In my recent days of game addiction, I have discovered a number of tips and hiddne (not obvious) secrets that helped me learn how to play Draw Something like the pros. Draw Something is the hit game app that you play with friends or random opponents. Once you learn the basics of how to play Draw Something, there are some pointers on how to play the game which may not be obvious at first.
Important tips to know before learning how to play Draw Something
Push Notifications - When you first open Draw Something it will ask if you want to get push notifications. This means that you will receive an onscreen message anytime someone has completed their turn.
If you want to play your turn as soon as the other player is done, tap ok. If you don't want to be interrupted when you are working on something else, tap "don't allow." The games will be available when you open the app to play.
Sign in with Facebook or Create a New Username then stick with it.- Whether you choose to sign in with Facebook, or create a Draw Something account you don't want to change your sign-in after you have played a number of games and accumulated coins or you will lose everything you worked for.
Here are the pros and cons of each sign-in choice:
Facebook- If you sign in with Facebook, all of your friends who are also playing Draw Something will appear on your game screen. This makes it easy to start a game with people you know.
However, if you use Facebook to sign in, your profile picture will be connected to your username. If you decide to play games with random strangers, they will see a picture of you. I know a lot of people would prefer to be anonymous.
You can create a Draw Something username even if you sign in with Facebook. This will help friends who don't use Facebook to connect with you in Draw Something.
Create a Draw Something sign in.- When you sign in with your email address and create a username, you can be anonymous.
On the other hand, you'll have to find your friends by their email addresses or usernames.
Playing Draw Something tips and secrets while drawing
Simple drawings- Insecure about your drawing abilities? Stick figures are fine. If you are drawing on a smart phone or you want to create detail, use the small circle for a fine drawing line. Use the bigger pen circle to fill large areas, backgrounds, or to make large dots. Use the large eraser circle to quickly erase large areas.
Forgot which pencil color and size you are using?- The box outlining the pencil icon changes color and thickness to indicate the current line size and color.
Draw backgrounds first. - This tip is from the artists who are learning how to play Draw Something. If you want to draw something that is in front of another object, or create a blue sky with objects in front, draw the background objects first.
Use arrows, symbols, and circles to emphasize the main object in a drawing. If the word is "nose" and you draw a face, draw a prominent arrow pointing directly at the nose. Plus and equal signs help build composite words like "redhead" or "rowboat." Circle an area, like a crowd to help indicate the whole group.
Take advantage of the drawing replay. - Rmember that the other person will see the strokes replayed. If you draw an arrow, the other player can follow as you draw the line. Help the other person see direction by repeating an arrow, or drawing objects in a particular order.
Use words legally. - You can use words to help the other person guess, but it's considered cheating to write any part of the word answer. It's fun to see how well the other person can guess from your drawings, so leave the words for last to aid the other person if they are stuck.
Search for images to draw.- Many time I will start to draw something, but will need a reference to remember how to draw it. I was drawing the word "buddha" and wanted to remember what features would make a Buddha recognizable. I did a web search for "buddha," then clicked on images to bring up pictures that reminded me of the right hand position, hair style and more.
Saving a drawing- While saving and sharing drawings are promised in future updates, for now you will have to take a screenshot of the picture while it is on the screen. This is easy on an iPhone or iPad. Press the power switch (at the top of the device) at the same time as you press the home button. You'll see a flash onscreen and the photo will be saved to your camera roll.
Miscellaneous Tips for playing Draw Something
Coins- Why you want them how to spend them
When you start the free version of the game, you have four colors to create drawings. You get 3 coins and 5 bombs. If you get the paid version you get 400 bonus coins. You can buy more colors with coins. It costs 249 coins to buy a batch of new colors. Choose a wide pallet, adding green, orange, brown and purple—helpful for drawing trees and plants—or get artistic with shades of blues, greens or other colors.
Budgeting coins- Before spending all your hard-earned coins on pretty colors consider buying bombs. Some drawings are real stinkers and bombs help narrow the choice of letters making it easier to guess. To get more bombs, go to the bottom of the "create game" page and tap on "shop." Bombs are 10 for 400 coins, 20 for 720, and 50 for 1600 coins. The most you can earn during a game is 3 coins so it can take a while to save up.
Messaging another Player -There is no way to talk or write to the other player in Draw Something, but users have gotten creative. Write your message on the page before you start drawing. Then tap the trash can to throw away the whole page and start your drawing on a blank page. Friends have written "good one!" or "what was that blue blob supposed to be?" before starting a new drawing with me. If you are challenging yourself against the clock, you might not want to message as the time counts toward your total guessing time.
Note: Zynga has announced that they will add a feature to chat with other players in one of their future updates.
Playing with random users and deleting them - Random users can be great players, artists, or less-than-talented. One random player must have been half my age as the clues were from a much younger frame of reference—Pikachu characters. Another random player could not figure out how to spell "vacuum." In the current games screen, delete players by swiping in the white area next to their icon. Tap the delete button that has appeared.
If you are ready to take me on, my username is "simpletechguru."
