A lot of lists of pictionary words for adults lean on films, bands and television. That works until someone at the table has not seen the film. Then the drawer sweats, the table stares, and one person feels left out. The words below avoid all of that. Each one comes from ordinary grown-up life, which every adult at a table has lived through whether or not they follow any show. I wrote them fresh for this article.
Why leave pop culture out?
A shared reference is a gamble. A group of colleagues, in-laws or neighbours will rarely share the same taste in what they watch or listen to. They will share a commute, a bad night's sleep and a queue at an airport. Words from life are fair to everyone, and they still make a drawer think.
The word game itself is old. Pictionary was invented by Robert Angel with friends in 1981 and first published in 1985, according to Wikipedia. Pictionary is a trademark of its owner, and Boardit is not affiliated with it. The lists below are plain words, so they work on paper, on a whiteboard or in any online drawing game.
Which words come from home and money?
Money words are the most universal, because every adult has worried about a bill. This group is built around the house and the car.
Mortgage, power cut, flat tyre, parking ticket, school run, waiting room, insomnia, hangover, leaky tap, spare key.
These suit a mixed table. Most of them have one clear picture: a house with a heavy chain, a dark room with a candle, a wheel gone soft.
Which words come from work?
Deadline, promotion, redundancy, spreadsheet, job interview, lunch break, awkward silence, overtime, handshake, resignation.
Work words are good with colleagues, but they also work with strangers. Everyone has been in a meeting. The hard ones, like promotion, force a drawer to pick a symbol, such as a ladder.
Which words come from social life?
Small talk, blind date, wedding speech, housewarming, group chat, surprise party, reunion, babysitter, split the bill, awkward hug.
Two-part words like these are harder, and that is the point. The drawer has to decide which half to draw first. A good tip is to draw the person before the event.
Which words come from travel?
Many adults have waited for a delayed plane or lost a bag. That shared misery is the reason these words work.
Jet lag, delayed flight, lost luggage, passport control, souvenir, sunburn, campsite, road trip, traffic jam, boarding pass.
Travel words are the most drawable on the list. Planes, bags and suns are quick to sketch, and even a poor drawing is readable.
How do you play them with friends online?
On a video call, the easiest way is to have the host type the list into the custom words box before the game starts. The host's own words stay hidden from the players, so nobody sees the list in advance.
If you want to play these online, a host can type them into the custom words box of Boardit's Draw and Guess, a free game I make.
The defaults are a good start for adults: 100 seconds a drawing, five words to choose from and three hints. Up to twelve people can sit in one room, and the drawings go into a gallery at the end. That gallery is where an adult table laughs hardest, because a drawing of a mortgage looks like nothing at all.
Can you make the list harder?
Yes. Cut the hints to one or none, and shorten the clock to 60 seconds. Or ask the drawer to pick the longest word on offer. The list stays the same, but the evening changes.
Another way is to mix groups. Ask each player to take one word from the work list and one from the travel list, so every drawing starts from an unfamiliar angle.
How do you play a round on paper?
Write the words on slips and fold them. One person picks a slip and draws, and the others call out guesses. No letters on the page. Set a timer for 60 to 90 seconds, which is long enough for an adult to get a rough picture down and short enough to keep the pace.
What should you do with a word you dislike?
Delete it. The lists are a starting point, not a rule, and a game that suits your table beats a list that suits mine.
Ahmed Moaz builds Boardit, a free browser game site.