The five Pictionary categories
Every card in the box has five words, one for each category, and the category is chosen for you by the die (in older editions, by the colour of the square your piece is on). The generator above works the same way: press New card for a fresh five-word card, then Roll the die to pick the line you must draw. Here is what each letter means and what it looks like in the bank.
| Letter | Category | What it covers | Examples from the bank |
|---|---|---|---|
| P | Person / Place / Animal | A who or a where: a firefighter, a lighthouse, a giraffe. | maleficent, fire station, mail carrier, windmill, hamlet holding a skull, zeus |
| O | Object | A thing you could pick up or point at: a toaster, a kite, a snow globe. | livestream, outgrowing your shoes, basketball hoop, inbox tray, stone wheel, hose fight |
| A | Action | Something someone does: sneeze, juggle, parallel park. | knighting ceremony, stepping on your partner's toes, stay in bed and rest, pirouette, pause the game, group hug |
| D | Difficult | The hard one: an idiom, a feeling, an abstract idea. | you reap what you sow, broken heart, house call, fishing story that grows, better late than never, the butler did it |
| AP | All Play | Every team draws the same word at once; first correct guess wins the round. | Any word from the other four lines |
In the safe default pool there are 1669 P words, 3916 O words, 1541 A words and 2816 D words (each letter has its own full list), so a generated card never runs short on any line. All Play takes its word from the P, O or A lines, since everyone drawing an idiom at once tends to end in silence.
How a turn works with the board
- The drawer presses New card (or takes the next card from the deck, if you still have one).
- Roll the die, on the page or the real one. The letter tells the drawer which line of the card to use. AP means All Play.
- The drawer looks at the word (with Hide the word until tapped on, nobody else sees it), and flips the sand timer or presses Start on the page. One minute.
- Teammates guess out loud. Only the exact word counts. If they get it before time runs out, the team rolls the movement die and advances; if not, play passes.
- On an All Play, every team draws the same word at once and the first correct guess wins the roll.
- First team to reach the final square and win a last All Play wins the game.
Play without the board? Skip the movement and score a point per correct guess instead, with double for a D; the rules guide lays out both versions and the drawing rules (no letters, numbers, symbols or gestures).
Why a generated card beats the deck
Decks get memorised. A family that has owned the game for a few years knows that banana is coming, and a deck from the 1990s edition has a lot of words about answering machines. The generator draws from about 9,942 safe words, filters by difficulty and audience and, if you like, a single category or holiday, so every card is new and fits the room. Cards you have generated are remembered in the session, and the words on them do not come back until you clear it. Switch the mode to Random word at any time for the simpler game.
House rules for the categories
- D counts double. The most common house rule, and the fairest way to reward the hard line.
- Choose your line. Younger players may pick any line on the card instead of rolling.
- Every round is All Play. For a big party with several pads: everyone draws, first guess wins, no board at all.
- Category theme. Set the Category menu to Animals or Movies and every line of every card stays inside it, letters and all.
Last updated September 2026. Category rules follow Mattel’s published Pictionary instructions; this is an independent tool and Pictionary® is a trademark of Mattel, Inc.