How is drawing mode different from charades mode?

Each prompt has separate acting and drawing tags. In the original deck, Charades deals 266 prompts that act well without props and Drawing deals 242 that can be sketched without letters. Barcode belongs to drawing, while Walking a dog that will not walk belongs to charades. The chips under each card show both tags.

How are the difficulty levels decided?

Easy, Medium and Hard are hand-chosen labels. Easy uses more concrete prompts, Medium asks for a little more planning, and Hard includes abstract ideas or less obvious actions. Adults and teens can use any level; familiarity with a film also affects how easy its title feels.

Can the same prompt come up twice in one game?

Each matching prompt is dealt once before the deck reshuffles. Pass returns the current card to the deck, so it may come back later. Changing the deck, game, category or difficulty starts a fresh round.

How do I play with a mixed-age group?

Choose Easy in the Original prompts deck for a children’s or family game, then use Actions, Animals or Objects for concrete ideas such as Brushing your teeth, Elephant and Umbrella. A host can use Pass if a player does not know a prompt. Feelings and ideas is more abstract: its prompts act reasonably well, but none of the hard ones draw at all, so Hard in Drawing mode asks you to choose another difficulty or switch to Charades.

How does the timer work?

It starts at 60 seconds. Enter whole seconds up to 600, or 0 to turn it off. Press the clock to start or stop it. While running, each new card restarts the clock. It uses elapsed time while the tab is open and does not keep scores.

Does this generate actual movie names?

Yes. Choose Movie titles for 22 real films, including Jaws, Toy Story and The Wizard of Oz. The original Film and TV moments category contains described scenes and tropes. The title deck has no TV-show, book, song, franchise or genre filter.

Can I use the prompts for reverse, team or video-call charades?

Yes. In reverse charades, several players act the card while one person guesses. For team or telephone charades, pass the same action along the group. For Zoom or another video call, have the actor view the prompt privately and keep the camera wide enough for the action; do not share the prompt with the guessers.

Can I make a printable charades list?

Use Next card to collect the prompts you want, then Copy round to copy the numbered list. Paste it into a document to print or cut into slips. The page reveals one card at a time; it does not create a laid-out sheet of printable cards.

Does it work on a phone or in a browser?

The generator runs in a current browser on iPhone, Android, Windows, Mac or Chromebook. No account or installation is needed. On a computer, press Space for the next card when focus is outside the controls.

Where do prompts and saved settings come from?

The original prompts were written for this tool, and the separate movie deck lists existing titles. Everything runs locally in your browser. Settings you change are remembered for this page; drawing and other preset pages keep separate settings. The cards dealt in a round stay on screen until you leave or start a new round.

Charades Generator

Generate charades words, phrases and ideas for a party or classroom. Choose a category and difficulty, reveal one card at a time, and use the timer if you want a time limit. The Original prompts deck holds 320 authored prompts across eight categories; Movie titles offers a separate deck of real film names.

No card yet

Press Deal, or the space bar, for a card

Deck

Game

Category

Difficulty

Timer

Press Deal for the first card.

Press Space for the next card without reaching for the mouse. The timer is whatever you type in seconds, up to 600, and 0 turns it off; it starts when you press it and never on its own, and it restarts on each new card while it is running. Pass puts the card back in the deck, so it can come round again later in the round.

Accuracy. The original and Christmas prompt decks were written for this tool; Movie titles uses real film titles. All prompts are tagged by hand for acting, drawing and difficulty. Difficulty is a judgement rather than a measurement and depends on your group’s references.

Common questions

How is drawing mode different from charades mode?: Each prompt has separate acting and drawing tags. In the original deck, Charades deals 266 prompts that act well without props and Drawing deals 242 that can be sketched without letters. Barcode belongs to drawing, while Walking a dog that will not walk belongs to charades. The chips under each card show both tags.
How are the difficulty levels decided?: Easy, Medium and Hard are hand-chosen labels. Easy uses more concrete prompts, Medium asks for a little more planning, and Hard includes abstract ideas or less obvious actions. Adults and teens can use any level; familiarity with a film also affects how easy its title feels.
Can the same prompt come up twice in one game?: Each matching prompt is dealt once before the deck reshuffles. Pass returns the current card to the deck, so it may come back later. Changing the deck, game, category or difficulty starts a fresh round.
How do I play with a mixed-age group?: Choose Easy in the Original prompts deck for a children’s or family game, then use Actions, Animals or Objects for concrete ideas such as Brushing your teeth, Elephant and Umbrella. A host can use Pass if a player does not know a prompt. Feelings and ideas is more abstract: its prompts act reasonably well, but none of the hard ones draw at all, so Hard in Drawing mode asks you to choose another difficulty or switch to Charades.
How does the timer work?: It starts at 60 seconds. Enter whole seconds up to 600, or 0 to turn it off. Press the clock to start or stop it. While running, each new card restarts the clock. It uses elapsed time while the tab is open and does not keep scores.
Does this generate actual movie names?: Yes. Choose Movie titles for 22 real films, including Jaws, Toy Story and The Wizard of Oz. The original Film and TV moments category contains described scenes and tropes. The title deck has no TV-show, book, song, franchise or genre filter.
Can I use the prompts for reverse, team or video-call charades?: Yes. In reverse charades, several players act the card while one person guesses. For team or telephone charades, pass the same action along the group. For Zoom or another video call, have the actor view the prompt privately and keep the camera wide enough for the action; do not share the prompt with the guessers.
Can I make a printable charades list?: Use Next card to collect the prompts you want, then Copy round to copy the numbered list. Paste it into a document to print or cut into slips. The page reveals one card at a time; it does not create a laid-out sheet of printable cards.
Does it work on a phone or in a browser?: The generator runs in a current browser on iPhone, Android, Windows, Mac or Chromebook. No account or installation is needed. On a computer, press Space for the next card when focus is outside the controls.
Where do prompts and saved settings come from?: The original prompts were written for this tool, and the separate movie deck lists existing titles. Everything runs locally in your browser. Settings you change are remembered for this page; drawing and other preset pages keep separate settings. The cards dealt in a round stay on screen until you leave or start a new round.

The original and Christmas prompt decks were written for this tool; Movie titles uses real film titles. All prompts are tagged by hand for acting, drawing and difficulty. Difficulty is a judgement rather than a measurement and depends on your group’s references.