How to Make Charades Yourself
There are two American sign languages: the system deaf people use to talk and charades. While it may seem a stretch, like standard ASL, standard charades gestures are an agreed-upon language meant to help people communicate without words. Also like a language, not knowing how it works puts you (and your team) at a disadvantage when you find yourself at a party in which everyone else seems fluent in it. Fortunately, the rules and signs for charades are simple to learn, making it easy to join the fun and make your own charades at your next party.
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Instructions
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Set Up
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Cut up little slips of paper. It is better to have too many than too few — about three for every player should suffice.
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Write the name of a well-known cultural icons on the slips of paper. They can be names of famous people, books, movies, TV shows, plays, songs or even phrases. Be sure to keep the age and average knowledge base of the players in mind when coming up with charades. Also try to keep charade ideas to seven words or less.
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Mix the slips together in a hat or bag.
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Divide the players into two teams, preferably of equal size. Divide the slips of paper between the two teams. Select a neutral timekeeper and scorekeeper, or pick members from each team to take turns. Agree upon how many rounds to play and how long each player's turn can be.
Gameplay
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Begin the game by having a member of Team A draw a slip from the hat for the first player from Team B. That player gets no more 30 seconds to review the suggestion before he must begin trying to act it out.
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Indicate the category. The first step in making a charade is to tell the audience what category the thing you will be acting out falls into. There are some universally accepted symbols for indicating category: For a book title, clap your hands in front of you, then split them open as though they were the covers of a book. For a play, pretend to pull a curtain rope; for a movie, pretend to crank an old-fashioned film camera; for TV, make a box with your fingers; for something musical, pretend to sing; and make air-quotes for a quote.
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Give clues as to the nature of your hints. There are many strategies for leading people to say the right word. One of the most common is, instead of acting out a word, act out another word that sounds like the one you are going for. You tell your teammates you are doing this by putting your hand up to your ear before acting. So to get people to guess the "Gone" in "Gone with the Wind," you might point to a pawn on a chess board.
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Be creative. Thorough knowledge of every common charades sign is no substitute for resourcefulness and imagination. Never hesitate to put yourself out there, think outside the box and be silly, and always have a backup plan in case one idea backfires. If pretending to fish isn't getting your teammates any closer to guessing "A Fish Called Wanda," don't hesitate to lay on the floor and flop around, if that's what it takes.
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Mark a point for a team each time they guess their player’s charade. The team with the most points after the agreed-upon number of rounds wins.
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References
Resources
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