Drawing games to play with friends

Split into two teams. One player draws a secret word while their team guesses before time runs out. No letters, numbers or talking. Score one point for each correct guess and switch teams.

Players: 4 or more. Supplies: paper or a whiteboard and a timer. Use our Pictionary word generator for words and a built-in timer, or pick from the Pictionary words list.

Everyone writes a short phrase at the top of a sheet and passes it on. The next player draws the phrase, folds the words out of sight and passes it again. The next player writes what they think the drawing shows, and so on. At the end, unfold each sheet and read how the idea changed.

Players: 4 to 10. Supplies: one long strip of paper per player and pencils.

Fold a sheet into three or four bands. The first player draws a head, leaving two small lines showing where the neck should continue, then folds it over. The next player draws a body without peeking, and the last draws legs. Unfold for a very strange creature. Artists have played this game for over a hundred years.

Players: 3 or 4 per sheet. Supplies: paper and markers.

Sit across from a partner. Draw their face without looking at your paper and without lifting your pencil. Give it one or two minutes. The results are funny and wobbly, and the game trains your eye to really look.

Players: 2 or more. Supplies: paper, pencils and a timer.

Two players sit back to back. One holds a simple picture and describes it without saying what it is, like "draw a big circle, then a triangle on top." The other draws from the instructions only. Compare the pictures at the end. It is a great listening game for classrooms.

Players: pairs. Supplies: simple printed or drawn pictures, paper and pencils.

Call out a subject, like a bicycle or a cat, and everyone draws it in one continuous line without lifting the pen. Vote for the clearest drawing and the funniest one. Make it harder with a 30-second limit.

Players: 2 or more. Supplies: pens and paper.

Everyone gets the same prompt and exactly one minute. When time is up, pencils down and show your drawings. Rotate who picks the prompt. The drawing prompt generator makes it easy to get a new idea each round.

Players: any number. Supplies: paper, pencils and a timer.

One player draws a random squiggle and hands it over. The other player turns the squiggle into a picture: an animal, a person, a vehicle, anything. Then swap roles. It is a favorite with young kids and works on a napkin while you wait for food.

Players: 2. Supplies: pen and paper.

Make a chart that matches each number on a die to a part of a monster or robot, such as 1 for one eye or 6 for six legs. Players roll for each body part and draw what the dice say. Everyone ends up with a totally different creature.

Players: 1 or more. Supplies: a die, paper and pencils.

Draw a strip of six empty boxes. The first player draws the opening panel, then passes the comic along. Each player adds the next panel of the story without talking about where it is going. Read the finished comic out loud together.

Players: 2 to 6. Supplies: paper and pens. Need a hero? Grab one from the random character generator.

• For two players: the squiggle game, back-to-back drawing or blind contour portraits.
• For a party: Pictionary-style guessing or the draw and describe chain.
• For kids: fold-over creatures, dice drawing and the squiggle game.
• With no drawing skill needed: all of them. Bad drawings make these games funnier.

Want a game without pencils? Try charades or the charades generator.