Another fun night of games this time with family from California, Colorado, Maine, New Jersey and Massachusetts. It was great to see everyone, especially the two newest additions to the family. Pictionary was a great choice for connecting virtually, mentally, and emotionally while drawing pictures and guessing each others “creations.” We navigated this new way of playing virtually with ease and decided that next week we will play Balderdash. This was definitely a worthy experience. I love my family and friends and a good challenge. Exploring and learning new ways to bring fun, educational games to my family, friends, and students has been a real treat. I hope you will give it a try.
The Games
Pictionary is a board game where players earn various levels of points for their team by guessing what someone else is drawing under a time limit and sometimes with competition. In the board game players roll the die to identify their draw word using the number rolled as it corresponds to a word from a card in the deck. There are two options for drawing based on the identified word. If it is an “All Play” one person from each team draws the same word giving both teams a chance at the point. If not, that team gets control and draws only for their team. An “All Play” is indicated by a special symbol next to the word on the card. As points are earned and the die is rolled players move across the board in the hopes to reach the finish line first.
Turn this into a game of Charades by acting out instead of drawing. Watch this Youtube video to learn more about playing charades. Try my themed story spinners for the book, TV show, and movie categories. Here are two additional topic, animals and kids movies. Use the "Single Name" button at the top, not the spinner, to hide the list of options.
Online Materials
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- Cards or word list to generate words & topics (written list, online word generating, one you design yourself (use "Spinner" or "Single Name")
- Drawing instrument (pen, marker, iPad, tablet or phone, etc.
- Drawing surface (paper, whiteboard, chalkboard, iPad, etc.
- Timer (the one in your board game, YouTube, phone app, etc.
- Conferencing tool (Meet, Hangouts, FaceTime, Zoom, etc.
- Messaging or email (To share words with players if you are acting as the moderator. With students I always use school based communication, gmail and Meet for conferencing.
- Calendar invite with log in detail
- List of players with email for play order and online communication if needed
Student Setup
I begin by creating an event in my calendar as well as a Google Sheet with dates, times and a certain number of slots for students to sign up. The number of slots per game depends on the game we are playing but I usually run sessions for 10-15 players. Students and parents are sent an email with a link to this sheet, the name of the game, and directions for signups. At this time conferencing tools are a bit on overload and they are trying to patch and create features that currently do not exist, I invite students 5 minutes before game play begins. Hopefully by the time you read this, issues will be patched. When students arrive they will be greeted with a “Be Right With You” sign of some sort and some Bossa Nova Jazz music.
As the moderator, I begin with a review of the game play, etiquette, and bringing an awareness to them of what they are sharing on the camera. A picture says a 1,000 words and the images in the background could give away personal details. We talk about the materials they need to play and they take a minute to prepare before we begin. The more games we play the more prepared they are the next time.
I can have a turn drawing but I cannot guess as I send the words to my students. Rather than having each student use an online spinner, I use email to send them their words. You could do this with any players, but I use this method with my students to practice using email. Before the session begins, I prepare a bunch of draft emails which include student emails for that game which I pull from the Google Sheet signups. Each draft includes a unique word from my word list typed in the subject line. This helps me to prepare and gives them a chance to utilize email, a tool I find most middle schoolers are not familiar with. It makes sense, they use their phones to communicate with just about everything but email, e.g. text, Snapchat, Musically, etc. I’m not endorsing these tools, just mentioning some that I know some students use. Although I think it is important to speak to them in their own language I choose to use our school email accounts. They will be taking over soon with a host of tools that may not have been invented yet but for now, I keep it simple, keep them safe. It is my responsibility as an educator to communicate with my students in a professional manner which is why I stick to school policies and use our G. Suite accounts for email (gmail), conferencing (Meet), and all other communications.
Non-Student Setup
When working with adults I share the spinner tool and trust that everyone can manage selecting their own words. This eliminates the need to email words to the players and lets me fully participate in the game. Players are invited with my calendar app that includes the link to our conference.
Players
If players are signing up as individuals, we just take turns drawing while everyone else guesses with the chat window. It is always an all play. The moderator or the other players can watch the chat window for the correct guess.
If players are signing up as partners or families, each team takes turns drawing. The team gets to draw until the timer ends giving them a chance to guess first. If they don’t get it other teams race to answer first using the chat window. I don’t use all play for this setup but could with a more practiced group and if there was a dedicated moderator to watch the chat. I have found with any of the online games that I play one must be flexible and creative.
Score
Someone can keep score on a sheet of paper which they can share after each turn by showing the new score after each play with their camera. When I keep score, I award a point to the artist and the person who gets it right first. It is a team effort after all. Usually when I play with my students, I don’t keep score, we just have fun and support each other.
Reflections
The biggest challenges during game play are the microphones and how they trigger the video conferencing tool, and sending the words in a timely manner which I spoke of above in the “Student Setup” section. I’ll explain the microphones now. In my experience the "squeaky wheel" gets the mic. Whomever is talking, or usually shouting when playing Pictionary, is the person that the conferencing tool focuses on and the video that generally populates on the screen. As you can imagine, if everyone is talking at the same time, it is challenging to stay focused on the “drawer.” The screen keeps changing like Whack-a-Mole unless you can pin or lock that person's screen. This pin or lock screen feature is available on some conferencing tools. For this reason, I have found that participants must mute their microphones unless it is their turn which I explain as soon as the kids log on. Just like a traditional classroom, we need to take turns. That said instead of shouting responses they must type them into the chat. This clearly lets the moderator know who has the correct response, first.
As I continued to play I realized that I needed to build my own lists to include vocabulary that I expected my students would be familiar with which is why I jumped to one of my favorite tools, Flippity.net's Random Name Generator (RNG). This tool, like most of Flippity's tools can be used in ways not initially intended. In this case I used it for topics and themes appropriate for my students. Truth be told, while players were entering their guesses into the chat window, they gave me ideas for my existing lists. I have one RNG for kids movies, another for animals and I am continuing to build new lists everyday.
Different conferencing tools come with different opportunities and challenges. When I play this game with adults I use my free version of Zoom. One benefit of Zoom is the white board tool which any participant can use to draw on their computer. If you have ever tried to draw on a track pad it can be challenging to say the least. My advice is to use the index finger of your non-dominant hand to "click" and hold while you use your index finger on your dominant hand to actually draw. This takes a little getting used to but is much better than trying to click, and drag and draw with one finger. At least from my experience. Another benefit of Zoom, from a moderator perspective, is the private chat option. I can easily use RNG to select the next clue and share it with the next participant using the private message feature. Hangouts and Meet do not have a private chat option.
With Hangouts or Meet, you cannot send private messages so you need an alternative method to send the words to your participants. Currently, I use email to send words and phrases to the participants. This does add a little extra time but I have found ways to expedite this.
I do not endorse these tools, they are merely suggestions. You must find what works best for you and your setup.
What’s Next
As I continue to explore everyday board games in an online environment I will share my experiences in this blog. If you have any ideas or questions, reach out. I would love to hear from you.
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