Sketch & Guess

Sketch & Guess is a real-time multiplayer drawing-and-guessing game in your browser, inspired by classic party games like Skribbl and Pictionary. Each turn, one player picks a secret word and sketches it live on the shared canvas. Everyone else races to type the word into the chat. The faster you guess, the more points you score, and the drawer earns bonus points for every player who solves their drawing.

To start playing right away, jump into Quick Play to match with other players (empty seats are filled with intelligent bots), or create a Private Room to play with friends using your own custom rules and word packs.

How one round works

Every round follows a clear and fast-paced turn structure:

1. Pick a word. The designated drawer receives three word choices ranging across easy, medium, and hard difficulties. They have 10 seconds to pick, or one is chosen at random.
2. Sketch on the canvas. The drawer gets a 20-color artist palette, 4 brush sizes, flood fill, eraser, and full undo/redo history. Letters and numbers are forbidden!
3. Type your guesses. Guessers type into the chat box. Guesses are not case-sensitive. If your guess is just one letter off, you'll receive a private "so close!" alert.
4. Secret guesser chat. Once you guess correctly, you enter a secret channel where you can chat with the drawer and other successful guessers without spoiling the word.
5. Score reveal. When the clock runs out or everyone has guessed, the secret word is revealed alongside points earned by both drawer and guessers.

Drawing tools and keyboard shortcuts

The drawing canvas runs at a crisp 800×600 resolution with sub-pixel stroke smoothing and full touch support on phones and tablets.

• Palette: 20 hand-picked colors plus an eraser tool.
• Brush sizes: 4 distinct thicknesses for fine outlines, bold silhouettes, or rapid shading.
• Flood fill: Tap the paint bucket to fill enclosed regions with zero color bleed.
• Undo / Redo: Tap the undo icon or press Ctrl+Z (or Cmd+Z on a Mac) to reverse previous strokes.
• Clear canvas: Reset the canvas when you need a fresh start.

Letter hints and scoring system

To keep the game moving and prevent players from getting stuck, hints automatically unlock over time if hints are enabled in the room settings:

• At 50% of draw time, the first letter is revealed.
• At 75% of draw time, a second letter is shown.
• The final hidden letter is never revealed, so players must always deduce the solution.

How points are calculated

All points are computed securely on the server:

• Guesser points: Up to 100 base points scaling with remaining time, plus an order bonus (+50 for 1st, +30 for 2nd, +15 for 3rd, +5 after). Each letter hint already revealed reduces the time-based maximum by 15%.
• Drawer points: 25 points per correct guesser, plus an extra 50-point bonus if the entire room solves the sketch.
• Difficulty multiplier: Easy words have a 1x multiplier, medium words 1.2x, and hard words 1.5x.

Reactions, Badges and the Best Drawing vote

During and after each turn, guessers can react to drawings with thumbs up or thumbs down.

• Crowd Favorite badge: Earned if your sketch receives at least 2 thumbs up and is liked by 60% or more of guessers.
• Best Drawing vote: At the end of the match, all players vote in a 25-second showdown for the best artwork of the game. Winning drawings are permanently showcased in the public gallery with timelapse replays and GIF export.