How to Play Up a Bit Drawing Game

The picture guessing game 3 plus plays ages 8 and up

I love Pictionary (it might be my favorite game of all) and when I came across the drawing game Up a Bit I knew I had to give it a try. We had all ready tried out Doodle Dice (where you “draw” with dice) and ThinkBlot where you have to convince others that what you see if there.

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Setting Up a Bit Ready

To start, everyone gets a sheet from the drawing pad. These sheets have a grid pattern on them that are labeled. These grid labels can be used to help players know where to put things on the page.

The game also needs a five minute timer that doesn’t come with the game. We simply used our phone.

In an usual move, the oldest player gets to be the first “Up-A-Bitter.” This is the person who will give the clues for the rest of the players to draw.

The cards are double sided with different background colours. The green cards are vertical drawings and the yellow are horizontal. The cards do not need to be placed with one colour all together.

Playing Up a Bit

The first clue giver takes the top card of the deck. Next, she flips the card over to see the hidden image.  She then has five minutes to describe to the others how to draw the item on the card. She can only use words that describe the lines such as a circle, long, diagonal, wavy and small. She can’t tell the others to say “add a head.”

At the same time, the other players try to draw according to what the “Up-A-Bitter” is telling them. At any time, a player may call out a guess as to what they are drawing. It is important that no one sees the card or what other’s are drawing.

If a player correctly guesses what the drawing is they win the round. We’ll get to scoring in a bit. On the other hand, if he has guessed correctly, he still have four more guesses.

A player has up to five guesses. After the fifth guess, he is out of the round.

When the timer runs out, if no one has correctly guessed the image, then the round is over and no one scores any points.

The role of “Up-A-Bitter” then rotates to the left and a new papers and a new card are draw and a new round begins.

Scoring

To start, all players start with 10 points. If a player correctly guesses the image, both the guesser and the “Up-A-Bitter” get one point.

If the clue giver didn’t make use of the labeled squares, she gets an extra point.

On the other hand, if no one is able to guess the image, the “Up-A-Bitter” loses one point.

Winning Up a Bit

When there are three to six players, everyone gets to be the “Up-A-Bitter” twice. When there are seven or more players, everyone gets to be the clue giver once.

At the end of the rounds, the player with the most points wins.

What We Like

First, we like that although it is a drawing game, it has its one unique style. For those of us who don’t love Pictionary, this was a more enjoyable game. It evened out the playing, so to speak, for those who are not so good a t drawing.

We like that the game is a rather quick game. We also liked that the drawings are very clear, at least to the player who has the card. We haven’t once hit “I don’t know what that is” problem.

The best part of the game has to be comparing our drawings to each other’s drawings as well as the card. Sometimes the results are downright laughable.

What We Didn’t Like

First, I think that the 5 minute time limit is too much. With that much time, there seems to be no pressure or point to it. We haven’t once hit the time limit. Instead, a time limit like 3 minutes is better. That gives plenty of time but still has the time pressure.

Next, if you lose the drawers and they really don’t understand what you are saying, it’s very difficult to make them understand. That is part of the game of course but it makes it more frustrating that fun.

Last, it’s hard to say what exactly makes us not love this game like we do other drawing games. Maybe it’s that it’s a lot of work for you to actually describe the drawings in a way to make others understand. It can feel a lot like one of those challenges where a child gives a list of instructions and the adult deliberately messes up – like “put the peanut butter on the bread” and the adult puts the jar onto of the loaf.

Should you add Up a Bit to your Family Game Shelf?

If you love drawing games and mind challenging games, then I would say that you should make room for Up a Bit on your game shelf. It’s a compact box with lots of playability. We do like the laughs we have over our drawings and what they look like compared to others. Over all, if you have room Up a Bit is not a bad addition to game night.

You can get your own copy of Up a Bit here with an updated look.

If you’re looking for more drawing games that aren’t Pictionary, check out ThinkBlot (where there is only seeing and no actual drawing) we even have a tutorial for making your own game here. Doodle Dice is a another game where you roll dice to make the pictures. And for loads more fun, visit our Family Game Shelf shop for tons of seasonal and original games.

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