Draw Something Is the Pictionary App You Need on Your Phone

Put your artistic skills to the test with this fun app

By
Elise Moreau
Elise Moreau
Elise Moreau
Freelance Contributor
  • University of Ontario
  • George Brown College
Elise Moreau is a writer that has covered social media, texting, messaging, and streaming for Lifewire. Her work has appeared on Techvibes, SlashGear, Lifehack and others.
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Updated on April 8, 2020

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Draw Something is an incredibly fun pictionary-type app that went viral and took the mobile gaming world by storm back in 2012. Years later, the app is still one of the top apps on Google Play and the Apple App Store.

Information in this article applies to Draw Something, Draw Something Pro, and Draw Something Classic for iOS, Android, and Amazon Fire devices.

How Does Draw Something Work?

Draw Something is a drawing game app based on Pictionary. The app pairs you with your friends or random players, then you take turns sharing your drawings and guessing what each other drew.

When it's your turn to draw, you'll be given a word and a pallet of colors to draw on your device's screen with your finger or a stylus. When you're finished, the other player will guess what you drew. If they guess correctly, they earn coins.

What Are You Supposed to Draw?

When you're given a word, you can draw anything you can think of that best captures the visual meaning of that word. This might involve drawing one object or several. You might just use one color, or you can use as many as you like.

A man with a unibrow in the Draw Something app

Draw Something Gameplay Instructions

Draw Something is super easy to play. Here's how it works:

  1. Download the Draw Something app for iOS or Android and sign up for a free account by connecting to Facebook or using your email.

    You must create a user account to connect with friends and keep score as you play.

  2. Tap Start a Game, then choose Quick Match to be paired with a random player, or choose to invite friends to play via email or Facebook.

  3. You'll be given a few words rated as easy, medium, and hard. The harder the word you choose to draw, the more coins the other player will earn for guessing it correctly.

    How to play Draw Something for Android

The other user will receive a notification when you've finished your drawing. They must then guess the word, or they can choose to skip, which erases all game progress and starts the match over again.

You must then wait for the other user to send their drawing over. You'll receive a notification when it's time to guess the word they chose. When you begin, you're given several bombs that you can use to rule out certain letters. The more coins you collect, the more color pallets and bombs you can buy from the app shop.

There are also daily challenges you can attempt to win badges and impress your friends.

The Different Versions of Draw Something

There are actually multiple versions of the Draw Something app:

  • Draw Something Classic: This is the main app that exploded onto the mobile gaming scene years ago. It's the one you'll want to get started with if you haven't tried the game before.
  • Draw Something: If you end up loving the free version, you may want to consider upgrading to get a better variety of words to draw and more extra features.
  • Draw Something Pro: This is the app that was designed for those who can't stand the ads. Not only do you get ad-free gameplay, but there are also tons more words to choose from for your drawings.

Draw Something is best played on mobile devices with large screens such as the Apple iPad.

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