A game I adore and played a lot over the pandemic is Garticphone. It takes the classic telephone game and gifts it with a more modern twist. There are many different game modes that change around mechanics and objectives, but I’ll describe the gameplay of the classic version. Essentially, you play with up to 13 other players, and everyone starts off by writing a prompt. Once the prompt is written, they’re randomly given to another player, and players have to (at the best of their ability) draw out the prompt. Once the drawings are complete, they are randomly given to another player without any context for that player to now guess the prompt of the drawing. This next prompt is then given to a new player to draw, and so on, until all players have contributed to a single line of drawings through either a drawing of their own or a jab at what the prompt is. At the end, all the drawings and guesses are revealed in sequential order to show the evolution of the drawings.
I believe the biggest mechanics that induce the most fun is this “turn-based” gameplay (not in the traditional sense) where everyone takes turns drawing and also guessing what each drawing is, and the timer that everyone has to make those drawings and guesses. This makes the game scale to how good at drawing everyone playing is, since ideally you want to draw the prompt, but many times, you can get a really weird prompt. The timer also adds a sense of urgency and tension that can either aid or take away from the quality of drawings.
Ultimately I believe Garticphone fulfills the aesthetic of sense-pleasure, drawing on the absurdities of drawings (or masterpieces) that result, and the aesthetic of fellowship as everyone works together to draw a coherent line of pictures.
