck of 1,140 ideas: everyday actions, animals, jobs, machines, films, books, songs and sayings. Pick a topic and a level and pass the phone to the actor, who presses Play a 1-minute round. Team scores are built in, and the whole list is printed below.
Read the full guide
Run a round from one phone
The first card is already on screen, so choose before anyone looks: under Topic, tap one topic or All, and pick Easy, Medium or Hard. The actor reads the card, turns the screen away and presses Play a 1-minute round. After each correct guess the actor presses Next card. When time is up the end card says how many cards the team got through. Press +1 under the team once for each.
Signals and house rules worth agreeing first
Charades has no official rulebook, so settle the basics before the first card: no speaking, no mouthing words, no spelling in the air and no pointing at things. Then teach the signals. Hold up fingers for the number of words. Lay fingers on the inside of your other elbow for syllables and tug an earlobe for "sounds like". Crank an old film camera for a film, open your palms for a book, pretend to sing for a song and draw a rectangle in the air for a TV show. Touch your nose and point when a guess is exactly right.
Check the deck before the party
All 1,140 ideas are printed under the generator in their 14 categories, so you can read the deck before guests arrive. The small lines give the author of each book and the meaning of each saying, which helps when a younger player is dealt Crocodile tears. Scores and the cards already played are kept on this phone, so a closed tab loses nothing. Start over clears them, and after twelve quiet hours the deck is full again.
- Start a new group on Easy cards from Animals or Everyday actions. Once the room is loud, switch to Films or Sayings.
- For mixed ages, set Easy when a child is up and Hard when an adult is. Changing the level takes one tap and the scores stay put.
- Sayings are the hardest group. Act the whole picture first (rain, then cats, then dogs) before you break it into words.
Questions and answers
How many people do you need for charades?
Four is enough for two teams of two, and the game stays lively up to about twenty. With three players, drop the teams: one acts, two guess, and whoever gets it acts next. The end card scores two teams.
What are the rules of charades?
There is no single official set. The acted game grew out of a riddle game in the early nineteenth century, and families have kept their own versions since. The common core: split into teams, one player silently acts a word or phrase, teammates guess before the time runs out, and a correct guess scores one point.
Is this charades word generator safe for kids?
Yes. Every card was written to be read aloud in front of children and grandparents, with nothing rude and nothing that mocks anyone. Some cards are too hard for small children, so choose Easy, which keeps to one clear motion such as Penguin or Brushing your teeth. Players under ten have their own deck in the charades generator for kids.
What do easy, medium and hard mean?
Easy is one clear motion a six-year-old knows: an animal, a sport, a morning routine. Medium needs two or three beats, such as Folding a fitted sheet or Lighthouse keeper. Hard means abstract ideas, long titles and sayings, such as Jet lag or Barking up the wrong tree. The deck holds 311 easy, 547 medium and 282 hard cards. The levels are our judgment, so skip freely.
Can I use it as a charades ideas generator for paper slips?
Yes. On the end card, Print gives slips, up to 120 at a time. Pick a topic or a level first to print only those cards. A mix that works for most family parties is ten animals, ten everyday actions, ten jobs and five films.