Telestrations - Tips & Strategies

If there are a lot of people try playing this game in pairs. Neither person can say anything about what they are doing but you will see many exasperated expression and gestures and arguments when the round is done. It is a laugh particularly if the pairs are a couple to begin with.

If you’re playing with your family, the included cards are safe and generally fairly easy to translate from drawing to guess and back.

If you’re playing with friends, have people write their own word or phrase. It’s generally more difficult to guess and I’ve seen far funnier outcomes with this method.

This game is about communication more than it is about art. Drawing with a timed budget limits the amount of information you send. Therefore, you must use every marker stroke to its fullest efficiency.

Draw the simplest image you can that will still get your ideas passed on. Stick figures and two-dimensional representations are often more effective than elaborate depictions, which take longer to detail. Skilled artists are sometimes at a disadvantage in this game because they attempt to portray a true image which tends to take more time and causes them to leave out key information.

Telestrations is a great party game that can be played by pretty much any group, regardless of drawing ability (in fact, people that can’t draw at all – like me! – seem to enjoy it quite a bit).

With all of the groups I’ve shown this game to, we’ve never found a need to worry about the scoring. Scoring makes the rules explanation longer (while without scoring discussion the rules can take under 1 minute) and increases the time before one game ends, and the next begins.

Get all of the fun without the scoring/voting headaches. Skip the scoring and the enjoy the game!

We don’t bother with the points at the end of each round, it is faster and funnier to be able to just see what other people draw. Rounds fly by and are enjoyable when you don’t have to decide who gets a random point.