Charades has no single official rulebook, which is why every family plays it slightly differently and why every game has at least one argument. Here is the standard set, plus the variations worth agreeing on before you start.
The basic rules
- Split into two teams.
- One player from the active team takes a word or phrase and does not show it to anyone.
- A timer starts — one minute is standard.
- The actor mimes. No speaking, no mouthing words, no pointing at objects in the room, no writing, no lip-reading cues.
- Their team guesses out loud. A correct guess before time runs out scores a point.
- Turn passes to the other team.
First team to a set score wins, or play a fixed number of rounds each.
The hand signals
These are near-universal and worth running through before the first round, because half of all charades arguments are two people using the same gesture to mean different things.
| Signal | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Hold up N fingers | The phrase has N words |
| Hold up N fingers, then point | I am doing word number N now |
| N chops on your forearm | That word has N syllables |
| Tug your earlobe | Sounds like… |
| Pull hands apart | A longer form of that word |
| Push hands together | A shorter form of that word |
| Beckon with both hands | Keep going, you are close |
| Wave hands flat, palms down | Wrong direction, drop that idea |
| Thumb over shoulder | Past tense |
| Point at the floor | Present tense, happening now |
| Cross fingers | The word “and” or “the” |
The variations to settle up front
- Can the actor’s own team ask questions? Most groups say yes but the actor may only nod or shake their head.
- What happens on a pass? Some groups allow one skip per turn, some none. Decide before someone draws a word they hate.
- Do partial guesses count? If the phrase is “missing the bus” and someone shouts “bus”, is that a point? Agree first.
- Timer length. One minute for adults, ninety seconds or two minutes if children are playing.
Playing with children
Drop the syllable and “sounds like” signals — they confuse younger players and slow everything down. Use easy words that are actions or animals, give ninety seconds instead of sixty, and let the whole room guess rather than just one team. The
charades generator Easy level is built for this.
Playing with a hat instead of a phone
Print a word list, cut it into slips, fold them into a bowl. This works better with big groups because everyone can watch one timer while the words come from the bowl. Tap
Show printable list on the generator to get a page you can print directly.