Game night
How to Play Charades with Simple Rules and Team Scoring
Learn how to play charades with silent clues, clear hand signals and fair team scoring. Follow a complete 60-second round and rotate actors after each turn.
To play charades, one person acts out a secret word while teammates guess aloud. Give the team 60 seconds, award one point per correct answer, then pass play to the other team. Four people are enough for a match with two pairs. You need a phone or paper prompts, somewhere to keep score, and space to move.
We checked Chuckle & Roar’s Family Charades instructions when preparing this guide. Its Classic version awards individual points, and its acting rules permit noises. Below we use our own silent team house rules, matched to the FunBox Charades tool. Agree on them before anyone starts scoring.
Choose actors and guessers before the first round
Split into two teams and decide who acts first. With four players, put Alex and Bea on Team A, and Chris and Dana on Team B. While Alex acts, Bea guesses. Chris watches the time without seeing the prompt, and Dana keeps the score. Those jobs change when Team B plays.
For a larger group, the random team generator can split a list into teams with similar numbers. Adjust the result if you want to distribute experienced players. Choose two teams for this format, and write an acting order for each. Give everyone one turn before anyone acts twice.
Show the actor a word without revealing it
Choose familiar actions, animals or objects. FunBox has 20 prompts in each category and 60 in the mixed deck. Keep the same category and time limit for both teams. You can choose 30, 60, 90 or 120 seconds; use 60 for the worked example below.
Give the actor the phone with the screen facing away from the guessers. Press Start round only when everyone is ready because the countdown begins immediately. Let the actor read while the clock runs. For paper play, put folded prompts in a bowl and use the same reading arrangement for both teams.
Agree on six charades rules before playing
Read these six house rules aloud. They give the group a shared answer when somebody starts humming or calls out half a phrase. The phone records button presses, so players still have to judge clues and guesses themselves.
| Rule | What the group agrees |
|---|---|
| 1. Silent acting | No speech, mouthing words, humming or sound effects. |
| 2. Gestures only | Mime using imaginary objects. No writing, air spelling or pointing at the actual answer in the room. |
| 3. Own team guesses | Only the actor’s teammates may score. The other team watches the clock. |
| 4. Accepted answers | Accept clear equivalents such as bike for bicycle. A broad word such as animal does not identify penguin. |
| 5. Free passing | Skip unfamiliar or stuck prompts without losing points. The countdown keeps running. |
| 6. Deadline and violations | A correct answer must be recorded before time expires. Skip a prompt after an illegal clue. |
Use a few clear charades hand signals
Agree on a small set of signals during an unscored practice. For this game, hold up fingers to show the number of words. Then show one finger before acting the first word, or two before the second. For “riding a bicycle,” you could indicate three words and mime pedaling.
If your group wants a sounds-like clue, agree that touching an ear means you will mime a rhyming word. The actor still stays silent. A nod can confirm a correct part of the phrase without ending the prompt. New players can skip these conventions and simply act out the whole idea.
Play and score a complete 60 second round
Alex starts Team A’s turn. Suppose the first prompt is Penguin. Alex waddles, Bea guesses it, and Alex taps Correct for one point. Umbrella comes next, but Bea gets stuck. Alex taps Skip and moves on while the clock keeps running. Team A still has one point.
Bea then guesses Brushing your teeth and Guitar. Each answer earns one point, so Team A has three. The last prompt remains unanswered when time expires and earns zero. These prompts and outcomes illustrate scoring; the shuffled tool will supply its own order.
Review the completed round and enter three points for Team A in the scoreboard, opened in a separate tab. Correct records the group’s decision. FunBox has no speech recognition, tilt controls or motion detection. Tap the buttons yourself, and correct any agreed scoring mistake in the match total.
Rotate actors and finish after equal opportunities
Pass the phone to Chris and choose Next round. FunBox continues with unseen prompts from the remaining deck. Keep the recap out of the next guesser’s view. Returning to settings creates a fresh deck; refreshing clears the session. Record the score before leaving the page.
The four-turn example below gives each player one acting turn. Each team gets two minutes of playing time.
| Turn | Actor | Guesser | Round points | Running A / B |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alex (A) | Bea | 3 | 3 / 0 |
| 2 | Chris (B) | Dana | 2 | 3 / 2 |
| 3 | Bea (A) | Alex | 1 | 4 / 2 |
| 4 | Dana (B) | Chris | 3 | 4 / 5 |
Settle the result after both teams finish
Team B wins the example by five points to four. Finish after the scheduled turns, including turns that score zero. For a tie, share the win or give each team one extra turn with identical settings. Compare only after both have played.
If the deck runs out before a full turn ends, agree to discard that unfinished pair of turns and replay both with a fresh deck. Do this before comparing scores. Players who prefer drawing can use our Pictionary game guide for a separate activity.
Can you play charades with two people?
Yes. One person acts and the other guesses, then swap roles. Treat the score as a shared target and try to beat it together. Four players let you form two competing teams, each with an actor and a guesser.
Does skipping a word lose a point?
In this version, no. FunBox’s Skip button moves to the next word without deducting points. Keep that rule for both teams throughout the match. When everyone is ready, start a charades round and hand the screen to the first actor.