Doodle Riddle

The gist

Nobody knows the answer, not even the people drawing. Everyone gets their own clue word: one player gets "honey," another gets "moon." You only draw yours, and it's not until all the drawings land side by side on the big screen that it clicks: together they make "honeymoon." The table's job is to piece the phrase together from everyone's fragments.

How to play

1. Everyone gets a clue. Only you see your word, and nobody at the table knows what all the clues add up to, including you.
2. Draw your clue on your phone before time runs out. There's just one rule: no letters or words.
3. All the drawings appear together. Now you see them as one picture and have to find the phrase hiding in it.
4. Guess from your phone. Guess as often as you like while the round lasts. Small typos still count.
5. Every so often another letter of the answer is revealed, four in total. Each one makes the puzzle easier, and the answer worth less.
6. After the reveal, the table votes for the drawing that helped most.

By default there are 6 rounds (the host can set anywhere from 3 to 12). You get 60 seconds to draw (or 45 or 90, host's choice) and 60 to 90 to guess: the more drawings on screen, the more time you get to study them. The round ends early once everyone has guessed.

Scoring

It's not a race to be first: everyone who gets it scores. Later guesses are just worth less.

Voting needs at least three players. With two, there's nothing to choose from, since you can't vote for yourself. Whoever gets the most votes earns the Picasso title.

Tips

• Draw a thing, not an idea: people recognize "honey" from a jar or a bee, not from sweetness.
• Treat the other drawings as pieces of one puzzle. On its own, each one means almost nothing.
• Guesses are free. Send three ideas now rather than one after the fourth letter.
• If your clue is abstract, draw whatever people most often connect it with. The table will guess the association, not the dictionary definition.