Everybody knows this game, and there's a reason why it's so popular. Charades is a classic games night choice because it can get super silly super fast. The game requires you to stand up in front of everyone, and act out a book title, famous person, movie title etc. This instantly breaks the ice and puts people outside of their comfort zones. Although you may not be comfortable acting in front of people (even your friends or family), once you realize frantically waving your hands around with crazed facial expressions is all part of the fun, you won't be able to resist joining in!

How to play Charades

What you'll need to get started:

  1. Notepad and pen to keep track of the scores
  2. Charades phrases, either written them out yourself or you can use the word list included below
  3. Stopwatch to keep time (your phone usually has a built-in timer)

Here are the rules of charades:

  1. Choose a player to start. The player thinks of a word that the others should be familiar with.
  2. The player then acts the word or phrase they've chosen in front of the other players
  3. The first person to guess the word or phrase gets a point

And that's it! I told you the rules were simple, but that doesn't mean the game isn't fun. If you have a large group of people, you can also play as teams. The two teams guess the same word and the first team to guess their word correctly wins.

Play Charades on Brightful

The best way to play Charades is through Brightful. It’s one of many games available that you and your colleagues, friends, and family can play together during your next video call. It's easy to set up, you can play through any device and there are no downloads necessary. Just act out the words that appear on your screen during your ongoing video call, and see who can guess the most words correctly!

Common clues used in Charades


Struggling on how to act out words while playing Charades? Here are some recommendations on how to act out any prompts you may come across, and to give fellow players the best chance to guess what word you are trying to communicate.

  • For multiple words, hold up how many words with your fingers. Then hold up one finger to indicate you are acting the first word, two for the second etc.
  • To indicate something involving reading,  pretend to read a book.
  • To indicate a musical instrument, pretend to play it.

More rules for playing Charades

If you want to offer a more unique or challenging Charades experience that will test everyone, here are some ideas.

  • Players from each team take turns acting out words for their teammates
  • Winner takes all: the player with the most points at the end wins
  • Make harder or complex words worth more points
  • Maintain a theme among the words chosen (e.g: all words are related to school/work/travel)

Charades Words List

To help you get started, here's a massive list of words that you can act out. They are all ranked from easy to hard: easy words being simple to act out, whereas more difficult words will require a bit more creative thinking to communicate them non-verbally.  Simply pick one at random, choose one that you like, or pick a few to create your next Charades game!

Easy Charades Words

Fish

Rocket

Frozen

Table

Elbow

Pasta

Bird

Desk

Jail

McDonald

Bank

Volleyball

Elephant

Hand

Foot

Pizza

Airplane

Office

Ankle

Moustache


Index finger

Candy

Iceberg

Mouse

Watermelon

Salad

Horse

Bee

Phone

Toes

Knife

Chair

Pepper

Bus

Jedi 

Spiderman

Chocolate

Bear

Helicopter

Penguin

Knee

Death Star

Pool

Raccoon

Onion

Yoga

Dress

Orange

Castle

Fire

Beans

Pancake

Flower

Fork

Butterfly

Hair

Lion

Bicycle

Donut

Lake

Roller blade

Oven

Peanut

Ship

Titanic 

Sloth

Aladdin

Computer

Ice cream

Darth Vader

Death Star 

Pumpkin

Cat

Turtle 

Pear

Coconut

Stadium

Bread

Leg

Hand

Church

Wind

Volcano

Farmer

Human

Hockey

Eye

Glasses

Train

Shoulder

Thor

UFO

Superman

Spaceship

Playground 

Dinosaur

Truck

Spoon

Wafle

Bed

Car

Moon

Teeth

Rain

Boat

Hat

Sun

Bowl

Cake

KFC

Earth

Eye brow 

Dish

Nose

Stars

Pie

Butt

Neck

Skyscraper

Water

Banana

Strawberry

Eagle

Shark

Hospital

Candle 

Grass

Ant 

Carrot

Steak

Cow

Beach

Dog 

Grapes

Kiwi

Noodle

Cup

Chicken

River

Sea

Minions

Pencil

Paperclip

Squirrel

Swim

Golf

Soccer

Football

Basketball

Run

Baseball

Karate

Boxing

Hockey

Cricket

Ball

Watch

Duck

Keyboard

Umbrella

Piano

Rugby

Heart 

Monkey

Sundae

Pen

Book

Bubblegum

Night 

Snowboarding 

Fisherman

Laptop 

Tie

Fly

Ears

Legs 

Pens

Lips 

Shoes

Kiss 

Candy Cane 

Candy Dish 

Cheer 

Chef

Computer

Dream

Doll

Dollhouse 

Earthquake 

Fairy 

Exhausted 


Jaw

Karate

Lawnmower 

Moonwalk

Miner

Mower

Mirror 

Newspaper 

Payphone 

Piano

Plank 

Piano Bench 

Pizza 

Plantation 

Point 

Rabbit 

Religion 

Salary 

Snowman

Superhero 

Telephone 

Stressful

Toaster

Tow Truck 

Unhappy 

Warmth 

Wedding 

Wheelie 

Yoga

Handcuffs 

Medium Charades Words

Cell Phone

Schoolbag

Snowman

Ball

Ferry boat

Tarantula 

Bacteria

Motorcycle

Watch

Tree

Leaning Tower of Pisa

Fairy

Chess Set 

Classroom 

White House

Canoeing

Doctor

King

Clown

Cook

Police

Knight

Wizard

Scientist

Hunter

Queen

Celebrity

Thief

Priest

God

Monster

Guitar 

Glue

Tarantula 

Owl

Notepad

Coat

Bow

Crab

Celery 

Sofa

Sneeze

Sundae

Dog leash

Milkshake 

Mummy

Rocket ship

Toothpaste

Pencil Case 

Inchworm

Tennis

Socks

Octopus

Jeans

Pants 

Sunglasses 

Stairs

Table tennis 

Thermos 

Avocado 

Bakery

Best Friend 

Bouquet 

Boxing 

Bride 

Cake 

Candle 

Chess 

Closet

Corn Dog 

Cricket 

Decoration

Furnace 

Giant zit 

Injury 

Lullaby 

Lace

Meditation

Mugshot

Mushroom

Noise

Philosophy 

Pizza Sauce 

Plankton 

Prize 

President 

Psychologist 

Punctuality 

Reservoir 

Sandbox 

Season

Slacking 

Stopwatch

Vacation 

Waffle 

Soft 

Hypnosis 

Stress

Flock

Hunter

Prey

Marshmallow

Hard Charades Words

Parachute

Harry Potter

Alien

Wonder Woman

Batman

Toy Story

Iron Man

Monday

Tuesday

Spiderweb

Curl 

Wednesday

Friday

Weekend 

Holiday 

Chicken Pox

Sushi

Skateboard

Seaweed 

Jellyfish

Taxi Cab

Vanilla 

Pay cheque 

Whale

Goosebumps

Platypus 

Amoeba 

Apathetic 

Baggage 

Banker 

Blond

Blood 

Beanstalk 

Body odor

Boulevard 

Blueprint 

Cargo Ship

Career 

Classroom

Conspiracy 

Coastline

Coil 

Egghead 

Epitaph

Froth

Drone

Dust

Frost 

Gown

Freelance 

Husband 

Lawyer 

Lorry 

Living Room 

Lunar Rover

Minimalism 

Neurology 

Nightgown 

Overqualified 

Overtime 

Owner 

Patio

Pavillion

Pest 

Redundancy 

Skepticism 

Storefront 

Unemployed 

Workaholic 

Jello shot 

Mindfulness

Firm