MonsDRAWsity Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• How to Play
• What if It's a Tie?
• Special Game Modes
• Game Creators
• Quick Rules

Components

• 7 drawing boards
• 1 Identified Monsters board
• 6 dry-erase markers
• 98 cards
• Rules of Play

You will also need a timer, which you'll find on any modern mobile device — a tablet or a phone.

How to Play

1. Write the players' names on the Identified Monsters board. Deal everyone the drawing board with the matching number.

2. Choose a Witness. In the first round, the Witness is whoever most recently watched a movie about aliens or monsters.

   Deal markers to the remaining players — they become the Sketch Artists.

3. The Witness draws a random monster card from the deck and studies it carefully, without showing it to the others. They have 20 seconds to do this.

Tip. While examining the monster, pay attention to the details. A. How many limbs does it have. B. What special features does it have. C. Does the monster resemble some existing animal. D. Which part of the body is best to start drawing from. E. What are the monster's body proportions.

4. When the 20 seconds are up, the Witness places the monster card face down in front of them. Now they have 2 minutes to describe what they saw. The Witness describes the monster from memory, while the Sketch Artists draw portraits based on the testimony. The Witness is no longer allowed to check the monster card.

Note. You can set a single timer for 2 minutes 20 seconds instead, stop the Witness when their time is up, and move straight on to the description-and-drawing phase without delay.

Sketch Artists may ask the Witness clarifying questions during the description. For example: how many fingers did the monster have? Did it have claws? Did the creature have a mouth? Did it have teeth or fangs?

5. When the 2 minutes are up, the Sketch Artists simultaneously place their drawings on the table, showing them to everyone. The Witness secretly chooses the most accurate portrait, without checking it against the monster card. They take the marker from the player on their left and write the number of the chosen portrait on their own drawing board, without showing it to the others.

6. Turn the monster card face up. Now every player can examine it.

7. The Sketch Artists vote on whose portrait turned out to be the most accurate. On the count of three, each player holds up a number of fingers matching the number of the portrait they voted for.

   You cannot vote for yourself.

8. The player (or players, in the event of a tie) who receives the most votes from the other Sketch Artists earns 1 point. Add them 1 point on the Identified Monsters board.

9. The Witness reveals which portrait they voted for. The creator of that portrait also earns 1 point. If the Witness chose the portrait that the majority of Sketch Artists voted for, the Witness also earns 1 point for an accurate tip-off.

   When playing with three players, only the Witness votes.

Example. Most of the Sketch Artists voted for Igor, whose board was numbered 5. Igor earns 1 point for this. Zoya, who was the Witness, reveals her board — she also voted for Igor. Igor earns another point. Zoya also earns 1 point, because her vote matched the majority of the Sketch Artists' votes.

10. The role of Witness passes to the next player, clockwise.

11. The game ends once everyone has been the Witness twice. Whoever has scored the most victory points wins.

What if It's a Tie?

Agent [REDACTED]: "If you have a tie, you absolutely must [REDACTED], and under no circumstances should you [REDACTED]. The winner is the contender who [REDACTED].

If that still doesn't settle who won, try [REDACTED] — but if even that doesn't help, under no circumstances should you [REDACTED]."

Special Game Modes

Interrogation. The Witness does not describe the creature on their own — they only answer the Sketch Artists' (the criminalists') questions. How detailed the answer is depends on the Witness, but they may not volunteer details that weren't asked about. Interrogation-mode sketching gets three minutes instead of two.

We recommend playing with the standard rules first and switching to Interrogation mode once players are familiar with the monsters in the deck. Scoring follows the standard rules.

Boot Camp. Kids love drawing, and they especially love drawing monsters! MonsDRAWsity will teach them to describe objects, ask thoughtful questions, and pay attention to details.

If playing with children ages 4 to 8, we recommend allowing the Witness to look at the card while describing it. You can also increase the round time.

Game Creators

Designer: Eric Slauson Developers: Jon Cohn and Nate Murray Graphic Design: Nolan Nasser, Martha Webby, and Lex Lyon Box Design: Dave Melvin Artists: Shawn Daley, Hector Amavizca, Jocelyn Smith, Joe Mead, Gij, Ethan Yu, Kennedy Garza, The Mico, Dave Melvin, Gilbert Jansen, Josh Culp Special Thanks: Daryl Andrews, Casey Carr, Alex Cutler, Charlie Bink, Hassan Hasmani, Dave Chisek

Eric loves it when people talk and laugh around the game table. Eric has no formal art training, but that hasn't stopped him from creating two drawing games so far.

Friendly Skeleton, 301 Cass Street, Saginaw, MI 48602 ©Friendly Skeleton 2024. All rights reserved.

Quick Rules

1. The Witness spends 20 seconds examining the monster card without showing it to the others, then places it face down in front of them.

2. They then spend 2 minutes describing the monster while the Sketch Artists draw what they hear and ask questions.

3. When time is up, the Sketch Artists reveal their portraits, and the Witness secretly votes for the closest likeness without checking the monster card.

4. The Witness reveals the monster card to everyone.

5. The Sketch Artists simultaneously vote for the most accurate portrait. You cannot vote for yourself.

6. The Witness reveals which portrait they voted for. Whoever the majority of Sketch Artists voted for earns 1 point. Whoever the Witness voted for earns 1 point. If the votes matched, the Witness earns 1 point.