How to Play Charades at Home

How do you play charades at home?

Write familiar words or short phrases on folded slips, split into two teams, and give each actor 60 seconds to help their team guess one prompt without speaking, making sounds, writing, using props or touching anyone. A correct guess earns one point. Alternate teams until each willing actor has taken one turn; the higher score wins and equal scores are a tie. Anyone who does not want to act can guess, keep time, score or screen prompts.

What do you need for home charades?

Use materials already in the house:

• 12 equal-size slips of plain paper;
• one thick pen or pencil;
• an opaque bowl, bag or hat;
• a phone timer or kitchen timer;
• one score sheet.

If you want another low-preparation option for the same table, see paper games for family night.

Paper slips, pen caps and counters are small parts. An adult should supervise young children, collect every slip after play and keep all materials away from pets. Use a large score sheet instead of loose scoring tokens.

Clear the acting area first

Choose a flat, dry patch of floor that every player can see. Move bags, low tables, cables, drinks, toys and pet bowls out of the route. Keep the actor away from stairs, doors, heaters, fireplaces, glass, sharp furniture corners and hanging lights. Seat guessers outside the acting boundary.

State the movement rules plainly:

• no running, jumping, climbing or standing on furniture;
• no throwing objects or pretending with a real object;
• no contact with another player, child or pet;
• no blindfolds or movements that block the actor’s view;
• stop immediately when the host or any player says “stop.”

An actor can make any clue smaller, slower or seated. A prompt that appears to require unsafe movement is passed without penalty. The Scouts’ charades activity likewise tells leaders to clear hazards, explain the rules and establish a clear stop signal for an active game.

Make prompts that the whole group can guess

Each person privately writes the same number of prompts, or the host prepares all 12. A good prompt is:

• known to both teams;
• one to four words long for a mixed-age first game;
• possible to mime without equipment or contact;
• free from private, humiliating or frightening material;
• legible in large print.

Screen every slip before folding it. Remove duplicates, illegible wording and anything that targets a player’s body, health, culture, family or personal history. Replace it with a prompt at the same difficulty. Do not announce who wrote a removed prompt.

For young children or non-readers, use simple picture cards prepared by an adult. The host can say the prompt quietly where guessers cannot hear, or let the actor point to one of several hidden pictures. Participation never requires reading aloud.

Use this closed base setup

These rules create a complete game without a commercial card set:

1. Clear the acting area and agree on the stop signal.
2. Divide the group into two teams as evenly as possible.
3. Prepare and screen 12 prompts, fold each once and mix them in one opaque container.
4. Choose a 60-second timer and write the acting order for both teams.
5. Team A sends its first willing actor; Team B’s first actor follows.
6. Alternate teams until every willing actor has taken one turn.
7. Award one point for a prompt guessed before time expires.
8. After equal numbers of turns, add the points. The higher total wins; equal totals are a shared tie.

If the teams have different numbers of willing actors, the smaller team chooses actors for repeat turns only after everyone willing has acted once. End after both teams have completed the same number of turns. Do not give one team an extra scoring turn.

What happens during a turn?

The opposing team’s timekeeper controls the timer while the actor’s team guesses.

1. The actor draws one slip and reads it privately.
2. If the prompt is unsuitable, illegible or unfamiliar, the actor gives it to the host and draws a screened replacement. No point is lost.
3. The actor enters the marked area and signals readiness.
4. The timekeeper starts 60 seconds.
5. The actor gives legal silent clues while their team calls as many guesses as it wants.
6. The actor may point to their nose or nod when a guess is correct, and the timer stops.
7. If time expires first, the actor stops immediately and shows the slip.
8. The scorekeeper records one point for a correct answer or zero for an unsolved prompt, then the other team begins.

There is no stealing in this base game. An unsolved prompt is revealed and retired, so turns stay equal and the endpoint remains clean. If you add a steal, announce before setup whether it is one guess and whether it is worth a point.

What clues are allowed?

The actor may use facial expressions, posture, hand gestures and movement that stays inside the safe area. They may mime an action, show relative size with their hands, indicate the number of words with fingers, or show which word they are working on. They may cup a hand behind an ear to mean “sounds like,” then mime the sound-alike idea without producing a sound.

The actor may not:

• speak, whisper, hum, whistle or make sound effects;
• mouth a word or silently form letters with their lips;
• write, draw, spell or trace letters or numbers in the air;
• point at an object in the room as the answer or use a prop;
• show the slip, phone or reflection to a guesser;
• touch or position another person;
• confirm individual letters spoken by guessers.

What happens after a rule violation?

Use the same repair for both teams.

• Accidental sound or spoken word: stop the turn, retire the prompt and record zero points.
• Unsafe movement or contact: stop immediately; the turn ends with zero points. Reset the area before play continues.
• Actor uses a prop, points at the answer or traces a letter: stop, retire the prompt and record zero.
• Timer fails: replay the turn with a new prompt and a working timer; the failed attempt does not score.
• Two guesses arrive together at time: the timekeeper accepts a complete correct answer that began before the signal. Otherwise the prompt is unsolved.
• Prompt was incorrectly screened: remove it, give the same actor a replacement and restart the full 60 seconds.

The host decides procedure, not whether a vague answer is “close enough.” Before play, say whether articles such as “the” matter and whether a character’s surname alone is sufficient. Apply that standard to both teams.

Let people participate without acting

Nobody has to mime. Ask for willing actors rather than assigning turns around the room. A non-acting player can choose one role for the whole game:

• timekeeper, with an audible and visible end signal;
• scorekeeper, using large marks;
• prompt screener, working with the host before play;
• slip reader, privately telling an actor the prompt;
• guesser, seated with the team;
• safety checker, confirming the floor is clear between turns.

Scouts explicitly suggests offering help or choosing another actor when someone does not wish to mime. Do not require a player to explain, perform with a partner or accept a helper before they may decline. Pair acting is available only when both people want it, and both follow the no-contact boundary.

For someone who acts seated, choose prompts that can be communicated with the face, hands and upper body. Put the actor where all guessers can see without standing in a walkway. Players may guess by speech, sign, writing, pointing to a word board or using a communication device; decide how the scorekeeper will recognize a complete answer before the timer starts.

How do you choose an age-appropriate difficulty?

Change the prompt pool before changing the rules.

For younger children, use visible categories, concrete nouns and everyday actions: rabbit, brushing teeth, rain, opening a present. Let the host read the prompt and accept the familiar everyday name. Keep turns short if attention fades, but use the same time for both teams.

For mixed ages, avoid prompts that depend on one generation’s celebrities, a school curriculum or mature films. Ask each team to reject any unfamiliar category before slips are written. An adult should supervise all paper, writing tools and movement throughout play.

For experienced players, add longer titles or abstract actions while preserving the same clue boundary. Difficulty should come from communicating the prompt, not from unsafe stunts, private references or a word no one can reasonably know.

How does the game end?

The base game ends after both teams have completed equal numbers of turns and every willing actor has had one opportunity before anyone repeats. Count the recorded points once. The higher score wins; equal scores remain a tie. There is no surprise tie-break and no extra turn for the team that played second.

If the group agreed to a fixed number of turns instead, write that number before starting and still give both teams the same total. Stop when the agreed endpoint arrives, collect all slips, cap pens, clear the floor and put small materials away from children and pets.

Sources

• University of Maryland: Rules for the Game of Charades
• Scouts: Word or Phrase Charades
• Texas 4-H: Communication Connection, Silent Movies
• Alabama Cooperative Extension System: PREP Charades