Quick winning principles
- Signal category first: draw a square for movie, wavy line for song, book shape for title.
- Use standardized shortcuts: stick figure + arrow = verb, X = no, checkmark = yes.
- Draw the hardest word first, then add context clues.
- Guessers should shout partial matches to narrow options.
Ideal strategy
- 1
Category signaling: first 3 seconds establish medium — film reel for movie, musical note for song, open book for book title. Saves 10+ seconds of guessing.
- 2
Drawing shortcuts: draw phonetic components for hard words (draw 'cat' for 'catalog'). Use number of syllables (hold up fingers) before drawing.
- 3
Time management: spend 5 seconds planning, 40 seconds drawing, 15 seconds refining. Never erase — cross out and redraw.
- 4
Guesser protocol: yell all associations immediately ('sounds like', 'type of', 'rhymes with'). Silence loses games.
- 5
All-play strategy: in all-play rounds, draw the most distinctive visual element — avoid abstract concepts.
- 6
Difficult words: for proper nouns, draw the most famous association (Eiffel Tower for Paris, not a map of France).