How to play You Draw
Every turn, one player is the artist. They pick a word and draw it. Everyone else types guesses in the chat. Guess right and fast to score big.
1. Join a game
Choose a name and a look for your avatar, then press Play now to join a public game, or Create room to start a private game for your friends. Friends can join with the room code or your invite link.
2. When it's your turn to draw
- Pick one of three words: easy, medium or hard. Harder words are worth more points.
- Draw with the brush, change colours and sizes, fill areas with the bucket, and undo mistakes.
- No letters, numbers or words in your drawing, that spoils the fun.
- While you draw you can't chat, so let the drawing do the talking.
3. When someone else draws
- Type your guesses in the chat. Wrong guesses are visible to everyone; the correct answer is hidden so others can keep guessing.
- “So close!” means you're one letter away.
- As time runs out, letters of the word are revealed as hints.
- Once you've guessed it, you can chat only with other players who got it too.
- Rate the drawing with 👍 or 👎. Thumbs up earn the artist bonus points.
Scoring
- Guessers score more the faster they guess, with a bonus for being among the first.
- Artists score for every player who guesses their word and for every 👍.
- Harder words multiply the points.
- Guess correctly several turns in a row to build a streak 🔥.
Game settings (private rooms)
- Rounds: 2–8. In each round everyone draws once.
- Draw time: 40–120 seconds per turn.
- Word difficulty: easy, mixed or hard.
- Max players: up to 12.
- Custom words: add your own words (comma separated). They mix with the normal words, or, with 10 or more, play with only yours.
Streaming or sharing your screen?
Turn on 📺 Streamer mode in the top-right corner. It hides the secret word, the room code and other players' names on your screen, so viewers can't spoil the game or join uninvited. Hold 👁 Peek whenever you need to see the word.
Tips from the pros
- Start with the outline. The big shape first, details later. Guessers start typing from the very first lines.
- Use colour on purpose. A green fill says “nature”, blue says “water” or “sky”.
- Guess wide, then narrow. “Animal”, then “dog”, then “puppy”.
- Watch the hints. The number of letters alone rules out most words.
Awards
At the end of each game the best players win awards: 🎨 Picasso (most 👍), ⚡ Lightning (fastest guess), 🔮 Psychic (first to guess most often) and 🤡 Scribbler (a drawing nobody got).