The goal

Make something your friends can guess, or something they will remember laughing about. Create a party, share its four-letter code, and join from a browser on each device. No accounts are needed. Everyone picks a name and a Scienceboo.

How a party runs

The host picks a mode and pace; everyone else taps I’m ready (a host who taps Start early sends anyone still unready a “Hit ready!” nudge), and the host’s Start begins a four-second countdown that explains the mode in two lines. You stay ready for the next game unless the host changes the settings. Guest taps on a mode show as +1 votes; the host chooses. During every round the turn line shows who is still to act, and your own answer or vote stays on screen. Votes can change until the last one lands. In Untimed games the host ends a phase when someone is stuck. Your group returns to the same room after the results.

The six games

Live Guess · 2–8. One of you draws a secret clue; everyone else types guesses. The artist picks an Easy, Medium or Hard clue worth 100, 125 or 150, plus up to 50 for speed; the artist earns 25, 35 or 50 per correct guess. Halfway through, letter blanks appear; longer and harder clues then give away a letter or two before time runs out. Spelling slips, plurals, word order and common spellings (donut or doughnut, color or colour) don’t matter, and a near miss gets a private “so close”. Each turn ends with the picture and its artist, who got it and how fast, the best misses and the scores so far.

Emoji Mashup · 2–8. Live Guess with emoji and two-word clues such as a sleepy sun. Open Emoji, pick one, then tap the paper to place it. Up to six per drawing; Undo takes the last one back.

Categories · 2–8. Vote on one of four categories, then draw its clues in turn. Most votes wins; a tie is settled by a spin that every player sees land on the same winner. The optional Cheeky deck adds Politics, cartoon Ways to Die, Bad Decisions, Awkward Moments, Terrible Inventions, Wonky Superpowers, Weird Pets and Disastrous Dance Moves, and puts at least two of them in every vote.

Cooperative Duo. With exactly two players, the guessing games become a shared challenge: six alternating turns, solve as many as you can together.

Caption Bluff · 3–8. Everyone draws a private prompt. For each drawing, the others write a convincing fake caption, then vote for the real one. When it’s your drawing, you write a decoy too, then heart your favorites while they vote. A correct vote earns 100; every person your fake fools earns you 50; the artist earns 25 per correct vote. Type the real caption and the room quietly asks you for a fake instead. Tap ♡ on captions that make you laugh; the most-liked writer is the Crowd favorite. The reveal plays the fakes one by one, the real caption last.

Drawing Telephone · 3–8. Write a sentence and pass it on. The next person draws it, the next describes the drawing, and so on. Missed steps carry the last picture or sentence forward. The host turns the pages of each story one at a time. No score.

Secret Artist · 5–8. Everyone sees the clue except one secret artist. Add one continuous stroke per turn, twice around the group. Then talk it over out loud and vote for the secret artist. A caught artist gets one guess at the clue to escape; a tie or an innocent accusation lets them escape too. Three rounds.

Messy markers is an optional setting for every mode except Secret Artist: each drawing gets two random inks and no eraser.

Drawing controls

Color picks one of nine inks, Size picks Thin, Medium, Thick or Fill, Erase and Undo do what they say, and More holds Clear drawing. Drag a finger, mouse or pen. Keyboard: focus the paper, arrow keys move, Enter or Space lowers and lifts the pen, Escape finishes a line. The paper stays light and square on every device.

On a phone you guess with the game’s own letter keys, so the drawing stays in view the whole time. Use phone keyboard switches to your phone’s keyboard for dictation or other languages. Hold your phone upright; Drawing Party is made for portrait. When it’s your turn to draw on a phone, the paper runs edge to edge. The full screen button sits beside the timer.

Pace

Normal gives 15 seconds to pick a clue, 60 to draw, 40 to write and 25 to vote; Relaxed gives 30, 90, 60 and 35. Secret Artist uses 15-second strokes, 30 seconds to talk and 20 to vote or guess; Relaxed doubles those. Untimed has no clock and no speed bonus. Menus pause your controls, not the room’s clock.

Reconnecting

Brief connection trouble rejoins you to your place and saved drawing. A second tab can watch; Take drawing control in this tab moves the pen. The host role passes to a connected player after 30 seconds away. Places are held for 60 seconds. Rooms expire after 24 hours of quiet.

Tips

• Start with the big shape. Details can wait; your friends cannot.
• Guess whole words. Capitals, spaces and accents never matter.
• In Caption Bluff, a plausible title is funnier than a perfect drawing.
• Telephone starters work best as a character doing something unexpected.
• In Secret Artist, a useful stroke gives information, and so does a suspiciously vague one.
• Pick Relaxed or Untimed if drawing or typing on a phone takes longer. When a clock runs out, whatever you’ve drawn or typed so far is sent for you.

Questions

Can I play alone? Drawing Party needs at least one friend and a live room service.

Can two people use the same Scienceboo? Yes. Duplicate names get display numbers.

What is saved? The room keeps the current and previous match. Your profile keeps match statistics and Duo records. Drawings and prompts are not cloud saves.

Can we keep strangers out? Share the code only with your group. The host can lock the room and remove a player. People already in the room can still reconnect while it is locked.