Broken Telephone

Overview

Broken Telephone takes the party game in which a message is passed along and gets distorted, and turns it into a chain of sentences and drawings. Everyone starts a story by writing a sentence; then the stories travel around, and each step adds a new misreading.

The fun comes mostly at the end, when the host reveals the chains one at a time and everyone sees how far the starting sentence drifted from the original. You need at least three players.

How a round goes

1. Each player writes a sentence: it is the start of their chain.
2. The chains change hands. If you receive text you must draw it, and if you receive a drawing you must describe it with a sentence.
3. Text and drawings alternate until every chain has passed through everyone: there are as many turns as players.
4. If you do not submit in time, your last saved draft is used, so it pays to sketch an imperfect version early.
5. The host reveals the stories one at a time. During the reveal every drawing (except your own) can be voted on: like, neutral or dislike are worth +1, 0 and −1 for the author.

Tips to win

• Draw the main idea, not the details: whoever receives the drawing has only a few seconds to interpret it and a clear line helps.
• When you describe a drawing, write what you actually see, not what you think happened before. It is the funniest part to read afterwards.
• A starting sentence with a subject, an action and a place transforms much better than an abstract one.
• Do not be discouraged by a bad drawing: votes are on drawings, and the group laughs with you, not at you.

For the host: settings and tips

• Writing time can be 20, 30, 45 or 60 seconds; drawing time ranges from 30 seconds to 5 minutes. With a group that does not know each other well, 45 seconds for writing and 90 for drawing put everyone at ease.
• More players means more turns and therefore a longer match: with eight people plan for more time than usual.
• At the reveal, read or comment aloud if you are in the same room or on a call: that is where the game pays off most.
• To keep the stories, use your browser's print function and choose «Save as PDF» (on iPhone: Share → Print).