Doodle Guess: draw and guess with friends

Pen and paper or a canvas in the app: two ways to play

Doodle Guess can be played in two quite different ways.

With a single phone nobody draws in the app: the phone is the word generator and scorekeeper. The artist picks the word on the phone, then draws on a sheet of paper, a notepad or a little whiteboard; everyone else shouts out guesses, and the artist taps the names of the people who get it, in the order they get there.

In an online room, by contrast, you draw straight into the app on a shared canvas: the host creates the room, the others join with a code or a QR code and watch the lines appear on their own phone as they are drawn. Guesses are typed, and the app recognises the right one by itself.

What you need and which settings to choose

Either way you need at least three players; on a single phone you can go up to sixteen. For the single-phone version, get some paper ready and a thick marker that is easy to see: a fine pencil is hard to read from two metres away. On the group screen you can adjust:

• Turn duration: 45, 60, 90 or 120 seconds (90 by default).
• End of game: by rounds, from 1 to 6 rounds each (2 by default), or by points, with a target of 200, 400, 600 or 800 (400 by default). When playing to a points target, the app always finishes the current round before ending the game.
• Deck: Mixed is the default and draws from animals, food, objects, nature, actions, places, jobs, characters and sport.
• Your own word list: words you have chosen instead of the game’s.

In the online room you choose the turn duration, with the same four values, and how many times each person draws, from 1 to 3 rounds; there too, the host can use your own word list.

How a turn works and how points are scored

On each turn the artist is offered three words and picks one: only they can see them. Then the timer starts and the drawing begins. The usual rules apply: no letters, no numbers, no gestures or words to help yourself out. The turn ends when time runs out or when everybody has guessed; on a single phone the artist can also end the turn with a button.

The scoring rewards speed and finishing order:

• Whoever guesses gets a base of 20 points, plus up to 50 in proportion to the time left, plus up to 50 for their position: the first person gets the full bonus, the last of those who could have guessed gets no bonus, and anyone in between gets a share. The maximum is 120.
• The artist earns up to 100 points a turn: the share grows with every person who guesses and gets close to the maximum when everyone guesses, and quickly. If nobody guesses, the artist scores zero.
• Anyone who does not guess in time scores nothing, but loses nothing either.

On a single phone, if you tap the wrong name by mistake just tap it again: the correct guess is cancelled and the app recalculates the positions and points of everyone who came after.

Amy draws a windmill: a turn with the scores

Amy, Josh, Hannah and Sam are playing with one phone and a pad of paper, 90-second turns. It is Amy’s go: the phone offers her Windmill, Kite and Umbrella. She picks the windmill and starts the timer.

1. Amy draws a tall, narrow rectangle. “A tower!” “A lighthouse!” She shakes her head and adds four crossed sails at the top.
2. “A fan!” tries Sam. Amy draws a field and a few blades of grass bent by the wind.
3. With 60 seconds still on the clock Josh shouts “Windmill!”: Amy taps his name. He is first and takes 103 points.
4. Hannah gets there with 30 seconds left: second, 62 points.
5. Sam keeps saying “wind turbine” until time runs out: 0 points.

Two out of three guessers, both with a decent margin: Amy earns 60 points as the artist. The summary shows the word, who guessed it and the updated leaderboard; then the phone, with a fresh sheet of paper, goes to Josh.

The shared canvas in an online room

In the room the artist gets a canvas with deliberately simple tools: a pen in three sizes, fourteen colours (white works as a rubber), a paint bucket to fill a closed shape, an undo button that removes the last stroke and a clear-all option, which asks for confirmation because the drawing disappears for everyone.

• Guessers type their answers: capitals and accents do not matter. Wrong guesses appear in the feed that everyone can see.
• If an answer is nearly right, for example with one letter wrong, only the person who typed it is told they are almost there.
• When someone guesses, the others see that they got it and how many points they scored, but not the word. From then on, whatever that person types goes into a private chat read only by the artist and those who have already guessed.
• Hints arrive automatically: at first you only see how many letters the word has, at half time the first letter appears and at three quarters the second.
• During the turn, onlookers can say whether they like the drawing; between turns, the host starts the next one.

Drawing fast and getting your point across

• Start with the shape people recognise from a distance, then add just one decisive detail: the sails on the windmill, the string on the kite.
• If nobody is getting it, draw the setting: a field, a kitchen, the seaside. The place often unlocks the word faster than the object itself.
• Out of the three options, choose the word you can capture in a few lines, not the one that seems funniest.
• Guessers should talk a lot: saying “tower”, “lighthouse”, “fan” helps the artist see what needs correcting.
• For words with two parts, draw the halves side by side: a little sun and a flower for “sunflower” can be quicker than a perfect sunflower.
• Classic single-phone mistake: forgetting to tap the names while drawing. Keep the phone next to the paper, not in your pocket.

Who it suits: from small children to big groups

Being good at drawing does not matter: bad drawings done in a hurry are the whole point, and children often beat the adults. With little ones, from about 5 or 6, the single-phone version works best: an adult can read out the three words and help choose, and 120-second turns leave time to finish the picture. A word list of your own with household objects and animals keeps the words within their reach. For online play, remember that the app asks for a date of birth: under 13, rooms are switched off unless a parent authorises them with a PIN.

The ideal group is four to eight people: lots of guessers, but your turn to draw comes round again soon. It suits family afternoons, birthday parties and evenings when someone is far away, thanks to the online room. If the group prefers words to drawings, try Forbidden Word; for more ideas, see the guide to word games for children.