Pictomania – A Game of Drawing and Guessing

Welcome to the world of Pictomania, an exciting game where you get to show off your drawing skills and test your guessing abilities. In this game, I’m going to explain the rules and everything you need to know to have an amazing time.

Objective

The objective of Pictomania is to score points by correctly guessing other players’ drawings and having your own drawings guessed correctly. The player with the most points at the end of the game wins!

Game Components

Let’s start by taking a look at what you’ll find inside the Pictomania box. You will have:

• Game Board: This is the central board where the round cards will be placed.
• 4 Player Boards: Each player will have their own board to draw and guess.
• Cardboard Tokens: These tokens will be used to keep track of points and the current round.
• Pencil and Erasable Marker: You’ll need these for drawing and writing on your board.
• Timer and Other Cards: These cards are used to keep track of time and determine the order of play.

Game Setup

Now that we’re familiar with the components, let’s set up the game:

1. Place the game board in the center of the playing area.
2. Give each player a player board and a pencil.
3. Have each player choose an erasable marker, a round card, and a cardboard token.

Gameplay

Are you ready to start playing? Let’s dive into the gameplay:

1. Shuffle the round cards and place them facedown on the game board. Draw a number of cards equal to the number of players plus 1 and place them face-up.
2. Each player secretly selects one of the face-up round cards and places it face-down on their player board. This round card will determine what the player needs to draw.
3. Once everyone has chosen a round card, all players simultaneously start drawing on their player boards.
4. While drawing, players need to pay attention to other players’ drawings and try to guess what they are. Write down your guesses on the guessing sheet.
5. When the timer runs out, players stop drawing and place their pencils down.
6. Players take turns guessing what each player has drawn. Start with the player to the left of the active player.
7. If a player guesses correctly, both the guesser and the artist score points.
8. After all the drawings have been guessed, the round ends, and players reveal their round cards.
9. Points are awarded based on the correctness of the guesses and the speed of the guesses.
10. A new round begins with new round cards being revealed.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Pictomania is an exciting game that challenges your drawing and guessing skills. With the right combination of creativity and quick thinking, you can emerge as the ultimate Pictomaniac. So gather your friends, grab the pencils, and let the fun begin!

Hey there, I’m Picto! Want to jump right into the game without reading a whole rulebook? No worries, I’ve got you covered. Just read my quick notes and skip the in-between paragraphs.

If you have any questions while playing your first game, you can always check the full rules for clarification. However, I highly recommend reading the entire rulebook before your second game of Pictomania.

The Goal of the Game

In Pictomania, each player secretly receives a clue to draw. You’ll also try to figure out what your fellow players are drawing – all at the same time! Use your guess cards to make your guesses without revealing them.

For every correct guess, you earn points. The faster you complete your drawing and make accurate guesses, the more bonus points you’ll score. The player with the most points after 5 rounds wins!

What You’ll Need

When you play the game, here’s what you’ll find inside the box:

– 99 word cards with words on both sides

– The word cards are divided into 4 different levels of difficulty

– You’ll also get a card holder to keep everything organized

– There are 42 guessing cards in 6 different colors

– Plus, there are 13 black cards that add an extra challenge

– You’ll receive 30 scoring tokens in 6 colors to keep track of your points

– And 6 black scoring tokens for even more strategic gameplay

– Each player will have a pencil in their chosen color

– And of course, there’s a sharpener to keep those pencils pointy

– You’ll also get a pad of drawing sheets for sketching your masterpieces

– And a sticker sheet to add some flair to your drawings

– Finally, there’s a rulebook to guide you through the game

Now let’s talk about the setup. It’s simple:

– Each player picks a color and gets a sketch board

– Take 7 guess cards and a number of scoring tokens based on the number of players

– Make sure they’re all in your chosen color

And that’s it! You’re ready to start playing and guessing. Have fun!

When we play this game, we all need a few things. You need a dry-erase marker and an eraser. Make sure you have those. We also need two card racks on the table. Everyone should be able to read the cards.

The clue cards are important. They have different colors, so we should separate them into four decks. Put these decks on the table next to the number cards and the symbol cards. If there are more players, we need to put some bonus point tokens in the middle of the table. Everyone can reach them there.

If you have fewer than 6 players, put away any remaining sketch boards, tokens, cards, and other game items. You won’t need them for this game.

Let’s Play

Pictomania is played over 5 rounds. Each round has 3 parts:

1. Getting Ready

Hey there! Let’s get ready to play this awesome game! First, we need to do some setup.

Shuffle the number cards and symbol cards separately. After that, deal one of each type face-down to each player. Keep your two cards in front of you, but don’t peek at them just yet!

Next, as a group, we need to choose the difficulty level for this round. If it’s your first game, we recommend starting with the green cards since they are the easiest. Take the top six clue cards from the green deck and put them in the card racks.

Now, it’s time to decide which side of each card we want to use. For this round, we only need to focus on the front of the cards. We can ignore the reverse sides. Each card has a list of seven clues, which can be words, phrases, titles, or anything else.

Once we finish this round, we can choose the same difficulty level for the next round, or we can try a different one. The difficulty levels are color-coded, so it’s easy to tell them apart.

2. Let’s Play Draw and Guess!

Time to Draw

Take a moment to look at all the clue cards and get familiar with them. Remember, don’t discuss the clues just yet!

When I say go, everyone secretly looks at the number and symbol cards they were given. These cards will tell you which clue you need to draw. Keep the cards face-down on the table next to your drawing board.

The cards will be your clue pile. Now, it’s time to start drawing! Remember, you can’t write, talk, or use any other way to communicate which clue you’re drawing.

Let me explain it in simpler terms: Your symbol card is like a clue card, and your number card tells you which clue to draw. For example, if you have the symbol and the number 5, you draw the 5th clue on the clue card marked with that symbol.

The clues on the same card are similar to each other. So it’s a good idea to read all the clues on your card. To make sure others guess your clue correctly, make it stand out from the other clues on the card.

Now, let’s talk about guessing. While you draw your own clue, you also try to guess everyone else’s clues. To guess someone else’s clue, put your guess card face-down on their guess pile, with the corresponding number.

Guess cards have numbers ranging from 1 to 7. This is because the accuracy of your guesses depends solely on the clue number, not the symbol. Let me explain further: suppose you believe Christine is hinting at clue 3, which represents a bicycle. To make your guess, place your card with the number 3 facing down on top of Christine’s pile of guesses.

Important Note: It doesn’t matter if Christine is actually drawing spectacles (3), your guess is still considered correct because both clues share the same number.

When making a guess, always place your guess card on top of the highest card in the guess pile. The two cards at the bottom of each guess pile represent the symbol card and the number card for that player. If you are the first one to make a guess, place your card face-down on top of these two cards. The next player places their guess card on top of yours, and so on.

You can make guesses at other players’ clues even if you haven’t finished your own drawing. If you anticipate taking longer to draw a particular clue, it’s a good idea to pause your drawing and focus on making guesses for a while. You can always resume your drawing later!

You can only place one guess card on each person’s guess pile. Once you put a guess card on someone’s pile, you can’t take it back or change it.

For example: Let’s say you guessed that Christine’s clue is a bicycle (3 – bicycle). But then you start to think that she might actually be drawing a motorcycle (7 – motorcycle). Unfortunately, you can’t correct your guess and put the number 7 card on her pile. And to make things worse, you realize later that you need your number 3 card to guess Dave’s clue.

Ending the Game

When it comes to playing this game, you get to decide when to stop drawing and guessing. If you choose to stop, grab the bonus point token with the most stars from the center of the table and place it in front of you. We call this finishing play. Once you’ve finished play, you can’t make any more guesses or change your drawing.

Even after you’ve finished play, other players can still make guesses at your clue. And you can finish play without guessing at every player’s clue if you want. The sooner you finish play, the better chance you have of getting a valuable bonus point token.

The End of the Phase

When someone takes the last bonus point token, they say “stop”. The last player then has to stop drawing and guessing. They don’t get a bonus point token. The next phase is the scoring phase.

If you don’t feel like it, you don’t have to take a bonus point token. Even if one player decides not to, the round still ends with a player grabbing the last bonus point token.

But if 2 or more players decide not to take a bonus point token because they’re worried about getting negative points (see Score below), then one or more bonus point tokens will stay in the center of the table. In this situation, the round ends only when all players without a bonus point token agree to end it.

3. Score

How to Award Scoring Tokens

Now it’s time to give points for the guesses other players made based on your clue. Doesn’t matter who starts awarding points, as long as you do it one player at a time.

To give points, flip over your entire guess pile without changing the order of the cards!

When you flip your pile, the first two cards you see are your symbol card and your number card. Right below them, you’ll find the guess cards from your fellow players, in the same order they were added to your guess pile.

Show the symbol card and the number card to everyone else playing the game and make sure that you’ve actually drawn the correct clue.

If it’s clear that you’ve drawn the wrong clue (and only in that case!), your drawing will be scored as if no one had guessed it! Give back all the guess cards to the players they belong to.

You won’t earn any scoring tokens, and your bonus point token won’t get you any points. In fact, it could even make you lose points (see the section on Scoring bonus point tokens below). Only use this rule if you’ve clearly drawn the wrong clue!

Now, let’s go through each guess I made for your clue, one by one, in the order I made them (starting from the first guess card in my pile).

If I’m right: If the number on a guess card matches the number on your black number card, my guess is correct. You should give me back my guess card and the most valuable scoring token you still have.

If I’m wrong: If the number on a guess card doesn’t match the number on your black number card, my guess is incorrect. In this case, I don’t get a scoring token. You don’t have to give me back my guess card either. Instead, you should place it in the center of the table.

We’ll keep repeating this process until all players have resolved their guess piles.

Here’s how it works: I check every guess card in my guess pile and give out scoring tokens. The player who first guesses correctly gets my most valuable token, the second player gets my second most valuable token, and so on.

Once I’ve finished going through my guess pile, I keep the scoring tokens that were not awarded to players who guessed incorrectly or didn’t guess at all. So if no one guessed correctly, I keep all my scoring tokens.

Counting Points

Positive points: I earn positive points for every scoring token awarded to me by other players who guessed my clue correctly. Each token is worth 1 point.

Negative points: The scoring tokens that I didn’t award are worth negative points. I lose 1 point for each of these tokens.

Hey there! Let me tell you how the game works. It’s pretty cool, I think you’ll like it.

So, here’s the deal. When it’s your turn, you get to pick a word or phrase to give a clue, and then the other players try to guess what you’re thinking of. If someone guesses right, you both win! You get points, and they get points too. It’s a win-win situation.

But here’s the twist. If you can guess other players’ clues faster than everyone else, and you get them right, you’ll earn even more points. And who doesn’t like more points, right? The scoring tokens for those are extra valuable, so you’ll really rack up the points.

It’s all about having fun and using your brain to think quickly and creatively. I bet you’ll be great at it. So, are you ready to give it a try? Let’s go!

When we were playing the game, we put all the guess cards in the middle of the table. Remember, we only put the cards there if a player made an incorrect guess. Now, let’s count the guess cards for each player. The player who made the most incorrect guesses is called the black sheep for this round.

If the black sheep has a bonus point token, things get a little tricky. They will lose 1 point for every star on that token. So, the more stars the token has, the more points they will lose. But don’t worry, if two or more players have the same number of incorrect guesses, then there is no black sheep this round.

Now, if you are not the black sheep, something exciting happens. You will get 1 point for each star on your bonus point token if at least 1 player has guessed your clue correctly. It means that if someone managed to figure out what you were trying to say, you will earn some points. But if nobody guessed your clue correctly, don’t worry. You won’t win or lose any points for your bonus point token.

I want to give you a little tip. The quicker you finish playing, the better your chances are at getting a more valuable bonus point token. But here’s the catch, the token will only earn you points if at least one player has guessed your clue correctly. So, try to finish the game as soon as possible, but make sure someone gets your clue right.

If you guess wrong too many times, you might become the outcast, and the bonus point token will cost you points. So sometimes it’s better not to take a bonus point token at all.

Calculate your total score for this round (including other players’ scoring tokens, subtracting your own scoring tokens, and adding or subtracting the bonus point token). Write the total score in one of the boxes on the edge of your sketch board.

End Of The Round

Use your eraser to clear your sketch board, but be careful not to erase your scores. If this wasn’t the 5th round, set up the next round just like the last one.

• Put your bonus point token and all other players’ scoring tokens in the middle of the table.
• Take all of your scoring tokens and guess cards from the middle of the table.

I’ve collected all the black symbol and number cards into two piles, just like before. Make sure you include the cards that we didn’t use in the previous round. Now, let’s put the 6 clue cards from the last round back into the game box. Alright, we’re ready to start the next round! It’s just like the last one, beginning with phase 1: Setup.

And when the game is over, you’ve reached the end.

Once we’ve completed 5 rounds, the game comes to an end. Add up your scores from all 5 rounds and write down the final score right in the middle of your sketch board.

The person with the highest final score is the winner of the game. If there happens to be a tie, then the players will share the victory.

Variation

• Instead of using multiple card racks, only use one;
• For the game, only deal number cards and not symbol cards;
• Place just one clue card on the rack;
• Each player in the game should draw a clue from that card.