Overview

Charades is a lively and fun party game where players must act out a word or action without speaking, while their team tries to guess what they are miming. It’s a perfect game for groups of all sizes and ages, starting from 6 years old.

Objective

The goal of the game is for the acting player to convey a word, phrase, or action to their team without speaking or using any sounds. The team must guess the correct word or phrase within a limited amount of time.

Game Setup

1. Players: 4 to unlimited.
2. Teams: Divide players into two teams. If there are more players, you can create additional teams.
3. Word/Phrase Cards: Prepare a set of cards or slips of paper with words or phrases written on them. These can be actions, objects, famous people, movie titles, etc.
4. Timer: A timer set to one minute for each round.

How to Play

1. Select the Actor: Each team selects one player to be the actor for the round. The actor cannot speak or make any sounds.
2. Draw a Card: The actor draws a card from the prepared stack and reads the word or phrase silently.
3. Start the Timer: Set the timer to one minute. The actor must start acting out the word or phrase immediately.
4. Guessing: The actor’s team tries to guess the word or phrase based on the actor’s gestures and actions.
5. Scoring:
   • If the team guesses correctly within the time limit, they earn a point.
   • If the time runs out and the team hasn’t guessed correctly, no points are awarded.
6. Switch Teams: After the round, the other team gets a turn. Repeat the process with a new actor.

Rules

• No Speaking or Sounds: The actor must remain silent and cannot use any sounds.
• No Pointing to Objects: The actor cannot point to objects in the room or on their body.
• No Spelling Out Words: The actor cannot spell out the word using gestures.
• Specific Clues: The actor can use gestures to indicate:
  • Number of words (holding up fingers)
  • Which word they are acting out (holding up fingers to indicate first, second, etc.)
  • Sounds like (tugging on earlobe)
• Challenges: If a team feels a word or phrase is too difficult, they can use one pass per game.

Winning the Game

The game continues until each player has had a turn acting or until a predetermined number of rounds are completed. The team with the most points at the end of the game wins.

Tips for a Fun Game

• Prepare a variety of word cards to keep the game interesting.
• Include words and phrases suitable for all age groups playing.
• Encourage creative and exaggerated acting to make guessing easier and more fun.