Random charades ideas for kids and adults. Hold the card to peek, act it out and let the timer keep score.
Keyboard: hold Space to peek, → got it, ← or S to pass
Up next: Team Tomato. Hand them the phone.
Every card in this deck has been played this session. Shuffle them back in, or switch category.
The clock is stopped. Nobody peeks.
Up next: Team Tomato
A charades generator picks a random word or phrase for you to act out, so nobody has to think up prompts or peek at the list. Playroomy's generator draws from 500+ charades ideas sorted by category and difficulty, runs the round timer, keeps team scores and shows the right hand signal for movies, songs and books.
How to play
Two or more players each. Sit facing each other so the actor has room to move. The random team generator does it in one tap.
Mixed is shuffled across every category. 60 seconds suits most groups, 90 for young kids.
The actor holds the card to see the prompt. Let go and it hides from everyone else.
Crank a movie camera for a film, open a book for a book. The full table of hand signals is below.
No talking, no mouthing, no pointing at objects in the room.
Tap Got it for each correct guess. At the bell, hand the phone to the other team.
Charades ideas
Tap any idea to deal it into the game above. The heading shows how many ideas each category holds.
Easy charades are single actions or animals, medium ones add a twist, and hard ones are titles, sayings and scenes. The deck holds 209 easy, 232 medium and 65 hard ideas. Set the level in the chips above the card.
Hard charades ideas are sayings, scenes and titles with no single obvious action. Break them into words or syllables with hand signals, act the easiest word first, and let your team build the rest.
Idioms and abstract scenes are the hardest, because there is no object to mime. Show the word count with your fingers, act the short words with "sounds like", and lean on the syllable signal for the long ones.
Hand signals
Show the category before you act. These are the gestures most groups already know.
| Signal | How to do it |
|---|---|
| Movie | Crank an old movie camera beside your ear |
| TV show | Draw a rectangle in the air for the screen |
| Book | Open your palms like a book |
| Song | Mime singing into a microphone |
| Phrase or saying | Make quote marks with your fingers |
| Number of words | Hold up fingers for the number of words |
| Syllables | Lay fingers on your forearm, one per syllable |
| Sounds like | Tug your ear, then act a rhyming word |
| The whole thing | Sweep your arms in a big circle |
Variations
Animals and everyday actions anyone can act. Pair a reader with a non-reader and use a 90-second timer.
Santa, sleigh rides and snow angels. 25 festive ideas for after dinner, when nobody wants to move far.
Office life, tricky sayings and scenes, acted out. Clean enough for any team social.
Costume-party prompts for October, from zombies to haunted houses. The full deck has 128 ideas.
Rules and sources
Plays from YouTube only when you tap it.
Today, it is common to require the actors to mime their hints without using any spoken words, which requires some conventional gestures.
Party games are intended to be played socially, and are designed to be easy for new players to learn.
Questions
Charades players use a few standard gestures before acting. Crank an old movie camera for a film, draw a rectangle for a TV show, open your palms like a book, or mime singing for a song. Hold up fingers for the number of words, lay fingers on your forearm for syllables, and tug your ear for "sounds like".
Split into two teams. A player draws a secret prompt, shows the category with a hand signal, and acts it out without speaking or pointing at objects while their team guesses. A correct guess before the timer (usually 60 seconds) scores a point. Teams take turns, and the highest score after a set number of rounds wins.
Pick the Scenes deck on Hard, or the Sayings deck, for a tougher round. Or play reverse charades, where the whole team acts and one person guesses. It is louder, faster and great for big groups.
Brushing your teeth, jumping rope, riding a bike, changing a flat tire and juggling all work well. The Actions deck holds 93 of them.
Yes, this page is one. It deals a random idea from 506 prompts, never repeats one until the deck runs out, and lets you filter by category, difficulty or a kids deck.
Ordinary scenes with a twist get the biggest laughs: an astronaut making a sandwich in zero gravity, a statue of a superhero that sneezes, or an auctioneer selling a goat. You will find them in the Scenes deck on Hard.
Yes. The actor keeps the card on their phone, turns their camera on and acts. Turn on Room mode on a second screen to share the timer and scores.
More games