Guide
How to Play Charades
Charades is a game of gestures and quick guesses. Choose your categories, hand one phone to the actor, and race the clock — a point for every prompt the team lands before time runs out.
Play CharadesThe objective
Score more points than the other teams
Charades is played in teams. On each turn one player from the acting team mimes the prompt on the phone screen — no talking, no sound effects, no props — while their teammates shout guesses against a countdown. Every prompt the team says correctly before time runs out is one point.
Teams alternate turns until each has acted the number of rounds you set. The highest total wins; an exact tie for first is a draw. There is nothing to install and no account — open the game and set it up.
Setup
Categories, teams, timer, rounds
Pick any combination of the 15 word categories — the game shuffles every word from your chosen sets into one deck. Set the number of teams (one to six; a single team is solo or co-op practice) and how many rounds each team plays (one to five).
Choose a round length: 45 seconds for a fast game with experienced players, 60 for the classic pace, or 90 to 120 when playing with kids or the harder categories. Optionally switch on the pass penalty so each skip costs a point.
Controls
Tap, swipe, or use the keyboard
Every method does the same thing. Pick whichever fits the device in your hand.
Everywhere
Tap the card
A tap on the big prompt card counts the guess as correct, adds a point, and deals the next word. The card flashes green so the room knows it landed.
Everywhere
Pass button / swipe
Tap Pass — or swipe the card upward — to skip a prompt you cannot act. It deals the next word with no point, unless you switched on the optional pass penalty at setup.
Desktop
Keyboard
Space or the right arrow marks a correct guess, the up arrow or S passes, M mutes the sound, and Esc ends the current turn early. Every on-screen button also has a visible focus ring.
The turn
Four steps you repeat every round
- 1
Set up the match
Pick the word categories you want in the mix, choose a round length (45 to 120 seconds), and set how many teams are playing and how many rounds each team gets. One phone is all you need — it passes around the room.
- 2
Hand the phone to the actor
On each turn the handoff screen names the team. That team picks one person to act; everyone else on the team guesses. The actor takes the phone, taps to start, and the countdown begins.
- 3
Act it out — no talking
The actor mimes the prompt on screen using only gestures: no speaking, no mouthing words, no pointing at objects in the room. Standard signals help — hold up fingers for the number of words and syllables, cup a hand to your ear for "sounds like", and so on.
- 4
Guess, score, and pass
When the team says the prompt, tap the card (or press the space bar) to score a point and deal the next word. Stuck? Tap Pass to move on. When time runs out the round score is banked and the phone goes to the next team. Most points after all rounds wins.
Clue gestures
The standard charades hand signals
These signs are understood almost everywhere charades is played. Teach them once and every round runs faster.
Number of words
Hold up fingers for how many words are in the prompt, then hold up fingers again to show which word you are about to act (one finger = first word).
Syllables
Lay the matching number of fingers on your forearm to show how many syllables a word has, then act each syllable in turn.
“Sounds like”
Cup one hand behind your ear. The team then guesses a rhyming word and you steer them from there — a common bridge for hard prompts.
Category signals
Frame your face with your hands for a movie, mimic a book opening for a book or story, sing silently for a song, and box a rectangle in the air for a TV show.
Small word
Pinch thumb and forefinger close together for a short word like “a”, “the”, or “of”, so the team can drop it and focus on the rest.
Longer / shorter, close / keep going
Pull your hands apart for a longer word and together for a shorter one. Beckon with both hands for “you’re close, keep going”, and give a thumbs-up when they nail part of it.
Rules & scoring
Every rule that decides a point
The objective
Score more points than the other teams. A point is one prompt your team guesses correctly while you are acting, before the round timer runs out.
No talking, no props
The actor may not speak, whisper, mouth words, or make sounds, and may not point at objects or people in the room or use props. Only gestures and body movement are allowed.
The turn
One actor per team per turn. The prompt is on the phone screen, visible only to the actor. A correct guess scores and deals the next prompt; a pass deals the next prompt with no point (or minus one if the pass penalty is on).
The timer and scoring
Each round is a fixed 45, 60, 90, or 120 seconds. When it ends the round score is added to the team’s total. Teams alternate until each has acted the chosen number of rounds; the highest total wins, and an exact tie for first is shown as a draw.
House rules
Groups vary on whether the actor may act out a rhyming word, whether guessers can shout freely or must take turns, and how strict “close enough” is. Agree before you start. The game only enforces the timer and the score.
Common mistakes
Why easy prompts get missed
Miming the whole phrase at once
Trying to act a five-word title in one gesture leaves the team with nothing to grab. Show the word count, pick a word, and build it up piece by piece.
Guessers going silent
The actor is steering off your guesses. A quiet team gives them no signal. Keep a steady stream of guesses going, even bad ones.
Mouthing the word
It is the most common way to get a point disallowed. Keep your lips still and let your hands do the work.
Burning the clock on one prompt
Pride keeps actors fighting a hopeless word. The pass button exists for exactly this — take it and move on.
Strategy habits
Tips to score more per round
A summary — the full tips page walks through each in depth.
- Act the category first — movie, animal, action — so the team knows what kind of answer to shout.
- Break a long prompt into syllables and act the easiest one first to get the team talking.
- Use size and shape: draw the object in the air, show how heavy or tall it is, mime how you hold it.
- For a person, lock onto one signature move, pose, or catchphrase gesture rather than a full life story.
- Guessers should say every half-thought out loud — the actor can only react to guesses they can hear.
- When the team is close, slow down and exaggerate the missing piece instead of starting over.
- Pass early on a prompt you truly cannot act. Ten wasted seconds is a whole extra word next time.
Where you can play
One device, passed around the room
charadesgame.app runs in any modern browser with no app to install. Progress stays on the device you played on.
One phone, passed around
The whole game runs on a single device. Hold it in landscape or portrait, hand it to the actor at the start of each turn, and pass it on at the review screen. No second screen, no room code, no accounts.
Desktop or tablet on a table
On a laptop or tablet the actor can stand behind the screen while the team faces it, or use the keyboard shortcuts. The layout keeps the timer, prompt, and controls on one screen with no scrolling.
Records on this device
Matches played, total correct guesses, best single round, and best match score are saved in local browser storage. They stay until you reset them or clear site data, and they do not sync between devices.
Want the word lists first? Browse the categories or jump in and play.
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