Drawing Game Word Generator With a Timer and Team Scores: how it works
This drawing game word generator deals one word to draw at a time from a deck of 1,083: animals, food, household objects, places, machines, make-believe, two-part words, tricky ideas and sayings. Pick a topic and a level, press Start round and hand the phone to the drawer. It works for Pictionary-style drawing games on paper or a whiteboard, and every word is original and printed below.
Run a round from one phone
The first word is already on screen, so set the topic and the level before the drawer looks. The drawer reads the card, turns the screen away from the team and presses Start round. Sixty seconds is the default, the length of the sand timer in the classic boxed game, and 90 seconds is kinder for sayings. After a correct guess the drawer taps Next card; Skip puts a word back in the deck. When time is up the page says how many cards were played. Tap +1 beside the team's name once for each.
Drawing rules and the symbols worth agreeing first
The core rules are short: no letters, no numbers, no spoken clues and no pointing at real objects in the room. Symbols are the gray area, so settle them before the first card. Many tables allow arrows, a plus sign between two pictures and dashes for the number of words; others ban every mark that is not a picture. For a two-part word such as Keyhole, draw a key, a plus and a hole. For an all-play round, show one card to a drawer from every team, and the first team to guess takes the point. With an odd number of players, one person can draw for both teams.
Read the deck before the party
All 1,083 words are printed under the generator in their 14 groups. In that list, each of the 46 tricky ideas has a note that suggests a way in (Gravity: an apple, a tree and a downward arrow), and each of the 61 sayings has its meaning in plain words. Tick No repeats tonight and a word stays out of play until the deck runs dry. Team names, scores and played cards are kept in this browser only, so a closed tab loses nothing. Reset scores clears the board.
Tips
- Open with Easy words from Animals or Food and drink. One object, ten seconds a card, and the room learns the pace.
- Draw the setting first. A Lighthouse is only a tower until there are waves under it.
- Draw big and keep moving. A rough second attempt beats a careful first one.
- Short of paper? A whiteboard or the back of a roll of wrapping paper works.
- Tick Sound before the first round. The phone beeps when time is up, so the drawer can watch the paper and not the clock.
Questions and answers
Can I use this as a Pictionary word generator?
Yes, for the drawing and the guessing. It is an independent tool with its own 1,083 original words, not the official game, and it is not affiliated with the makers. The boxed game adds a board, a die and word categories tied to the squares. Here you score with +1 and play to a total, such as first team to 15.
What do easy, medium and hard mean?
Easy is one object a six-year-old can draw in ten seconds: Snail, Teapot, Kite. Medium drawing game words need a second object or a small scene, such as Doorbell, Toll booth or Tightrope walker. Hard words have no shape of their own: Deadline, Echo, In a pickle. The deck holds 226 easy, 563 medium and 294 hard words. The levels are our judgment, so skip freely.
How many players do you need?
Four makes two teams of two, which is the classic setup. With three, one player draws, two race to guess, and the winner draws next. Big groups work well because only one person draws at a time. Add a team makes room for up to four teams, and a team can be any size.
Can kids play with this deck?
Yes. Every word can be read aloud in front of children and grandparents. For players under eight, set the level to Easy and keep to Animals, Food and drink or Transport and machines. Sayings, Two-part words and Tricky ideas are written for teenagers and adults, so leave those topics alone while young children are drawing.
Can I get random drawing game words without the timer?
Yes. Leave Start round alone and press Next card whenever you want a new word, which turns the page into a plain drawing game generator with no clock. For slips in a bowl, the full list below is sorted by topic: copy twenty words that suit your guests onto paper and fold them.