Skribbl.io is a free, browser-based, online, multiplayer game created by ticedev. This game is wildly popular because of its simplicity of play and its ability to connect people. I have played this game countless times since high school because it is a great way to break the ice between people or laugh with your friends. Because players can draw a term however they want, they can express their personality and the game evolves depending on who is playing it.
As far as I can tell, the game is targeted at anybody who is old enough to draw. I can see kids as young as 4 years old playing this game; in fact, I could see it being used as a fun educational tool to teach kids new words. Even though it can be played by 4 year olds, the game is still fun for older people. I could see my grandparents enjoying this game because it is so simple and intuitive. And young adult players can introduce raunchy elements to their drawings, adapting the game to their age group. Part of the reason for this game’s explosive popularity is the sheer size of its target audience.
The game could have as little as 3 and as many as 20 or more players. Every player gets a turn to draw, but when they are not drawing they are still engaged with the game’s guessing mechanic. Every player has something to do on every turn, but only has to experience the stress of drawing once per round, so the emotions felt by the player are very balanced throughout the game. The game is maintained hectic and exciting by the timer which counts down on each player’s turn.
The game engages sensation, challenge, fellowship, discovery, expression, and submission. The game’s stunning popularity is definitely indebted to its reach into many types of fun. I will briefly explain each of these. Sensation comes from the fun of drawing. Challenge comes from the difficulty of communicating your vision. Fellowship comes from the fun of playing in a group. Discovery comes in when you discover someone else’s word or when you receive your own. Expression comes from literally expressing yourself through drawing. Submission comes from the repetitive pleasures of guessing words.
This game works because it has such an engaging gameplay loop. Players have to think hard about how they draw and get a huge encouragement if they do a good job and everybody guesses correctly. It also feels amazing to make each other laugh with bad guesses and bad drawings. The only possible feature I can think of adding is “word categories” where players can turn on NSFW or child-friendly or themed categories in order to adjust the game further towards the group playing it. However, this could remove some simplicity and ironically make the target audience smaller since parents wouldn’t want anything NSFW anywhere near their children.
This game is similar to other games like charades or pictionary. The biggest separator for Skribbl.io is its remote capabilities. The game was very popular during the pandemic as it was a fun way for friends to stay in touch. It ports over a lot of analog styles of play but it allows people to play with each other across the country. The drawing mechanic on mouse or touch screen is also an interesting twist, as it is not very easy to draw on devices, meaning the quality of drawings is reduced. This can make the game more funny as it is less likely that people will guess correctly.
Finally, this is a great icebreaker game, meaning it allows people to start talking to each other without engaging too deeply. You don’t have to get very vulnerable or intimate to play Skribbl.io; you keep things fun and surface-level.
