How to Host Charades Without the Awkwardness: A Pro’s Guide

I’ve used games to get people to connect for years, from stuffy corporate retreats to local drama workshops. And honestly, after all this time, the one thing that works better than any fancy exercise is good old-fashioned charades. It’s a game that gets us out of our heads and forces us to communicate in a way that’s way more fundamental. Get it right, and you create real bonds and shared laughter. But get it wrong? It can get frustrating and super awkward, fast.

A lot of people think charades is just about waving your arms around. But there’s a real art to hosting a great game. I’ve seen a single, well-chosen clue turn a shy wallflower into the hero of the evening. I’ve also seen a terrible clue bring a fun night to a screeching halt. This guide is built on all those experiences—the good, the bad, and the hilarious.

So, let’s get into the techniques that make every game a hit, from the psychology of silent communication to the nitty-gritty of picking clues that actually work for your group.

Your 5-Minute Pre-Game Checklist

Feeling a little nervous about hosting? Don’t be. Just run through this quick checklist before your guests arrive, and you’ll already be ahead of the game.

• Prep Your Gear: Grab a notepad (about $2 at any drugstore), a few pens, and a bowl or hat. The best part? This is pretty much the cheapest party entertainment you can get!
• Vet the Clues: This is CRUCIAL. If guests write clues, secretly review them. I once let a clue like “ontological paradox” slip through. The poor actor just stood there and shrugged for 90 seconds. The whole room cringed. Never again! We’ll talk more about what to toss out later.
• Clear the Stage: Find a central spot for acting and move the coffee table or that floor lamp. A little open space prevents accidental trips and makes players feel more comfortable.
• Divide the Teams: Aim for two even teams. Quick tip: If you have an odd number of people, just have one person sit out each round, rotating who it is. Or, make that person the official, very important scorekeeper.
• Announce the Rules: Take two minutes to explain the house rules before the first clue is drawn. It saves so much trouble later.

Setting the Stage: Gear, Rules, and a Bit of Planning

A successful game starts with a solid foundation. Getting the logistics sorted out takes just a few minutes but makes all the difference.

First up, your equipment is simple. You’ll want small, uniform slips of paper from a notepad, a few pens, a bowl or hat to draw from, and a timer. Your smartphone works perfectly for this. I find 90 seconds is the sweet spot for a turn—long enough for a good performance, but short enough to keep the energy high.

For those short on time, don’t feel like you have to create everything from scratch. There are some decent online charades generators you can use to populate your bowl in a hurry. You can also find pre-made, boxed charades games at stores like Target or on Amazon, which can be a good starting point.

Now, for the rules. Before you start, announce these clearly:

• The Goal: One person acts out a clue for their teammates. If they guess it in time, their team gets a point. Then, the other team goes. Simple as that.
• Actor’s Limits: No sounds! No humming, no mouthing words. And no pointing at objects in the room. The performance has to come from the body alone.
• Guesser’s Freedom: Guessers can shout out anything and everything. There’s no penalty for being wrong. Only the exact wording on the slip counts.
• Scoring (or Not): You can keep score with a pen and paper, or just play for laughs. Honestly, unless you’re with a super competitive bunch, I recommend forgetting the points and focusing on the fun.

By the way, people always ask how long a game takes. For a group of about 8 people with 30 good clues in the bowl, you should plan for about 45 to 60 minutes of gameplay. It’s the perfect pre- or post-dinner activity.

The Secret Language of Charades

A great performance isn’t just random flailing; it’s a system. The moment the timer starts, you should give your team the basic stats of the clue. This opening sequence should take five seconds, tops.

First, signal the category:

• Movie: Pretend to crank an old-fashioned film camera.
• Book: Open your hands like a book.
• Song: Mime singing into a microphone.
• Person: Put a pretend crown on your head or stand with hands on hips like a superhero.
• Place: Draw a square in the air for a map.
• Thing/Object: Outline a box with your hands.
• Event/Activity: Point to your wrist where a watch would be.

Next, show the number of words by holding up that many fingers. Then, hold up one finger to show you’re acting out the first word, two for the second, and so on.

Oh, and here’s a crucial one that’s often forgotten: to show the number of syllables in a word, tap that many fingers on your opposite forearm. For a word like “pro-cras-ti-na-tion,” you’d tap five times. This is a game-changer for longer words!

And don’t forget a few basic gestures to build your vocabulary:

• Small words (‘a,’ ‘the,’ ‘an’): Pinch your thumb and index finger close together.
• ‘Sounds like’: After you’ve acted out a rhyming word and your team has guessed it, tug on your earlobe.
• Past Tense: Once a verb is guessed (like ‘run’), wave your hand back over your shoulder for ‘ran’.

How to Act When You Don’t Know How to Act

Okay, so you’ve got the signals down. Now what? The key is to be strategic.

Always look at the full phrase and act out the easiest word first. For a clue like “The Wizard of Oz,” don’t start with “The.” Start with something you can actually do—maybe mime skipping down a yellow brick road or act like a lion. Once your team gets a key piece, the rest falls into place much more easily.

But what about abstract concepts like “justice” or “sadness”? This is where you have to break it down. You can’t act sadness, but you can act out the things associated with it. Mime crying. Slump your shoulders. Trace a tear down your cheek. For a complex idea like “politics,” you could mime two people arguing, then pretend to put a ballot in a box. You give your team a few simple images that point them toward the big idea.

The Host’s #1 Job: Curating the Clues

Let me be blunt: the single biggest factor in whether a game of charades is fun or a total flop is the quality of the clues. As the host, you are the curator. Just dumping random words from the internet into a hat is a recipe for disaster.

A good clue lives in the “Goldilocks Zone.” It’s not too easy, not too hard. “Cat” is a bad clue—too simple. “My Dinner with Andre” is also a bad clue—it’s a movie about two people talking, making it nearly impossible to act out. But a clue like “Jaws” is perfect. It’s famous, and it has an iconic, actable image (the shark fin!). Same with an activity like “Making a pancake”—it’s a sequence of actions everyone knows.

This is why you MUST vet the clues if you let your guests contribute. Announce you’re collecting the slips to “mix them up,” then take them aside for a quick review. Here’s what I immediately throw out:

• Inside jokes. They’re fun for two people and baffling for everyone else.
• Super obscure stuff. Technical terms, little-known historical figures, or abstract concepts like “epistemology.”
• Anything potentially offensive. The goal is fun, not making someone feel targeted or uncomfortable.

This little quality-control check takes three minutes but prevents 90% of the problems that can derail a game. It’s the sign of a host who cares.

Handling the Room: Common Problems & Quick Fixes

Your job isn’t over once the game starts. You’re the facilitator, so you need to keep an eye on the energy of the room.

• The Problem: A player is painfully stuck on a clue and the timer is ticking down. You can feel the frustration building.
  The Quick Fix: As the host, make an executive decision! Just say, “You know what, that’s a tough one. Let’s throw it out and grab another!” It saves the actor from feeling defeated and keeps the game’s momentum going.
• The Problem: You have a shy player who looks terrified about their turn.
  The Quick Fix: Before the game, you can privately ask them if they’d rather be the scorekeeper. If they want to play, try to make sure some of the easier, more physical clues (like “walking the dog”) are at the top of the pile. A quick success can be a huge confidence booster.
• The Problem: Someone is getting a little too competitive and it’s killing the vibe.
  The Quick Fix: Gently diffuse the tension with a bit of humor. A simple, “Alright, settle down there, champ! Remember, the points are fake but the laughs are real,” usually does the trick.

Ready for a New Challenge? Fun Variations

Once your group has the basics down, you can introduce a few variations to keep things interesting. I’d only try these with players who are already comfortable with the classic game.

For a fantastic icebreaker, my absolute favorite is Reverse Charades. Instead of one person acting for a team, the whole team acts for one guesser. It’s loud, chaotic, and hilarious, and it takes all the pressure off a single performer. It’s perfect for a new group.

If you have a more creative bunch that might be tired of the physical comedy, try Sound-Only Charades. Here, the actor can’t move but can make any sound effect they want (no words!). This is brilliant for clues like “a fire engine,” “a rainstorm,” or “a leaky faucet.”

And of course, there are Themed Rounds. Dedicating a whole round to something specific like “80s Movies” or “Things You Find in a Kitchen” helps focus the guessing and allows for more clever, nuanced clues.

A Final Thought on Safety and Fun

Remember, while it’s just a game, it involves real people. The first priority is making sure everyone feels safe, both physically and emotionally. That’s why I always start by clearing an acting space. I once saw an enthusiastic player trip over a floor lamp while acting out “running a marathon.” It’s a funny story now, but it was a solid reminder to prep the room!

Emotional safety is just as important. The goal is shared joy, not humiliation. Vetting clues and being ready to step in if someone gets stuck are the best ways to protect your players from feeling foolish.

At the end of the day, all these rules are just a framework. The soul of charades is its adaptability. If your group decides to allow sounds or use three-minute timers, go for it! The only real rule is that you’re all having fun together. That connection is why this simple game has stuck around for so long.

Inspirational Gallery

Classic Bowl vs. Modern App: The traditional pen-and-paper method is nostalgic and lets you customize clues for your specific group. The tactile feel of drawing a slip of paper is part of the fun. Digital App (like

More than 90% of communication is non-verbal. Charades isn’t just a game; it’s an exaggeration of how we connect every single day.

• Everyone understands what’s at stake.
• It keeps the energy high and the pace snappy.
• It prevents one clue from dragging on and killing the mood.

The secret? A non-negotiable timer. Whether it’s a sand timer for visual drama or the stopwatch on your phone, be strict with the 60 or 90-second limit. It’s the single best tool for keeping the game exciting and fair.

What do you do with a player who’s painfully shy?

First, never force them. Instead, create an environment of psychological safety. Start with a round where everyone acts out a simple clue (like ‘cat’ or ‘eating’) *at the same time*. This group action removes the dreaded spotlight. Often, after seeing that no one is judging, a shy player will feel more comfortable taking a solo turn later on.

Don’t just throw random words in a hat. A themed game makes the evening feel more cohesive and special. Try one of these for your next get-together:

• 80s Movie Night: Think The Breakfast Club, E.T., or Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. Bonus points for acting it out to an 80s playlist.
• Kitchen Nightmares: Clues are all food or cooking related. ‘Kneading dough,’ ‘Flipping a pancake,’ ‘Gordon Ramsay’.
• Globetrotter Edition: Famous landmarks, cultural activities, and countries. ‘Eiffel Tower,’ ‘Doing the Haka,’ ‘Brazil’.

A good guesser is as important as a good actor. Instead of shouting disconnected words, try to build on your teammates’ ideas. If someone yells

A 2017 study from the University of Oxford found that watching comedy with others significantly increases our pain threshold, likely due to the endorphins released during shared laughter.

This is the magic of charades in action. The game is a perfect engine for generating that shared laughter, creating a real, measurable sense of bonding and well-being among your guests.

The essential gestures: Before you begin, quickly establish a few universal signals that everyone can use. It will save tons of time and frustration.

• Movie/Film: Pretend to crank an old-timey movie camera.
• Book: Open your hands like a book.
• Song: Pretend to sing into a microphone.
• Sounds Like: Cup a hand behind your ear.
• Number of Words: Hold up that many fingers.

When reviewing clues written by guests, be ruthless about tossing ones that are simply un-actable. Your goal is fun, not frustration. Red flags include:

• Abstract concepts (e.g., ‘Justice’, ‘Apathy’)
• Things that are too specific or obscure (e.g., ‘My uncle’s boat’, ‘The Peloponnesian War’)
• Subtle emotional states (e.g., ‘Melancholy’, ‘Contentment’)

Important point: You need a universal signal for the ‘Category.’ Some hosts tap their nose for ‘Person,’ point to the floor for ‘Place,’ and draw a square in the air for ‘Thing.’ It doesn’t matter what they are, as long as you announce them at the start and stick to them!

For multi-word phrases, the syllable-tapping technique is your best friend. Hold up the number of words on your fingers, then point to the finger corresponding to the word you’re acting out. For that word, tap your forearm to indicate the number of syllables. Acting out

The game’s predecessor, simply called ‘The Game of Acting Charades,’ became a popular parlour activity in 19th-century France and England, long before electricity or television provided home entertainment.

Easy: Action verbs (running, swimming, cooking), common animals, and everyday objects. Medium: Movie titles, famous people, and more complex activities (e.g., ‘Doing laundry’). Hard: Idioms (‘let the cat out of the bag’), book titles, or multi-part concepts (‘a bride walking down the aisle’). A good game has a mix of all three.