Title: Telestrations
Published By: The Op.
Released: 2009
Player Count: 4-8
Time 1+Play: 30 Minutes
Ages: 12+
If Pictionary met Telephone and they had a baby, it would be the latest game we are about to review. Telestrations is a party game that is perfect for families with older kids, or friend groups looking to play a wholesome game with a large number of players. In Telestrations, players take turns between drawing what they see and guessing what they saw.
Setup:
To get started, place the box of cards, the timer, the clean-up cloths, and the die within reach of all players.
Give each player a sketchbook, and a marker. Have each player write their name in the front of their sketchbook.
You are now ready to begin
How to determine the first player:
All turns are asynchronous so there is no real starting player. However someone will need to roll the dice each round, so feel free to designate a person to do that or just take turns
How to Play:
Each player draws a card (keep it secret) and one player will roll the die. Each player matches the number rolled on the die with the number on their individual card. Players flip open their books and write the corresponding word in the "secret word" spot.
Depending on your player count, one of two things happens next. If you have an even number of players, turn your books to page one and get ready to draw the secret word. If you have an odd number of players, turn your book to page one and pass it to the player on your left. This will ensure the final round is a written guess, not a sketched guess.
Whether you have your book or the book of the player on your right, you now move into the sketching phase. Flip the 60-second timer and draw the secret word shown in the front of the book. When you finish (or time runs out), flip the book to page two and pass it to the player on your left.
Players now take turns guessing the sketch on page one. They should not look at any other pages in the book, besides pages 1 and 2. Once they have made their guess, they flip the book to page 3 and pass it to the left.
Repeat passing books, sketching and guessing, until each player has their own book back. Now it's time for the big reveal. While the rules suggest that you should start at the front and work your way to the back, our preference is actually to start at the back and work back toward the front.
So now here is the fun thing about Telestrations, you really don't need to keep score. You can play just for fun and it's awesome. If you laughed (and you will) you are a winner. We actually play Telestrations more without scoring.
That being said there are ways to keep score if you want to. There are rules for both friendly scoring and competitive scoring. In friendly scoring, players grant points to others for their favorite sketch in their book and their favorite guess in their book. Players also get one point if the final guess in their book matches the secret word.
In competitive mode, guesses score a point if their guess matches the secret word or the previous guess. Sketchers earn a point if their sketch helps a guesser make a match. And the person whose book it is scores a point if the last guess matches their secret word.
Our Thoughts:
As with many of the other party games from The OP that we have reviewed, Telestrations is a hit for us! Again, it's easy to teach and fun to play. One of our favorite things about Telestrations is that you really don't need to play competitively to have fun. Telestrations is great if you are just looking to spend the night laughing with your friends.
For people who are artistic, or like to attempt being artistic, Telestrations makes a great party game. But even for people who are not great with arts and crafts, it's still enjoyable since so many of the things you are trying to draw are weird and out there anyway.
We like that the rules include a QR code to a video on how to play. We know a lot of gamers that prefer learning the rules by watching rather than reading. This was a nice touch to include in the rulebook.
We would also like to mention, that while Telestrations is a family-friendly game, there is also a version called Telestrations After Dark, which is for adults only. We have played that version before, not for review, and it was hysterical. It is very much NSFW, but will still make you laugh just as much, maybe more (depending on how in the gutter your minds are) so just a heads up for anyone wondering if it is worth checking out.
Pudgy Cat Games makes no profit off reviews. Should you wish to purchase Telestrations, you can help support us by purchasing the game through our Amazon Affiliate Link below. It will cost you nothing extra, but will help support our site! More information can be found on The Op's website.
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