Telestrations is one of our favorite party games.

It’s like playing the classic game of “telephone” but with pictures.

We always end up laughing a ton because of how the original depiction morphs over the course of the game.

So when we heard about Telestrations: Upside Drawn, we were very excited to get a copy from The Op to play.

Attaching the “Telestrations” brand name to the game is a nice move to get attention. Just don’t be fooled — because Upside Drawn is a much different game from regular Telestrations.

The great news is that it’s a lot of fun in its own right!

 

How to play Telestrations: Upside Drawn

Upside Drawn is a very simple game to understand and play.

Players first divide into teams and each team gets a drawing board and dry-erase marker.

The game is played over a series of rounds where each team designates one player to be the “Guide” and another to be the “Artist”. All others on the team are Guessers (the Artist is also a Guesser).

A card is drawn and one of the Guides rolls the die. The result indicates which word or phrase is to be drawn for the round (person, place, thing, action, or phrase). All Guides look at the card to see the word/phrase they need to draw.

Each team’s Artist gets the marker and the Guide takes the board.

When all teams are ready, they simultaneously start “drawing” by having the Guide (knowing the word) move the board around on the table while the Artist just holds the marker. The Guide can only say “up” or “down” to have the Artist raise and lower the marker.

Thus, all the drawing is done by the Guide maneuvering the board below the Artist’s marker!

All team members (other than the Guide) get to guess what’s being drawn by just shouting out. Everyone keeps on guessing until someone gets it right.

The team that guessed correctly gets points equal to the number shown next to the word/phrase on the card.

The first team to reach 20 points wins the game!

 

Can the whole family enjoy Telestrations: Upside Drawn?

Like the original, Telestrations: Upside Drawn is perfect for families to enjoy playing together!

And the best part is that there’s no drawing talent required!

Normally in a game that has cards for reading, we recommend against playing with young children. But that totally doesn’t apply here. Mainly because the younger kids don’t even need to read a card. They can have a great time being the Artist every round if they want. All they have to do is raise and lower the marker and let the Guide do the reading and “drawing”.

And of course, they can always keep guessing at the results.

The challenge is all on the Guide each round. First, they have to think of what to draw to get their teammates to guess the word, and then they have to figure out how to maneuver the board under the marker to make it guessable.

And no matter how artistic players are, the results aren’t going to be a work of art.

They’re going to be a hoot.

Every round ends in laughter either because of how funny something turned out, or because we’re scratching our heads trying to understand how someone could tell what was drawn. “How did you see an “engine” in that?”

We also like that the boards have icons for hints during play. Since the Guide can’t say anything besides “up” and “down”, they have a way to give clues by moving their board so that the Artist points at the hints such as “Hot” or “Cold” or “Sounds Like” to get the guessers guessing in the right direction.

The one thing we don’t like is the low point values for all the words and phrases. Yes, some words are harder to draw/guess than others. And yes, the Phrases are the toughest and should earn teams relatively higher points.

Our issue is that they’re all just too low to enjoy.

The points awarded are 1, 2, 3, or 4. And most of them fall in the 1 point realm. Yet, even the 1 point words often take longer than expected to be guessed correctly. And it just doesn’t feel rewarding to struggle for a couple minutes, then win the round only to be awarded just 1 point.

And guessing 5 correct sounds awesome, until you realize you’re still at just 5 total points. Kind of a bummer on the whole “fun” time.

Our suggestion – multiply the value of what’s listed on the card.

Even if the relative values remain consistent, it feels more rewarding to get 5 points vs. 1 point. So why not dish out 5, 10, 15, and 20 points and play to 100?

I know that sounds crazy since the relative relationships are still the same, but human nature is a funny thing. And our psyche plays tricks on us. Bumping up the “value” of the guesses makes for a more fun time for all.

 

How does Telestrations: Upside Drawn score on our “Let’s Play Again” game meter?

Upside Drawn is definitely a keeper.

It’s a great twist on a drawing game that delivers a good time for all — no matter your drawing ability.

It’s not a game that we play multiple games back to back, mainly because we can just play as long as we want already. Either play to 20 points or just set a total playing time and see which team has the most points at the end of that time.

But it is a game we’ll be pulling out again and again. And there are so many double-sided cards in the game that I doubt we’ll play the same word again.

Telestrations: Upside Drawn is another solid family game from The Op we definitely recommend.

We’d like to thank The Op for a review copy of Telestrations: Upside Drawn.