A New Casual Game Challenger Has Arrived. (Telestrations Review)

By Brian Stascavage

When most board game enthusiasts talk about party games, it is with a slight natural scoff. In a hobby centered around players fighting off zombies, battling minions of Cthulhu, controlling armies and conquering nations, simple and quick board games are often overlooked. However, all of us have memories of playing Pictionary after a warm Thanksgiving dinner or a night of cocktails and Scattergories. Simplicity and fun are key qualities in a party game, and Telestrations excels at precisely that. Mixing the games Telephone and Pictionary, Telestrations takes a few minutes to play but provides everyone with tons of fun.

(image from Telestrations' site)

Designed to be played by 4 to 8 players, Telestrations comes with a sketchbook and dry-erase marker for each player, as well as a large deck of word cards. When the round starts each player writes their word in their sketchbook and have one minute to sketch it out. When time is up everyone passes their book to the left and that player writes their guess in the new sketchbook. The books are passed to the left again and each player has to draw based on the newly guessed word. The round ends once everyone ends up with his or her original sketchbook.

What is a relatively simple concept turns into hilarity as everyone reveals how drastically their word transformed (one of our games saw Stephen Colbert end up as the Nazi Party). More time was spent laughing at the horrible drawings and people explaining their interpretations than actually drawing, which the scoring system compliments. People are rewarded for best drawings, best guesses, and if the final guess was the same as the original word. Scoring is optional, of course, and we were too busy revealing our sketchbooks to be too concerned with it.

The makers of Telestrations complimented their simple game with a simplistic design. Every sketchbook has the rules clearly stated with the next step outlined neatly. The dry erase markers are both fine enough for writing but easily enough to wipe clean, removing the problem of dull pencils and excess paper that plagues games like Pictionary. The game also comes with a vast collection of words to draw that is virtually inexhaustible. This is a breath of fresh air compared to some other deck based games, which run the risk of showing everything it has to offer after only a few games.

The game does have it’s minor faults. Some words are easy to draw, resulting in a small variance between drawings, which was typically unexciting. The included timer was an hourglass, which was an issue since everyone was looking down drawing during a round. The game would benefit from a timer that made a noise after the minute was up. Finally the rules changed slightly based on the number of players, causing confusion when we added an additional player in the middle of the night. All of these are minor points that do not detract from the game’s enjoyment, but could be further improved with future editions.

Overall Telestrations is a simple and fun little party game. It is quick to explain and play, guided by bright and clear instructions. The sketchbook and markers make it tidy and clean, and the concept leads to hours of fun and laughter. Being a good artist is not a requirement; in fact bad art ended up leading more confusion and good times. Enjoyed with good friends and a drink or two, Telestrations is a fun little game to add to any collection.