The complete rules of Imposketch

What you need

A room needs 3 to 8 players. Each player uses their own phone, tablet or computer with a browser; nobody has to install anything or make an account. The host creates a room, gets a short room code, and shares the link or the code. If you can't find three people, the party page lets you invite one to three friends and fills the empty seats with bots so a round can still start.

Before the first round the host picks how long the match is: 3, 5 or 8 rounds. A single round usually takes around four minutes, so a 5-round match fits into a coffee break and an 8-round match is a proper game night.

How one round plays

1. Secret prompts. Everyone privately sees a prompt such as "umbrella". The impostor sees its near-twin, for example "mushroom". Nobody is told who the impostor is, and the impostor only knows they are the impostor because the game tells them so.
2. Draw. Everyone draws at the same time on their own screen, against the same clock. Nobody sees anyone else's drawing while it is being made.
3. Spotlight. The finished drawings are replayed one at a time, stroke by stroke. While a drawing plays you can tap to mark that player as your suspect, and you can undo it.
4. Final vote. All the drawings appear side by side. You confirm your suspect or change your mind, then lock in. Votes are secret until the reveal.
5. Reveal and score. The game shows who the impostor was, what both prompts were and who scored what. Then the next round starts with new prompts and, usually, a new impostor.

When is the impostor caught?

The impostor is caught when at least half of the other players vote for them and nobody else ends up with more votes. A few details follow from that rule:

• Your vote for yourself never counts.
• The impostor's own vote only matters on an exact split. If exactly half of the others named the impostor, the impostor's ballot can break the tie, and the results screen says so.
• If another player collects more votes than the impostor, the impostor escapes even if half the table suspected them.

Scoring

• +1 to every non-impostor who voted for the impostor.
• +2 to the impostor if they are not caught.
• +2 back to a caught impostor who wins the comeback (see below).
• -1 to anyone who submits a completely blank drawing. Drawing badly is fine; drawing nothing is not.

Points carry across the whole match and the player with the most points after the last round wins. Because a surviving impostor earns twice what a correct voter earns, being the impostor is a real chance to catch up, and nobody runs away with a match just by voting well.

The comeback: one guess to steal +2 back

A caught impostor is not finished. They get 10 seconds and exactly one guess to steal two points back. Usually the question is "What did everyone else draw?": name the real prompt and you get +2. In some rounds the game asks a different question instead: tap exactly the players who voted for you. Get the set exactly right and the +2 is yours.

The comeback is why a good impostor keeps studying the other drawings during the spotlight. Even when you're caught, the drawings are clues to the real prompt.

Twist rounds: nobody, or two impostors

Most rounds have exactly one impostor, but not all of them. In roughly one round in eight there is no impostor at all; everyone had the same prompt. The vote screen has a "Nobody" option, and voting Nobody in a no-impostor round earns +1.

In about one round in eight, at tables of four or more, there are two impostors. Each one is judged separately on the votes of the players who are not impostors, so the two fakes can't vote to protect each other. With only three players a double round never happens, so the impostors can never be the majority.

Tip: Twist rounds are why "Nobody" is a real vote and not a joke button. If every drawing honestly looks like the same object, say so.

Fair play

• Don't show your screen or say your prompt out loud. In the same room, keep phones tilted away.
• No letters or words in drawings. Writing the prompt makes the round pointless for everyone, including you.
• Talk as much as you like between drawing and voting. Accusing, defending and bluffing out loud is half the fun.
• Be kind about drawings. Most people can't draw, and the game is designed so they don't need to.