Charades

Charades is the classic party game where you act out a word without saying a thing while your team races to guess it. Play charades online free in your browser on one phone, tablet or laptop: pick your teams, choose a word pack, and pass the device to the actor. There is no sign-up and no download, and every one of the 885 built-in prompts is family-friendly.

How to play

• Set up. Choose 2 to 6 teams and type in their names. Pick any mix of the eight packs: Animals, Movie types, Actions, Jobs, Sports, Objects, Dinosaurs and Kids. Then choose a difficulty, a 30, 60 or 90 second timer, how many passes each turn allows, and how many turns each team gets.
• Hand over the phone. A cover screen names the team that is up and tells them to pass the phone to their actor. The word is not picked until the actor taps Ready, so nobody can peek at it.
• Act it out. The actor reads the word and acts it silently: no talking, no mouthing words and no pointing at things in the room. Teammates shout out guesses.
• Score. Tap Correct when your team says the word. Easy words score 1 point, medium 2 and hard 3. Tap Pass to skip a word you can’t act, up to your pass limit. Passed words earn nothing and don’t come back.
• Next team. When the buzzer sounds you see the words you got and the scores so far, then the next team takes its turn. Turns rotate in order until every team has played its turns. The highest score wins.

No word repeats within a game, so you can play long sessions with the full deck. If you run through every prompt in the packs you picked, the game ends and shows the final scores.

Packs, difficulty and custom words

Each pack has easy, medium and hard words. Animals runs from Dog to Platypus, and Dinosaurs runs from T. rex to Therizinosaurus. Movie types are described in general terms, such as “a pirate movie” or “a time travel movie”, so they work for every age. The Kids pack keeps to playground games, birthday parties and bath time. Pick Mixed to draw from all three tiers, or lock it to one level.

Want inside jokes or a theme night? Type your own words into the custom box, one per line or separated by commas, and turn on the Custom pack. Custom words score 1 point each and can be mixed with the built-in packs or played alone.

Phone on forehead mode

For a different twist, switch the mode to Phone on forehead. The guesser holds the phone against their forehead with the screen facing the team. The team acts out the word, and the guesser taps the big Correct or Pass buttons. There’s no tilting and no motion sensors, so it works on any phone, tablet or laptop.

Classic hand signals

Tap Signals (or press H) for a cheat sheet of traditional charades signs. Hold up fingers for the number of words, then again for the word you are acting. Lay fingers on your forearm for syllables, and cup your ear for “sounds like”. Other signs cover movie, book, song, short words, plural and “on the nose” for a correct guess. Opening the sheet during a turn pauses the clock.

Tips

• Break big words into parts. Act out syllables or a sounds-like word for long names like Stegosaurus.
• Use passes early. If a word stumps you, pass right away instead of losing 20 seconds.
• Go for hard words late. A hard word is worth three easy ones, so a team that’s behind can catch up fast on Mixed difficulty.

FAQ

Is this charades game free?

Yes. It’s free in any modern browser with no account. Your settings, team names and custom words are saved on your device for next time.

How many people can play?

Two to six teams of any size.

Can I play with a keyboard?

Yes. Space, Enter or the Right arrow marks Correct, and the Left arrow, S or X passes. P or Esc pauses the timer, H opens the hand signals and M turns the sound on or off. The timer also pauses if you switch tabs.

Is it suitable for kids?

Yes. Every prompt is clean, and the Kids and Easy settings keep the words simple. A tick sounds in the last ten seconds and a buzzer ends the turn.

Looking for more group games? Try Truth or Dare for clean questions and safe dares, or grab a pen for Draw and Guess, where you sketch the word instead of acting it.