Telestrations After Dark Board Game: Rules and Instructions

Note: Telestrations After Dark is a game meant for adults (17+) as some of the content on the cards is not suitable for children. To keep Geeky Hobbies a site suitable for all ages, I will try to make the examples below as PG as possible. The actual cards in the game can be considerably more adult oriented though.

Objective of Telestrations After Dark

The objective of Telestrations After Dark is to accurately draw what you see and guess what the other players drew.

Setup for Telestrations After Dark

Each player takes a sketch book, one marker, a clean-up cloth and a coaster that matches the color of the coil on your sketch book.
Place the deck of cards in the middle of the table.
Each player should write their name on the front of their sketch book.
All of the players should agree on what number all of the players will try to draw from their card. Players could also agree to let each player choose any number from the card they select.

Playing the Game

Telestrations After Dark is played over a number of rounds with each round consisting of a number of stages.

To start each round each player draws one of the cards and figures out what they need to draw. This is dependent on what the players agreed to during setup. You will write down the corresponding word/phrase in the secret word section in the front of your sketch book.

Writing down the secret word — The players agreed to use the first word/phrase on each of the cards. For the orange sketch book, the secret word will be “love shack”. The owner of the orange sketch book writes it on the first page.

If you get an underlined word/phrase, you can pick any word that matches the underlined word.

An unerlined secret word in Telestrations After Dark — If the players chose to do the second phrase on each card, this player would have “Fictional Character”. The player who drew this card would choose a fictional character and would write it down in the secret word section of their booklet. They can choose any fictional character that they want.

Next you will turn your sketch book to page one “Sketch It!”. If there are 5 or 7 players you will pass your book to the player on your left.

Sketchin’

At this point each player should have a sketch book in front of them that is turned to a Sketch It! page. To begin the round this should be page one, but as the round progresses it will change.

First you will flip back one page in your sketch book to see what was written on the previous page.

All of the players will then have about a minute or so (the players can choose how much time) to draw what was written on the previous page. While drawing there are a few rules you need to follow:

You cannot use letters or numbers.
You should draw something even if you don’t know what to draw. Otherwise it will ruin the game.

Sketching the secret word in Telestrations After Dark — This player looked at the previous page which had the secret word “love shack” written on it. They then try to draw love shack as best as they can.

After you are done drawing you should turn the sketch book to the next page. At the same time all of the players will pass their sketch book to the player on their left.

Guessin’

All of the players should now be looking at a Guess It! page. To start the round this should be page two, but it will change as you progress in the game.

All of the players will flip back one page in their sketch book to see what the previous player drew. You will analyze the picture and try to figure out what the previous player was trying to draw.

When you think you know what they were trying to draw, you will write your guess on the Guess It! page that the sketch book was originally on when it was passed to you.

Guessing a word in Telestrations After Dark — After looking at the picture above, the next player thought they were trying to draw a cabin in the woods. They write down their guess on the current Guess It! page.

You should always make a guess at what the previous player was trying to draw. Leaving the guess blank interferes with the rest of the game.

When you are done you will flip your sketch book to the next page.

End of Round

The round continues with the players swapping between Sketchin’ and Guessin’ rounds. This continues until each player receives their original sketch book.

You should then go through each player’s sketch book to see how the original word/phrase changed through the various pictures and guesses made by the other players.

In the normal game there is no scoring or winner. You should just enjoy exploring what the other players guess/drew. If you want to declare a winner, choose to either use the friendly or competitive scoring rules below.

To setup for another game or store the game, you should wipe off all of the pages in each of the sketchbooks. If you choose to play another round, each player draws a new card.

Friendly Scoring in Telestrations After Dark

If you want to determine a winner for Telestrations After Dark you can choose to use the friendly scoring rules. You will play three rounds total. You will keep track of your score by writing down your individual scores on the front of your sketch book.

As you reveal the outcomes in your own personal sketch book, players will score points as follows.

Each player chooses the sketch that they thought was the best in their own sketch book. The chosen player receives one point for their drawing.

Picking the best picture in friendly scoring. — The owner of the orange sketch book thought this was the best picture in their sketch book. The player who drew this picture scores one point.

Each player also chooses the best guess in their sketch book. The corresponding player receives one point.

If the last guess in your sketch book matches the secret word that you used at the start of the sketch book, you receive one point yourself.

After three rounds the players will compare the points they scored in the game. The player that scores the most points wins the game.

Competitive Scoring in Telestrations After Dark

The competitive scoring rules allow you to give points to the players that do the best at getting other players to guess the previous guesses/secret word.

You will score each sketch book separately.

If a guesser correctly guesses the secret word or a previous guess, they will receive one point. The player that drew the picture that made them guess correctly also receives one point.

Finally each player can score one point from their own sketch book if the last guess matches the secret word/phrase that started the sketch book.

A player correctly guessing the secret word in competitive scoring. — The players chose to use competitive scoring. The last player correctly guessed the secret word in the book. They will score one point for guessing correctly and the player who drew the previous picture also scores a point. The owner of the orange sketch book also scores a point since the last player correctly guessed the initial secret word.

Record any points earned each round in the score pad in your sketch book.

After three rounds all of the players compare the points they scored in the game. The player that scored the most points wins the game.

Telestrations After Dark FAQ

If you have any questions about how to play Telestrations After Dark, leave a comment below on this post. I will try to answer any questions asked as best and as quickly as possible.

Telestrations After Dark Components

100 Cards
8 Coasters
8 Erasable Sketch Books
8 Dry-Erase Markers
8 Clean-Up Cloths
Instructions

Year: 2015 | Publisher: The Op

Genres: Drawing, Party

Ages: 17+ | Number of Players: 4-8 | Length of Game: 20-30 minutes

Difficulty: Light | Strategy: Light | Luck: Light-Moderate

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