RANGERS
Sketchy artist
Aim of the activity
Put your detective and bluffing skills to the test to figure out which budding artist is actually an artful faker!
What you'll get out of it
- Have fun playing a drawing game with your unit.
- Develop your observation and social deduction skills.
What you’ll need
- Large sheets of paper, 1 per round. For example, A3 or A2 paper or use a whiteboard and whiteboard pens.
- Coloured pens or pencils, 1 different colour per player.
- Slips of paper.
- Sticky tack.
- A timer.
Note to leader
Sketchy artist works best with 5-7 players, including the game master. If you have more than 7 Rangers, split into groups to run separate games. If you have fewer than 5 Rangers, you could include adults in the game.
Before you start
Stick a large sheet of paper to a wall if you can and find a spot to sit or stand where you can see it. Everyone, choose a coloured pen or pencil and make sure everyone has a different colour.
What to do
1
Are you ready to create a masterpiece? But wait...there’s a sketchy artist hiding in plain sight! Choose 1 player to be the first game master. The game master will run the round and won’t play. But don’t worry, you’ll switch up the game master after each round.
2
Game master, read the setup, how to play and time to guess sections aloud. Everyone, the aim of the game is to either go unnoticed as the sketchy artist or to figure out who the sketchy artist is! Got it? Start drawing!
3
Wow, look at all your weird and wacky drawings! Who was the most convincing sketchy artist? How did you figure out who the faker was? What did you notice about body language and reactions of other players?
Setup
• Game master - Choose an object (see object or category ideas below).
• Write your object on 1 slip of paper for each player, except 1 - this should be kept blank. For example, on all but 1 slip you could write giraffe.
• Fold the slips, mix them up, and hand out 1 to each player.
• Once all the players have their slips, announce the category of the object - so for giraffe it would be animals.
• Players - Look at your slip, but don’t show or tell anyone what’s on it. If your slip’s blank, you’re the sketchy artist - try not to give yourself away!
How to play
• Game master - pick the order of turns (for example, oldest to youngest, alphabetical, or random). Make sure you keep everyone on track and time each turn.
• Players - take turns to draw 2 lines per round to help illustrate the object.
• Each line can be straight or curved but must be done in one continuous movement - don’t lift your pen off the paper.
• You get 20 seconds per turn, so be quick! You’ll go around the group twice - that’s 2 rounds of drawing.
• Sketchy Artist - Pretend like you know what you’re drawing. Blend in. Don’t get caught!
Time to guess!
• After 2 drawing rounds, stop. The game master will count down… 3,2,1,0!
• On 0, everyone points to who they think the sketchy artist is.
• The sketchy artist then reveals themselves. If most players correctly identify the sketchy artist, the players win. If the sketchy artist goes undetected, they win!
Ideas for objects and categories
• Food - cheesecake, broccoli, salad, scrambled egg.
• Toys - skipping rope, trampoline, a toy car, a doll.
• Kitchen - kettle, whisk, sieve, microwave.
• Camp - tent, sleeping bag, s’mores, torch.
Try it this way
Want to up the challenge? Only let everyone draw 1 line per go. Or have 2 fakers - a double bluff!
Top tips
• Sketchy artist - your job is to blend in and avoid suspicion! Watch carefully how others draw and make educated guesses on what the object could be. If you take too long to draw, other players might suspect you. Think quickly and carefully.
• Players - try not to reveal too much with your drawing. If you do, the sketchy artist could work it out. But if you hesitate or make your part of the drawing too hard to guess, other players might suspect you. While other players are drawing, watch everyone carefully to detect mistakes. Has anyone given anything away?