How to play charades
- Split into two teams, or play as one group and keep a running score.
- One person takes the phone — they are the actor. Everyone else looks away until the timer starts.
- The actor acts out the word on screen. No talking, no sounds, no pointing at objects in the room.
- When their team guesses it, tap Got it and the next word appears. Stuck? Tap Skip.
- When time runs out, the score and the full word list appear so everyone can argue about the ones that were missed.
- Pass the phone to the next actor and go again.
The standard signals
Most groups use the same shorthand, and agreeing it first saves a lot of frustration. Hold up fingers for the number of words, then again for which word you're on. Tap your forearm with the right number of fingers for syllables. Cup a hand behind your ear for "sounds like". Pull your hands apart for "longer word", push them together for "shorter". A wind-the-hands gesture means "keep guessing, you're close".
Making it harder or easier
Sixty seconds suits most groups. Drop to forty-five if people are getting several a turn, or go to ninety for younger players and the Hard mode category. Turning skips off makes the game considerably tougher, because one impossible word can eat the whole turn — which is either the fun or the problem, depending on your group.
Why these words
Every word here can be acted without props and without relying on English, which matters if your group doesn't all share a first language. That rules out the film and book titles most charades lists are full of — they reward knowing the reference rather than acting well. The Hard mode category holds abstract ideas like "mixed signals" and "beginner's luck" for groups who find the rest too easy.
Is anything stored?
No. Words are picked in your browser and your settings stay on this device. Nothing is uploaded, and the page works offline once loaded.