Taboo Game Night Hosting Checklist

You need one device per player, a way for everyone to hear the describer, and one person to host the room. Taboo Party runs in the browser, so phones, tablets and laptops all work, and nobody has to install anything to join.

• Every player needs their own screen. The describer reads the board on theirs, and guessers type into the guess box on theirs.
• In one room, people simply talk. On a call, everyone joins the same Zoom, Google Meet or Discord call first.
• In a mixed group, only people in the same room should share a microphone. Two open microphones in one room echo badly on a call.
• The host needs a free account. Joining needs no account at all, so guests can play with just a name.
• Charge phones before people arrive. A 40-minute game on a phone with a bright screen drains a low battery fast.

A free account comes with a monthly allowance of hosted games. A game counts against it once, at its halfway turn, so a game you abandon early does not use one up. Party Pass or TabooPlus removes the limit for the host.

One team needs at least 2 players, two teams need 4 and three teams need 6. Those are the minimums the lobby checks before it lets you press Start, and the practical sweet spots sit a little above them.

• Two or three people: one team, playing together for a high score. Everyone takes turns describing to everyone else.
• Four to eight people: two teams. Each person describes often enough to stay involved.
• Nine to twenty people: three teams. Bigger teams mean longer waits between turns as describer, so cut the rounds.
• More than twenty: run two rooms side by side, each with its own host, and compare the scores at the end.

Use Randomize to deal people into even teams in one press, or Draft to let two captains pick players in turn. A coin flip decides which captain picks first, which makes a good opening moment for the night.

A game lasts its number of rounds times its number of teams, in turns. For example, 6 rounds with 2 teams is 12 turns. At the default of 60 seconds a turn that is 12 minutes on the clock, and about 20 minutes in all.

The gap between turns is what most hosts forget. After each turn, the summary screen waits up to 30 seconds before moving on, and the next describer then presses Start turn. Allow about 40 seconds between turns. A taboo vote, when someone reports a slip, adds up to 30 seconds more.

Turn time changes the total a lot. The same 12 turns take about 14 minutes with 30-second turns and about 26 minutes with 90-second turns. New groups and laggy calls do better with the longer turns.

The default for a new room is 12 rounds, which suits a long session with two teams. For a night with several games, choose 6 rounds, so you can play a rematch with new teams instead of one long match.

Pick the pack for the least confident player in the room, not the most confident one. A board full of words nobody can describe is the quickest way to lose a group's energy.

• Standard (5,066 words, easy to hard): the default, and the right choice for most adult groups.
• Easy (1,493 words): younger players, English learners or a warm-up game.
• Difficult (6,109 words, including insane ones): regular players who want big points.
• Hinglish (6,922 words, English and Hindi): groups who mix the two languages anyway.
• A custom pack: office in-jokes, a family reunion or a class unit, written by you.

Decide on taboo reporting and voting before the first turn. Both are off by default in casual rooms. With reporting on, the watching team taps a word when the describer says it, which suits competitive adults. Voting then sends each reported slip to a 30-second vote, which is fairer but slower, so leave it off for a short night or a young group.

Settle the age and guest rules too. Anyone can join as a guest, but accounts are for players aged 13 and over. Players under 13 play as guests with a generated nickname and preset chat phrases, and the game shows them no ads and no GIFs.

The house rules worth agreeing out loud, such as whether rhymes or translations count, are listed in the complete Taboo rules guide.

1. A day before: send the start time, the call link if you need one, and a note that everyone needs their own device.
2. Thirty minutes before: create the room, choose the pack and settings, and keep the room code ready to paste.
3. At the start: share the code or link, wait for most people, then use Randomize or Draft to make teams.
4. Before the first turn: agree the house rules in one minute, and check that every describer can be heard.
5. During the game: keep the summaries short. Anyone can talk between turns, but the next describer should be ready.
6. Between games: look at the results screen, which names an MVP, a Top guesser and a Top describer, then press Play again.
7. At the end: thank the describers and ask which words were too hard. During a game, Suggest a word sends new words in for review.

If the night runs long, the host can press End game in a casual room to finish early with the current scores. Ranked games always play to the end.

Latecomers can join a casual game that has already started by asking to join, and the host approves them from the join requests panel. A request expires after 60 seconds, so keep an eye on the lobby while people are still arriving. Once your group is complete, Lock room stops anyone else from joining a team.

A player whose connection drops keeps their seat for 3 minutes during a game. If they reopen the game on the same device in time, they go straight back to their team. Before the game starts, the lobby holds a seat for 2 minutes for the host and 5 minutes for everyone else.

If the describer is gone for good, the turn starts again for the next teammate, with fresh words and the scores kept. When the next describer needs a minute away, they can press Skip my turn on the turn card before it starts. The turn passes to the next teammate with no points lost, except in ranked games and on a team of one.

Inside Discord, late arrivals join without approval. The guide to playing Taboo in Discord explains how that works for a server night.

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• Invite sent with the start time and the call link, if any.
• Host signed in, with a hosted game left this month or a pass.
• One charged device per player, plus a spare charger.
• One microphone per room on a call, and headphones for noisy rooms.
• Teams planned: 1 team for 2 to 3 players, 2 teams for 4 to 8, 3 teams for 9 or more.
• Rounds and turn time chosen from the timing table.
• Word pack chosen for the least confident player.
• Taboo reporting and voting set, and house rules agreed.
• Room code ready to paste, and Lock room on once everyone is in.
• Results read out, words that were too hard noted, and a rematch offered.

For a group on Zoom or Google Meet, add the call checks from the guide to playing Taboo on a video call.

For a group that wants its own words on the board, build a custom Taboo word pack before the night.