Broken Telephone
About the game and how to play
Broken Telephone is a drawing twist on the classic whisper game. Everyone writes a sentence. You then get somebody else’s sentence and draw it, and the next player sees your drawing and writes what they think it is. Round and round until every book is full, then you open them together. Nobody wins — that is not the point.
- Players
- 3–10 players
- Category
- Party games
- Price
- Free, no download, no sign-up
- Where to play
- In the browser on phone, tablet and computer
Can be played with friends in an online room
How to play
- Everyone writes a sentence — anything at all.
- You get someone else’s sentence and draw it.
- The next player sees your drawing and writes what they think it is — and so on.
- At the end, open every book together and see how the sentence fell apart.
Tips
- Make your opening sentence concrete and drawable but a little strange: who, doing what, where. It is capped at 100 characters, which comfortably fits a character or two and an action.
- When drawing, get the main object and the action down first, then add detail. Leaving words out of your drawing keeps the game fun — the chain breaks because pictures get misread.
- When describing, write only what you actually see instead of trying to guess the original sentence. You only ever see the step right before yours anyway.
- Always hit Hand it in before the timer runs out: anything not handed in is lost and the next player gets a blank page. A rough sketch beats nothing.
Frequently asked questions
How many steps does a game of Broken Telephone last?
There are as many steps as there are players, and every book passes through each player once. Steps alternate between writing and drawing, and everyone works at the same time.
What if someone does not hand in their turn in time?
Their page stays empty and the next player sees a Nothing came through message and has to make something up. The gap shows up in the book at the reveal.
Can I see the whole book while we are playing?
No, you only see the sentence or drawing right before yours. Books open only at the end, when the host pages through them one by one.
What drawing tools are there?
You get a brush, an eraser and a fill tool, 12 colours, 4 brush sizes, plus undo and clear. The host can allow up to 3 minutes for writing and up to 7 minutes for drawing, or switch the timers off.