How to Play How Do You Doodle

We have another great drawing game for you: How Do You Doodle.

If you’ve been around a while, you’ll know that I love drawing games Pictionary is one of my all-time favorites as well as Up A Bit, Fish Bowl, and Think Blot. So when I was gifted How Do You Doodle, I was excited.

This game has its own unique twist to it which makes it fun and a little more likeable by the non-drawers of the family.

Let’s get into how to play, what we thought of it and if we think you should add How to You Doodle to your Family Game Shelf.

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Setting Up How Do You Doodle

To start, everyone gets one drawing sheet that is split up into nine squares. Everyone also gets a set of guessing tokens. Next, you place the topic cards in the middle of the playing area along with the number tokens. The number token need to be placed number side down. Now you’re ready to play.

Playing How Do You Doodle

Now that everyone has everything they need, it’s time to play. To start, you flip over one of the topic cards and read the three words on the card. All three words will be similar but different. For example, your card could read jump, leap and hop. Or it could say kid, child, youth. Or even lake, pond, lagoon. See, they are all similar but are different from each other in slight ways.

Next, everyone takes a number token. You will look at the number that you got but keep it secret from everyone else. You now have a few seconds to look at the word that matches the number that you chose. In the example above if you have the number one on your token, you would need to draw “jump.”

Drawing

When everyone is ready, you flip over the timer and now have 30 seconds to draw your word in a way that will make the others guess that it is jump not leap or hop. As with many drawing games, letters and numbers are not allowed. When the time is up, the fun is about to start.

Now, one player shows off their drawing – no talking allowed. The other players will look at the drawing and try to decide which of the three words the player has drawn. Once you have decided, you place a guessing token with the number face down beside that player’s black token. You can pass on guessing if you can’t figure out the drawing. When everyone has guessed, or skipped, the next player shows off his drawing and the process starts again.

When all players have shown their drawing and all the guesses are in, the play moves to scoring.

Scoring

Scoring One playerat a time will flip over their number token, relieving what number, or word, they drew. Next, she flips over everyone’s guessing token to see who guessed correctly. There are two ways to get points for each player.

The first is when you are the drawer. You get 1 point for each player who was able to guess your word. However, if no one was able to guess you get minus two points.

Second, when you are the guesser, you get one point if you guessed correctly. On the other hand, if you took a chance and were wrong, you get minus one point.

Each player gets a turn to relive their drawing number and everyone scores (or doesn’t) for each player. When the round is over, you tally your score beside that’s round’s drawing. All of the tokens are flipped back over and returned either to the correct player or in the middle. The number tokens in the middle should be mixed up.

Round Two

Now it’s time for the second round. A new player flips over the next topic card, reads the words out loud and everyone picks a new number token. The process is the same as the first round.

Winning How Do You Doodle

How Do You Doodle is played in nine rounds. The player with the most points at the end of the nine rounds is the winner.

What We Like

First, we love that this is a drawing game. But the twist of having one of three things to draw and then guessing takes this game to the next level. We also like the time it takes to play. The 30 minutes to takes to play a whole game is just right for everyone. Of course the quality is good and the box is a good size. Our favorite part is after the reveal and the explanations to try to get the others to see things your way. Another fun aspect is when you’re drawing the same word as someone else and they draw the same thing as you! (Both my husband and I drew a morgue for corpse. Maybe too many murder mysteries!)

What We Don’t Like

The first thing we don’t like is the watermark in the middle square of the drawing sheets. This is a small thing but it tends to take away from the drawing in that square and can sometimes make it hard to see. He only other thing is that some words are really hard to decipher between. What is the difference between a kid, a child and a youth? Of course, this is what makes the game fun to play.

Should you Add How Do You Doodle to your Family Game Shelf?

If you love a good drawing game then this is a must play game. Over all, I think it’s a great fit for most families as it challenges you to think outside the box and get the creative juices flowing.

To get your copy of How do you Doodle shop here; Canadians here.

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If you’re looking for more fun drawing games check out Up a Bit, Fish Bowl and Think Blot (no actual drawing in this one.) Be sure to check out our Family Game Shelf shop where you’ll find tons of fun with seasonal and original games like our Whacky Putt mini golf game. To get the latest games in your inbox, sign up for our weekly newsletter and stay up to date with all the fin. Click in the black box to get started.