Star-Spangled Sketches

Star-Spangled

Sketches

2–16 players10-20 minNo app or download

How to playPlay

About Star-Spangled Sketches

Star-Spangled Sketches is Fourth of July drawing charades played on the phones already lying around the cookout. One player — the doodler — is handed a secret card on their own phone: a hot dog rolling into the coals, a cannonball into the pool, a sparkler spelling a name in the air. They draw it with a finger, the drawing streams live to the TV and to every other phone on the lawn, and their team shouts guesses out loud. The second the doodler hears the right answer they tap “They got it!” and the clock stops.

The clock is the score. However many seconds are left when the card is guessed become the points for that turn, so dithering costs you in front of the whole block. The card is then revealed and the players on the other teams confirm that somebody really did say it out loud: two Yes votes settle it, so no team ever has to mark its own homework. A drawing that runs the clock all the way down scores nothing.

Play in teams, where your team guesses and the other teams confirm, or solo, where everyone guesses and the doodler taps who got it and takes double points for it. Two to sixteen players, ten to twenty minutes a game, and because it plays in the browser with nothing to install, a cousin on a video call can take a turn like anybody else. All 126 cards sit inside the Fourth itself: the grill, the cooler, the backyard games, the flag, the parade and the long wait for dark.

How a room starts

1. Pick a game from the catalog — every occasion has its own room.
2. Put the game's board screen where everyone can see it: a TV, a laptop, or a shared screen on a video call.
3. Players scan the QR code (or type the room code) in their phone's browser. No app, no account.
4. Play — everyone answers, votes, and scores from their own phone.

How to play Star-Spangled Sketches

A short narrated walkthrough of the whole game, from joining on your phone to the final scores: watch the how-to video. It is one tap from inside the room too, so a first-time group never needs the rules explained.

Where Star-Spangled Sketches fits

You will find it in the Fourth of July room and the Family Showdown room, alongside the other games picked for that occasion.

Common questions

How many people can play, and how long does a game take?

Two to sixteen. Teams mode needs at least four so there are two teams; solo works with two. Two teams over three rounds runs about ten minutes.

Do we need a TV?

It is better with one, because the drawing is the show — but the same drawing streams to every phone, so a backyard with no shared screen can play by watching their own.

What if nobody in the family can draw?

That is rather the point. One colour, one finger, sixty seconds and the category on screen for the whole room — the worst drawings are usually guessed the fastest.

What stops somebody peeking at the card?

The card is only ever sent to the doodler’s own phone. Every other device, the TV included, holds nothing but a hash of it until the reveal.

Can we play it while the fireworks are still going?

Yes — a turn is a minute, so it fits the gap between the parade and the first rocket, and you can wait as long as you like between rounds.

Is it family friendly?

Yes. Every card is an ordinary Fourth of July moment, so grandparents and children play exactly the same game.