Pictomania

About this board game

Pictomania is a simultaneous drawing and guessing game for 3–6 players that plays in about 25 minutes. Everyone sketches a hidden word while watching opponents’ drawings and trying to identify theirs.

The game lasts five rounds. At the start of each round, six randomly drawn, double-sided cards are placed where everyone can see them. Each side presents seven related words or phrases and belongs to one of four difficulty levels.

Every player receives a symbol card and a number card, which together identify the word they must draw. Players also receive a drawing board and marker, along with guessing cards and scoring tokens. Bonus tokens equal to one less than the number of players are placed in the center of the table.

All players draw at the same time, but drawing is only part of the challenge. While working on their own sketch, players can place one guess card on another player’s stack. A guess cannot be changed once it has been made, and players are not required to draw or guess. When finished, a player takes the highest-valued remaining bonus token and takes no further actions; the round ends when the last bonus token is claimed.

Players then reveal their words and resolve the guesses. Correct guessers take one of that player’s scoring tokens, with earlier correct guesses earning more points. Incorrect guesses move to the center, where they help determine the black sheep: the player with the worst guessing record.

Scoring can be surprisingly unforgiving. A black sheep’s bonus token may count as negative points, an unguessed drawing causes its bonus token to score nothing, and scoring tokens still held by a player are subtracted. After five rounds of Pictomania, the player with the highest total score wins.