Draw Something Tips and Tricks

You may have noticed as I have that the smartphone game Draw Something has become somewhat of a craze. Everyone I know is playing it and I'm even seeing celebrities talk about it on twitter and customers talking about it in my store. It's huge!


I too have fallen victim to the pull this game has and I have picked up on a few tips to make the game a little easier.


FIRST:
When choosing which word to draw, make sure you know how to draw it. I have come across this several times; I know what a hippo looks like and what a furby looks like and what jenga looks like. I assumed, because I could picture these things very clearly, that they would be a cinch to draw. When it came to it, however, I struggled with all three of these words to make the pictures resemble in any way the actual object I was trying to draw. You will serve yourself well to pen out a rough sketch before selecting the word to make sure it is in fact something you can draw.

You may think dandruff seems a fairly easy word to draw.

Of course you know what dandruff looks like.

But in practice, would it work in the game?

SECOND:
Do not be afraid to utilize Google images. You know you know what a trombone looks like. You know you know what a rooster looks like. But when it comes time to draw, you may not be able to recall the exact proper shapes of things. Pulling the image up in front of you to use as a guide could prove invaluable to make sure your opponent doesn't see a wonky trumpet or a stunted turkey. HOWEVER, don't use Google to find out what something looks like when you don't already know. This isn't, of course, an official Draw Something rule. But it is cheating and lame and makes you a dick.


THIRD:
Keep your drawings simple. Get to the point. If your opponent has to sit for a while and wait for your overly detailed picture to finally portray the word, they could lose interest. It could over-complicate your word and make it harder for them to ultimately correctly guess.

You COULD draw a figure skater, a gymnast, a swimmer and a runner to

depict the olympic games,but the simple universal symbol of the olympic rings

is a much simpler and easier to guess way to draw the word.

FOURTH:

Once you've drawn your base picture, by all means feel free to add details on after the fact. It can sate your desire to create an elaborate illustration without frustrating your opponent or make it easier for them to guess if they couldn't quite understand your original picture.

The word "hospital" seems simple enough to draw,

but if you, like me, think that the picture you drew

wasn't quite enough to help your opponent guess, adding

another detail, in this case an ambulance, is a prefect way to help.

FIFTH:
If you're able to, draw more than one example. If you're drawing the word dinosaur, they could get hung up on t-rex if that's what they see. Drawing a t-rex and then a stegosaurus will help your opponent to generalize a more general word than complicate the drawing with a specific. This is also helpful if your first example turns out worse than you hoped it would be. Rather than redrawing a poorly drawn t-rex, moving on to a new example could greatly benefit you and your opponent. This is also an especially good tip for words which could mean more than one thing. If your word is stand, you could draw one person sitting and one person standing with an arrow to the standing person, and then for good measure, a night stand.

The first flower could be seen as "daisy" where having

the variety lets the opponent know to think more generally.

SIXTH:

Feel free to write guide words. If you are struggling to illustrate your word effectively, writing sound effect or identifying another object in the picture could help to clarify what you are trying to represent. Adding "HI YA!" to the weird twisted stick figure intended to represent kung fu can help your opponent fully understand what you're trying to convey.

The bottle half full of mysterious redness could mean anything!

Adding the word "caliente" could let your opponent know they are looking

at something hot and possibly Hispanic. Hot sauce!

SEVENTH:

Unlike the previous tip wherein I encourage guide words, one of my most important rules in the game is DO NOT SIMPLY WRITE THE WORD. Do I honestly need to elaborate on that? It's lame. No one wants to play with someone that lame. Because. Dude. Really. Lame!

Not only did this kid write out the word,

(no doubt choosing the three-point word regardless of what it was)

he also gave up right away on my pretty evident picture of an airbag, complete with arrows.

EIGHTH:

If your drawing is one which includes multiple elements within it to clarify the word you are illustrating, by all means feel free to use arrows to indicate exactly which is the symbol they are intended to identify.

Rain, umbrella or galoshes could all be fair guesses in this picture.

The arrows let you or your opponent know

exactly which element is to be identified.

NINTH:

If you are at the point where you have to choose the word you will draw and you really don't like any of your options you can simply back out of the game. When you close and then reopen the app and go back into the same game, you will be given a whole new selection of words from which to choose. If you don't have any bombs or don't want to use them to give yourself new words this is a far better option than choosing a word you will struggle to draw and possibly losing out on points.

TENTH:

Again, if you are out of bombs or don't want to use the ones you have and you are trying to guess someone else's drawing, here is a tip I have found MOST helpful. Write down the letters you are being shown and then back out of the app. Go back into the game and you will find that you have been given an entirely new group of letters. Simply compare those letters to the ones previously written down to find which ones remained to get you closer to the right answer.

If you are struggling to figure out your opponent's drawing, use this hint 

to give you a better shot. AFOOSY are the only letters in common

from one group to the other. This makes it easier to deduce that

the drawing represented is, of course, sofa.

ELEVENTH:

This application only includes so many words. Keep in mind the ones you notice recurring like sheriff and soulmate and if you are stumped, just try and see what words you can unscramble from the letters you are given. If you catch onto a word you know is in the game, just try it. You could luck out.

My best guess for this picture would be some sort of radioactive horse

but having come across the word dinosaur on several

occasions in this game previously, I am able

to guess that that might be what this is.

TWELFTH:

Pay attention to the way your gamemates draw things you have had trouble drawing. If you skipped drawing jordan because you weren't quite sure how and you have an opponent draw a Michael Jordan jersey or the Air Jordan logo, why not use that for yourself in the future? Making note of the way others play could absolutely help you become better at the game.

THIRTEENTH:

If you have friends you know play the game, play with them! It will be fun for you guys. You can have a second brain to help you figure out drawings from other games with the added bonus of being able to personally ask for or provide hints or answers if one of you has stumped the other or the drawing goes wonky or gets sent uncompleted.

Because this game was against a personal friend, he was

able to tell me what his incomplete drawing was intended to be.

Were this game against a stranger, I would have been SOL unless I utilized

tip ten.

FOURTEENTH:

When it isn't your turn in any of the games you have going on and you really want to play, or if you need more colors or bombs and are trying to quickly rack up coins, start games with strangers. It's fun. It gives you more people to play with, more opportunities to pick up on different ways to play. It gives you practice drawing and you have a good time getting to play even when none of your friends have taken their turn.

I don't know any one of these people, but guessing their drawings helps me with

my own ideas and drawing for them gives me practice. Not to

mention the fact that we all get coins!

FIFTEENTH:

Have fun and be silly. Write "lol" on your drawing if you thought your opponent's was particularly cute and clever. If you notice a word that can be made from the letters you're given, punch it in even if you know it's wrong to give your opponent a little entertainment when they are watching you guess your word. This is a game, afterall, and just because it isn't being played face to face doesn't mean you can't still have a fun and silly time.

Obviously, "nooo" isn't a real word option in the game. But if you

notice it's there and it's funny, throw it up! Why not?

SIXTEENTH:

Final tip, which may not even need to be said but I will say because I was dumb enough to not be able to figure out on my own, scroll your colors side to side to see all of the ones you've purchased. They didn't just go away. You still have blue...... >.>

That's it. That's all I got. If you have any other tips of your own or anything to add to or say about mine or anything else for that matter, please feel free to leave a comment.

Special thanks to Mike, Katie, Erika, Alexis, Tuna and all the great people I play this game with who have helped me develop these techniques and allowing me to demonstrate with visual aids in this entry.

Extra special thanks to Kyle for collaborating with me on this and being a damn good opponent and an even better boyfriend.

Shame on you, Jake I. for not even trying to have fun with this game.