Reverse Charades
The whole team acts out a prompt together while a single teammate tries to guess it.
- Players 6–24 (best with 8–16)
- Play time 15–35 min
- Materials No materials
- Movement Standing and moving
Quick rules
- Teams of four to six. One teammate is the guesser and faces the others.
- The rest of the team sees the prompt and acts it out together, silently.
- Score a point for every prompt guessed inside 60 seconds.
- Rotate the guesser every turn.
Set up
- Make teams of 4–6 and clear enough floor space for one team to stand side by side.
- Choose the first guesser on each team. The guesser stands or sits with their back to the host.
- Decide how prompts are shown — the host holds up a phone in host view behind the guesser, or shows a printed card.
- Set a 60-second timer for the turn. Teams try to get through as many prompts as they can.
How to play
- The host shows the acting team a prompt from behind the guesser, so the guesser cannot see it.
- The team acts it out at the same time. They may not talk, make sound effects, or plan aloud — any coordination has to happen through acting.
- The guesser calls out guesses. When they get it right, the host shows the next prompt immediately.
- The team may pass on a prompt by crossing their arms; a pass costs nothing but the lost seconds.
- When the timer ends, the team scores one point per correct guess.
- The next team plays. On each team's following turn, a different person becomes the guesser.
How the game ends
Play until every player on every team has been the guesser once. The highest total wins. With uneven teams, stop when the smallest team has completed its rotation.
Playing seated
Seat the acting team in a row facing the guesser and limit prompts to ones tagged seated-friendly. The comedy survives — five people silently "rowing a boat" from their chairs still reads clearly — but skip prompts that depend on moving around the room.
Tips for the host
- The first prompt is always chaotic. Give each team one unscored practice prompt.
- Remind actors to watch each other — the fun is in four people independently choosing the same idea, or not.
- Stand where the acting team can read the prompt easily; small phone text slows everything down, so use the large-text host view.
- If one confident actor takes over, introduce the "mirror" variation below for a round.
Variations
Mirror round. One randomly chosen actor leads and everyone else must copy their movements exactly. The guesser sees a row of identical performances, which rewards quieter players who rarely lead.
One sound allowed. For groups that find silence too hard, allow each actor a single sound effect — not a word — per prompt. It lowers the difficulty sharply and makes the game friendlier for younger players at a family gathering.
Starter ideas: Team scenes
- a rowing crew
- an orchestra tuning up
- a tug of war
- a slow-motion replay
- assembling flat-pack furniture
- a rollercoaster ride
- a traffic jam
- synchronised swimming
- a flock of pigeons
- a family photograph
- pushing a broken-down car
- a choir that has lost its place
- a bucket chain putting out a fire
- passengers on a bumpy bus
Times are editorial estimates, not test results. Editorially checked for clarity and consistency. We do not claim group playtesting for this page.