Scribbly: the online drawing game to play with friends

What is Scribbly?

Drawing and guessing games are about as old as paper and pencil. Someone sketches, everyone else calls out what they think it is, and the worse the drawing, the better the laugh. Scribbly brings that into an online room: each player draws on their own screen with a mouse, a stylus or a finger, and in Sketch & Draw the guessers watch every stroke appear as it is drawn.

Nobody needs to be good at drawing. A stick figure and three arrows can win a turn. The fun is in the race to guess, the near misses, and the drawings everyone looks back at once the word is revealed.

Scribbly has three modes. The host picks one in Game settings before the game starts, and can switch to another mode, or another game, between games without anyone leaving the room.

Scribbly modes on Ping44

Sketch & Draw

One player types a secret word and draws it while everyone else races to guess it. The faster you guess, the more you score, and the drawer earns a bonus for each player who gets it. 2 to 50 players. Full rules: Sketch & Draw.

Sketch Battle

One player types a word and everyone draws it at the same time. Each drawing is then rated from 0 to 3 stars by one other player, and handing your drawing in early multiplies your points. 3 to 30 players. Full rules: Sketch Battle.

Sketch Impostor

Everyone draws the same word except the impostor, who never receives it and has to fake a drawing by watching the others. Then the room votes on who was bluffing. 3 to 20 players. Full rules: Sketch Impostor.

How to play Scribbly

1. The host chooses Scribbly in the room's lobby, picks a mode under Game mode in Game settings, sets the rounds and turn time, and starts the game.
2. Players take turns choosing the word. When it's your turn, type any word or short phrase. You have 60 seconds; if time runs out, your turn is skipped.
3. Draw on the white canvas with the tools under it: 16 colors, 5 brush sizes, Undo, Clear, and a Lock that lets you scroll on a phone without drawing by accident.
4. Then guess, rate or vote, depending on the mode.
5. After each turn, the results show the word, the drawings and everyone's points. The next turn starts when the host moves on, or by itself after 30 seconds when Auto-start next turn is on.
6. When the last round ends, the player with the highest total score wins.

Host settings

• Game mode: Sketch & Draw, Sketch Battle or Sketch Impostor.
• Rounds: 1 to 10 (3 by default).
• Turn time: 15 to 120 seconds, in steps of 5 (60 by default).
• No timer for first round: the opening round has no clock, so new players can learn without pressure. It ends once everyone has guessed or handed in their drawing.
• Auto-start next turn: on by default. The next turn begins 30 seconds after the results, and the host can pause the countdown.

The host can also restart a turn or end the game early.

Scoring on Ping44

The server keeps score in every mode:

• Sketch & Draw: a correct guess is worth 100 points at the very start of the turn, falling steadily to 10 points as the clock runs out. The drawer gets 15 points for each player who guesses right, but loses that bonus if every guesser gets it (the drawing was too easy), except in a two-player game.
• Sketch Battle: your score for each turn is the rating your drawing receives (0 to 3) × (the seconds left when you handed it in + 10).
• Sketch Impostor: if an impostor is among the most-voted players, every regular player who voted for an impostor scores 100. If the impostor escapes, they score 150, plus 25 for every vote a regular player cast for someone innocent.

The top scorer of each turn in Sketch & Draw or Sketch Battle is credited with a win; in Sketch Impostor the win goes to the highest total at the end of the game. Points also go on the room's scoreboard, which keeps adding up across every game you play in that room.

Tips and strategy

• Draw the idea, not the details. Guess points drop every second, so a quick outline that shows what the thing is beats a slow, perfect sketch.
• Start with the part that gives it away. For "birthday cake", the candles say more than the plate.
• Guessers: read the hints. In Sketch & Draw you see how many words there are, how many letters each has, and endings such as -ing or -tion.
• In Sketch Battle, a decent drawing handed in with half the clock left can outscore a better one handed in at the buzzer.
• In Sketch Impostor, the impostor can watch your canvas while you draw. Add a detail that proves you know the word without handing them the answer.
• Choose words the whole room knows. Inside jokes and obscure names make for quiet rounds.

How to start a game of Scribbly on Ping44

1. Go to ping44.com, sign in for free with email or Google, and create a room. Only the host needs an account.
2. Share the invite link, the 6-character room code or the QR code. Friends open the link or enter the code and join as guests by picking a name.
3. In the lobby, choose Scribbly, then pick Sketch & Draw, Sketch Battle or Sketch Impostor under Game mode in Game settings.
4. Set the rounds and turn time, then start the game.

Why play Scribbly on Ping44

• Three drawing games in one room. Switch modes between games and keep the same players and the same running scoreboard.
• Room for big groups: up to 50 players in Sketch & Draw, 30 in Sketch Battle and 20 in Sketch Impostor. Others in the room can watch as spectators.
• Fair play. The server holds the word, the ratings and the votes, and sends the word only to the players allowed to see it. In Sketch Impostor the impostor never receives it.
• Built-in voice chat when the host turns it on, plus text chat with emote reactions.
• Plays in the browser on phones, tablets and computers. Free, with no ads and nothing to buy.
• Words in any language. Ping44 itself is in English, French and Vietnamese.

Want more ideas for your group? See the drawing games guide or the party games guide. For a word game with no drawing at all, try 20 Questions.

Frequently asked questions