How to play Doodle Party: drawing and guessing rules, scoring and tips

Doodle Party is a drawing and guessing game: one player draws with their finger and everyone else tries to work out what it is. Everyone plays on their own phone, and the sooner you guess, the more you score. This guide covers the rules, exactly how points work and tips for both drawing and guessing. No art skills required, promise.

Play Doodle Party

What is Doodle Party and how is it set up?

On paper, one person draws and their team shouts out guesses. On Stockboi everyone has their own phone: the artist draws with a finger, the drawing appears live on every screen, and guesses are typed.

An online room takes 2 to 8 players. The host chooses how many times everyone draws: 1 to 5, or Auto. On Auto, with 2 players everyone draws three times, with 3 twice, and with more, once. The drawing order is picked at random at the start and then goes round in turn.

Doodle Party rules

The player whose turn it is sees 3 words: one easy, one medium, one hard. They have 12 seconds to pick one; if they don’t, they get the easy one.
The artist has 80 seconds to draw. They can see the word; everyone else only sees how many letters it has.
Guesses are typed and private. Wrong ones cost nothing, so try as many as you like. Get it right and you’re marked “got it” and see the word.
If a guess is one letter off, you’ll see “so close” (two letters for words of 8 letters or more). A close guess doesn’t score; fix it and send again.
Capitals, spaces, hyphens and accents don’t matter. Some words also accept other common names: dumbbell also takes barbell or weights.
As time passes, letters of the word are revealed one by one. If everyone guesses it, the turn ends early.
Writing letters or numbers isn’t blocked, just lame: spelling out the word kills the fun.

How Doodle Party scoring works

A correct guess scores 50 to 100 points depending on how much time is left. Guess in the first few seconds and you get 100; that drops by about 5 every 8 seconds, and even a last-second guess gets 50.

The artist scores 0 to 100 based on how many players got it. With 4 guessers and 2 correct, the artist gets 50; everyone gets it, 100; nobody does, 0.

Harder words pay more on both sides: points are multiplied by 1.25 for a medium word and 1.5 for a hard one. An instant guess on a hard word is worth 150, and so is a hard word that everyone gets for the artist. Points are rounded to a multiple of 5.

The highest total at the end of the match wins; a tie shares first place.

When are the letter hints revealed?

At first guessers only see how many letters the word has. Spaces and hyphens are shown from the start, so you know right away if the answer is two words.

One letter is revealed at 32, 48 and 64 seconds into the drawing. At least two letters always stay hidden: a four-letter word reveals two at most, a three-letter word just one.

Waiting for hints isn’t free: when the first letter appears, 48 seconds are left and a correct guess is worth 80. Guess before the hints and you pull ahead.

A turn, step by step

It’s Ellie’s turn. She gets three words: apple (easy), wardrobe (medium), dumbbell (hard). She picks the hard one: riskier, but worth 1.5 times the points.
With a thick pen she draws a long bar with heavy discs on each end. Everyone else sees 8 empty letter boxes.
Sam types “barbell” and gets it instantly; it’s one of the accepted answers for this word.
Mia types “dumbel” and sees “so close”. She adds the missing letter and gets it.
Leo is stuck. At 32 seconds the first letter appears and he gets it too, but for fewer points than Sam.
Everyone has guessed, so the turn ends early and the word and points are shown. Once everyone’s ready, or after 7 seconds, the next artist is up.

Drawing tips

Draw the big shape first. A silhouette people recognize in the first few seconds scores for them and for you; details can come later.
Use the paint bucket. There are 14 colors, and filling the sun yellow or a tree green is the strongest hint you can give in one tap.
Thick pen for the main shape, thin for details: fine scribbles get lost on a small screen.
Draw the context. If something doesn’t make sense on its own, put it in place and point with an arrow: to get chimney, draw the house first.
Fix mistakes with undo. Undo removes the last stroke; Clear wipes everything but asks first.
Choose wisely. A hard word pays 1.5 times, but if nobody gets it you score nothing. Go hard if you can draw it; otherwise medium is often the sweet spot.

Guessing tips

Guess a lot. Wrong guesses cost nothing and nobody sees them, so type everything that comes to mind.
Count the letters. Five boxes means it isn’t “cat”; a gap means two words.
Work through look-alikes. The same doodle can be several things: not dog? Try wolf, fox.
If you see “so close”, don’t look for a new word, fix the spelling. A letter is missing or extra.
Words are concrete, everyday things. Type the specific name, “bus” rather than “vehicle”.
Don’t wait for hints. Every 8 seconds is roughly 5 points, so if you have a guess, send it.

A short history of drawing and guessing games

Drawing to explain is one of the oldest party games, played with paper and pencil at home, in classrooms and at camps for generations. It’s a cousin of charades: there your body does the talking, here your pencil does.

In the classic version, teams shout out guesses and the first team to get it scores. On Stockboi everyone plays for themselves, guesses are private and speed sets the points, so the quickest player wins, not the loudest.

How to play Doodle Party on Stockboi

With friends: create a room and drop the link in your group chat; the host starts when everyone’s in. Empty seats can take BOTs, always labeled, which draw their own ready-made doodles on their turn.
With random players: get matched with people playing right now. If nobody turns up, we tell you so, and you can play with BOTs instead.
Solo: the computer draws and you race two BOT opponents to guess. Opponents can be Easy, Medium or Hard, and you pick 6, 10, 15 or 20 rounds. Your best score is saved on your phone.
Free draw: no timer, no points, just a place to try the brush and warm up.
Words come in the room’s language: rooms created on the Turkish site use Turkish words. Join mid-match and you watch that one and play the next. If someone disconnects, a BOT plays for them until they’re back. No account needed.

Frequently asked questions

How many players can play Doodle Party?

2 to 8 in an online room, each on their own phone. You can also play solo, guessing the computer’s drawings against two BOT opponents.

How does scoring work in a drawing and guessing game?

A correct guess scores 50-100 points, more the sooner you get it. The artist scores 0-100 based on how many guessed. Medium words pay 1.25 times, hard words 1.5 times.

How long do you get to draw?

80 seconds. You get 12 seconds to pick a word first; if you don’t, you get the easy one.

Can you write letters in your drawing?

The game doesn’t block it, but it’s frowned upon. Spelling out the word takes the fun out of it for everyone.

Do wrong guesses cost points?

No. Wrong guesses cost nothing and nobody else sees them, so guess as often as you like.

Does spelling have to be perfect?

Capitals, spaces, hyphens and accents don’t matter. If you’re one letter off you’ll see “so close”, but you have to fix it to score.

When do letter hints appear?

One letter is revealed at 32, 48 and 64 seconds into the drawing. At least two letters always stay hidden.