The quick version
Write a secret prompt. With an even group, draw it yourself; with an odd group, pass first so your neighbor draws it. Alternate private sketches and written guesses, passing together to the left, until your own book returns. Reveal every chain. Scoring is optional; choose it before starting.
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Give everyone a private sketchbook
Use the standard 8 Player, 2nd Edition box: 130 double-sided prompt cards in their card box, eight reusable sketchbooks, eight dry-erase markers with erasers, and the rules. Give each player one book and marker; leave unused books aside. The second edition has no die or sand timer. Older Original boxes, six-player sets, twelve-player sets and After Dark editions have their own components and instructions.
Sit around a table with room for every person to write privately and hand a book to the next seat. Protect the surface, test each marker and erase old drawings and guesses. Write your name in the front of your book and remember its coil color. Keep the card box within reach.
For a first game, play an unscored round, ending after every book has been revealed; the group can choose another round afterward. If you want a winner, choose one of the two scoring methods below and play three rounds. Our house tie rule is a shared win. Agree before play that obvious spelling or singular/plural differences count as a match when they identify the same thing; a related object does not. This answer standard is a house clarification, not a printed tournament rule.
Each player draws one card, chooses any prompt on it, and privately writes it on their book's secret-prompt page. Keep the card and that page hidden. Do not announce the chosen prompt.
Sketch, pass, guess and reveal
Choose the right first action
With four, six or eight players, keep your own book and draw your secret prompt on page 1. With five or seven players, open your book to page 1 and pass it left before drawing. Your neighbor privately reads your secret prompt and draws it; you draw the prompt in the book arriving from your right. Everyone now makes a page-1 sketch.
Hide the sketch and pass together
Draw the prompt using pictures, with no letters or numbers. Make an attempt rather than leaving a blank page. When finished, turn forward to page 2, hiding the sketch, and wait. Once everyone is ready, all players hand their open book to the person on their left. This edition uses readiness, not a drawing countdown.
Write one private guess
On receiving a book at page 2, look back only at its page-1 sketch. Return to page 2 and write what you think the picture shows. Do not look at its secret prompt. Write a guess even when uncertain, rather than a blank or just a question mark. Turn to page 3 to hide the guess, wait for everyone, and pass left together.
Continue from the latest page
On the next drawing page, privately read only the preceding guess and sketch that guess. On the next guessing page, look only at the preceding drawing and write your interpretation. After each completed page, turn forward, wait and pass together. Do not repair the chain by consulting earlier pages or telling the next player what you meant.
Stop when your own book returns
Check the owner name or coil color after passing. When your book comes home, stop adding pages. Its last completed page must be a written guess: page 4 with four or five players, page 6 with six or seven, and page 8 with eight. Do not fill all eight pages with a smaller group or add another drawing after the final guess.
Give every chain its reveal
Take turns showing your book from its secret prompt through each completed drawing and guess, ending with the final guess. Name who made each entry if you are scoring. An unscored round finishes when everyone's book has been shown; there is no point winner. For another round, erase completed pages, use an unused card side or a new card, and repeat the correct even/odd start.
Your prompt goes to your left neighbor before the first sketch. The next four people make sketch 1, guess 2, sketch 3 and guess 4; then the book returns to you. The initial pass is what prevents an odd-player chain ending on a drawing.
Optional scoring: choose one method
Both methods below come from the second-edition rules. Record points on the score sheet in the front of each player's book during the reveals. Reveal every book before ending a round, so everyone has the same scoring opportunities. Use the same method for all three rounds.
Friendly scoring: when revealing your book, award one point to the player who made your favorite sketch in it and one to the player who made your favorite guess. Give yourself one additional point if the final guess matches your secret prompt. Favorite means your choice, not a vote by the whole table.
Competitive scoring: inspect each sketch-and-guess pair in your book. The guesser earns one point if that guess matches the original secret prompt or the previous written guess. The sketcher earns one point if their sketch led to that matching guess. Give yourself one additional point if the final guess matches your original secret prompt. For example, if an earlier guess changed the chain to a bicycle and the next sketch is guessed as bicycle, that matching sketcher and guesser score even if the original prompt was a motorcycle.
After three complete rounds, total each person's points; the highest total wins. Under our disclosed house tie rule, players tied for the highest total share the win. A final wrong guess does not erase points earned earlier in the chain.
Keep the relay private and moving
Before choosing real prompts, show one unscored example: write umbrella, sketch a curved canopy with a handle, then have someone privately write a guess from that picture. Explain that the next drawer sees only that guess. Erase the demonstration. Simple shapes are enough; make a sincere attempt and let misunderstandings happen naturally.
Wait for the last person before every pass. If a book goes to the wrong seat, pause and return it to the correct next player before anyone adds an entry. If an owner gets a book ending on a sketch, check whether an odd group missed its initial pass or someone skipped a page; the last entry should be a guess.
House recovery: if an accidental early reveal, skipped page or wrong pass has already spoiled a chain, stop and restart the whole round with fresh prompts, retaining completed-round scores. Use this friendly remedy instead of inventing fines or penalty points; the publisher does not prescribe a penalty table here. A surprising guess alone is part of the game and is no reason to restart.
For a scoring dispute, show the relevant written entries and apply the answer standard agreed before play. Favorites in friendly scoring remain the book owner's choice. Avoid arguing about artistic quality or giving spoken hints during the private stages. Change seats or player count only between rounds, then check the even/odd start again.
After the final reveal and score, erase the books thoroughly and recap the markers before storing them. This prevents ink staining and pages sticking together. The format can be played seated, but each person still needs to see the pages, read or write the prompts and handle a book and marker.
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Ideas & Twists
Choose a variation together before you start.
Telestrations · See main rules
Publisher suggested variationReverse the next relay
Between rounds, announce that every pass will go right instead of left. In an odd group, the initial prompt-only pass also goes right. Keep that direction throughout the whole round. Page counts, reveal and any chosen three-round scoring remain unchanged. This gives each drawer a different neighbor's guesses without changing direction halfway through a chain.
Telestrations · See main rules
Suggested house variation inspired by the publisherMake a themed prompt deck
Before play, the host writes one original prompt per player per planned round on separate folded slips, mixing them face down. For a travel theme, use drawable scenes such as a suitcase stuck on an escalator or a tent on a windy hill. Each player draws one slip instead of a printed card, then copies it privately into their book. Keep the relay and selected finish unchanged. The slips and exact prompt preparation are house choices; the publisher suggests making themed cards.
About this guide
Standard 8 Player, 2nd Edition (2025), not After Dark or an older timer-and-die box. Core relay, optional friendly/competitive scoring, shared-category option and publisher variation ideas follow its rulebook. Shared ties, answer precision, spoiled-round recovery, demonstration and exact themed-slip preparation are disclosed host or house choices. Community accounts inform hosting needs, not official mechanics.
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