Charades Generator: Random Charades Ideas

How to use it

1. Spin for a promptThe actor presses SPIN while the others look away, reads the result and starts acting. Space spins too.
2. Act it out without wordsNo talking, no mouthing letters and no pointing at objects in the room. The guessers call out answers until someone gets it or time runs out.
3. Pass the device and spin againUsed prompts stay off the wheel until all 90 have come up, so the next actor gets something new.

What the charades wheel does

• Runs a charades game with no cards to write: spin for a prompt, act it out, and no prompt repeats until all 90 have come up.
• Works as charades for kids when you keep the Easy groups, actions and animals, and delete the rest from the list.
• Holds charades words and short scenes in six groups, from Brushing teeth to Following a map upside down.

What is on this wheel

The prompts and the levels

The 90 prompts sit in six groups of 15. Actions and animals are marked easy: brushing teeth, a kangaroo, a penguin. Sports and games, jobs and everyday moments are medium: bowling, a dentist, assembling furniture. The tricky group is hard, because it asks for a situation rather than a thing, such as being stuck in an elevator or opening a present you do not like.

No prompt names a film, show, brand or character, so nobody needs to have seen the same things to play. Every prompt can be shown with the body and a little imagination.

Rules most groups use

The actor may not speak, mouth words or spell. Holding up fingers for the number of words and tapping an arm for syllables are common conventions, as is a cupped hand behind the ear for sounds like. Agree on them before the first round.

Teams take turns, and a round usually lasts one or two minutes. Keep time with a phone timer, and count a point for the team that guesses within the time. With two teams, one person from each acts in turn, and the wheel serves both.

Choosing the level for your group

Mixed ages work best with the easy groups only: delete the medium and hard lines from the entry box and the wheel spins from 30 prompts. Adults who have played before usually enjoy the tricky group most, because the guessers have to read a whole scene rather than one gesture.

To play by level, copy the rows of one level from the table into the entry box. To add your own prompts, write one per line; anything that fits on a line works, including inside jokes from your group.

Scoring and team play

The simplest score is one point for each prompt guessed within the time. Some groups give a bonus for the tricky group, or let the other team steal a point when the acting team runs out of time. Write the scores on paper or in a notes app; the wheel keeps the order of prompts in its Results tab.

For a party of mixed ages, pair a younger player with an older one, and let the pair act together. For a quick warm-up at the start of a meeting or a lesson, play without teams: whoever guesses acts next, and the wheel hands out the prompt.

Playing over a video call

Charades works on a call too. The actor opens this page on their own device, spins with the screen out of view of the camera, and acts in front of it. If the call is on the same device, keep the wheel in a separate window that you do not share. Guessers type or shout answers, and the host keeps the time.

Sharing the wheel's link with the other players shows them the whole list, which spoils the game, so keep the link with the host or the actors only.

Keeping it fair

Everyone once before anyone twice is switched on for this wheel, so a prompt that has come up stays out of the draw until the whole list has been used. Each spin picks with the browser's cryptographic random numbers before the wheel moves, and every prompt left has the same chance.