Drawing is a form of communication, just like writing, speaking, or dancing. I loved creating fun and memorable sketches during the Pictionary event with URF Maggie. Even though most of our drawings weren’t award-winning masterpieces, the time crunch makes it more fun as each player tries to guess what you are drawing while the clock ticks down. I also found it really interesting to see the different associations people make with each word. Sometimes, the drawings other students made were exactly what I would have drawn, and other times I never would have thought to take the perspective they did. I love the diversity of thoughts, experiences, and perspectives that shape the way each of us views the world. Pictionary is just one fun way to learn about some of those perspectives!

Using Skribbl.io as a platform for the game was very fun! At first when my round came I didn’t even know what certain terms meant yikes! But slowly I learnt that the simpler and more concise the drawing the faster people seem to catch on. In fact, I think this game would be a great way to visual concepts being learnt in a class. For example I recently tried it in one of my theory classes by drawing diagrams out and now whenever I see the term appear anywhere I instantly recall the visualisation and can remember all the details very well!

This weekend, I attended the Pictionary event with URF Maggie, and it was an absolute blast!  I wasn’t quite sure how it was going to work, but we ended up using the Skribbl.io website, which was super fun.  Even with my unfortunate drawing skills, I was happily surprised how many people were able to understand what I was trying to draw.  This was a great activity to relax from the stress of the week because it encourages you to use your brain but is also just super funny, so I hope this is offered again in the future!  I would definitely sign up again!

(Originally posted 3/8/21 on the Fall 2020 blog)

Pictionary is a classic game that I’ve loved playing since I was a kid. I only recently discovered the online version of it (skribbl.io) when introduced by my hip younger sister, and since then have encountered it more and more as the pandemic has shifted from physical games to virtual ones. I’ve got to be honest: I’m not the best at drawing with a mouse. (Okay, who is?) But I will say that practice with this seemingly fool-proof game will lead to a better score by the end of it. With that said, here are some hacks that I have found are the best way to improve your skibbl.io skills!

1. Use a stylus. While I myself do not have a stylus, it is clear from my experiences that those with styluses are absolutely superior in the game. It just makes drawing faster and means you aren’t limited by the strains of dragging your mouse around. The day I acquire a stylus (whenever that may be), my circles will not look like hexagons any longer.
2. Take advantage of the letter count above the drawing board. Many people don’t even realize this exists, but once you do, it’s a life saver! If you’re stuck between guessing the drawing is a platypus or a dog and there are only three letters in the letter count… dog it is.
3. Think before you draw. It always helps to plan it out in your mind before you take action– then you won’t have any regrets while drawing that could otherwise lose you precious time.
4. Type fast. This is pretty straight forward. If you have a slow typing speed, I implore you to improve your speed with some typing tests. It’s truly vital.
5. Play with friends. Nothing is better than making fun of your own drawings and laughing off mistakes with friends!

It’s sad to say that these hacks didn’t help me much during the Rose Scholars Pictionary battle because my screen wouldn’t display other people’s drawings (thankfully, I had a Rose Scholar suitemate who shared her screen with me during the game). Still, I sincerely hope that the next time you play skribbl.io you will consider these tips and maybe, just maybe, win the game even with a mouse.

I play pictionary a lot with my friends, so it was somewhat of a new experience being able to play with people I did not know. Usually when playing with my friends, our drawings might include references to inside jokes, and we each have a general idea of what each other person can recognize, so the game sometimes got very convoluted. However, by playing with new people, I got to enjoy the game in its original way and actually draw the prompt I was given. For example, with my friends, if someone uses the color red, we might have to consider obscure words like communism because of a joke someone made a while ago, but with these new people, red could simply mean apple, and it was likely that the artist was doing to their best to draw the prompt instead of trying to deceive anyone. Everyone’s art was amazing, and their thought processes were interesting to look at through the chat and the art they drew. I hope to play more pictionary with these new friends some day.

Pictionary was a lot of fun.  Sitting in the common room of the suite with my suitemates and drawing with the rest of the Rose Scholars participants brought a great sense of community.  While we did not verbally talk a lot among us, we created a great sense of community by giving each other thumbs up or hints or tips.  Everyone’s drawings were fantastic and it was fascinating to see how everyone interpreted a drawing differently.  It really brought home how you view art is based on your experiences.  It also took a lot of creativity on the drawers part to make their drawing as easy as possible to know what it is.  And that was hard!  Sometimes the options for what to draw are not easy, like Usain Bolt, but everyone did a fantastic job drawing every word they got.  This relaxing event was great to participate in after having a long week.

Playing Pictionary yesterday was very fun and relaxing. After enduring such a stressful week, it was really nice to take a break. Although some of the rounds were more challenging, I managed to get third place. I am definitely going to play this game with my friends and family to gain more skill. It is also a great idea for a virtual activity to do with other people during the pandemic. Since it has been difficult to find activities that allow for social distancing, this is an amazing option.

It was fun to take a break from work and play pictionary with other residents of rose. I have played on scribbl.io before and it is always a fun website. Especially with the event being online, I was not sure how well pictionary would function, but it ended up working great. I had a lot of fun drawing pictures and guessing what others drew. Also the points aspect made it very competitive as I wanted to be the first to guess. It was fun that the website hid the correct answer so even when one person got it, the game kept going. All in all it was a very fun event!