If you’ve ever wanted to step into the shoes of a Sketch Artist, now is your time! 

But instead of sketching criminals, you are a member of DRAW: The Department of Recording Anomaly Witnesses – so you’ll be tasked with presenting your best sketch of the most mysterious and beguiling monsters! 

Are you up for the clever, artistic challenges of MonsDRAWsity? 

How Do You Play MonsDRAWsity?

MonsDRAWsity is a Pictionary style game where players will draw creatures in the hopes to earn points.

Everyone is playing the role of a sketch artist who must sketch the monster that another player witnessed. The player who is the witness secretly looks at a monster card for a short period of time – quickly trying to memorize the important features of the creature in about 20 seconds. When the time is up, they put the card down and then describe the creature they “witnessed” to the sketch artists. 

After everyone has sketched their version of what the witness described, everyone reveals their sketch to the group. The witness then secretly selects the player they think was the closest to the actual monster. They then reveal the card so everyone can see what the creature actually looked like. 

It is then up to the sketch artists to vote for who they think had the best sketch now that they have seen the monster card. 

If you get the most votes from the sketch artists, you earn one point. The player whom the witness selects also earns one point. If the player the artists selected and the witness selected is the same, then the witness also earns one point.

Then its the next person’s turn to be the witness. The game continues till everyone has been the witness twice (or however many times your group would like) and the player with the most points wins. 

What Do We Think?

We are big fans of clever drawing games in our home and MonsDRAWsity really hit well for us. 

Honestly, I was surprised how much fun we had playing this one because the art style wasn’t really up our alley. It’s a little too “Aaahh Real Monsters” meets Stranger Things for my taste, especially since the box art pitches the game more in the realm of Monsters Inc. (doesn’t that purple salamander guy look like Randall?!?)

But art is of course subjective and I do really love how the mechanics of this game function. 

Here’s Why We Think MonsDRAWsity Works So Well: 

You don’t have to think of anything clever! 

One of the stresses in some drawing games is the need to come up with a clever idea on the fly. For some, they love this, (see our review of Tattoo Stories for a game requiring a heavy amount of cleverness from its artists) but for others, it’s an added stress that just does not go over well. 

We love that the creatures are already drawn for the Witness, all you have to do is quickly look at it and try to remember enough important details to relay them to the group. 

This really is easier said than done. The creatures they came up with for this game are insane looking. There’s just so much happening on many of them that it can be overwhelming for the witness – which is good for the game! If all you had to do was describe a simple Winnie the Pooh type character this would be too easy. 

For the artists, this is also a great game because it’s a lot of fun to try and draw these wild characters! This is a game that will probably favor the more imaginative artists in the group more so than your stick figure minimalists, but that’s no different here than with any other Pictionary style game. 

While the game has rules for scoring and how long to play, we consider this type of party game an activity. We like to play it until our group is ready to move on. Sometimes we keep score, and sometimes we don’t. I find that scoring in games like this is always a bit of a toss up because its mostly just for fun and everyone in our group tries to spread the love a little bit and make sure a different artist gets a vote each round. 

What if you don’t like the art?

I really do think the art on this game is going to be hit or miss for most people. As someone who doesn’t generally like this style, I can vouch for having a fun time and lots of laughs playing this game. 

If you are turned off by the art, it may just not be for you, and that’s okay. There are a few expansions on the horizon though that may strike a fancy for those that aren’t super into monsters but are more interested in the other themes. 

Does MonDRAWsity Work for Families? 

The quick answer to this question is YES…kind of. 

We think MonDRAWsity is an excellent drawing game for families to play together mainly because of the fact that you don’t have to think of anything to draw or say. The hard work has been done for you. 

We have played this with our kids as young as 4 and everyone had a great time. We give our older kids some extra time to look at the picture, and our 4 year old was allowed to describe the creature while looking at the card. These simple modifications helped include everyone and they had a blast playing with the adults. 

Our biggest recommendation for families that are looking to play this game with younger kids more frequently than not is to grab the Cute Creatures expansion. 

The monster cards in the base game can be really hard to draw. (And as a parent, some are just a little bit too gross for my liking and we removed them.) The Cute Creatures work much better for families playing with kids or even adults who find the base cards a bit too intimidating. While they’re cute, the creatures are still bizarre and hard to draw at times. 

You could probably get away with just purchasing the cute creature cards and using your own dry erase pads or paper sheets – but the base game comes with some nice dry erase boards and markers even if you don’t intend on using the more difficult monster cards. 

Perfect for Virtual Game Nights

MonsDRAWsity makes for an excellent virtual game night choice. It’s extremely easy to modify to play with your group as only one person need have access to the base game. As long as everyone has some way to draw the characters, the person with the game itself can hold up a card to the camera for each witness and everything works pretty much the same. 

We were even able to play this one on Instagram! Head over to our account and click on our MonsDRAWsity highlight to give the game a test run to see if it would be a good fit for your crew!

Summary

MonsDRAWsity is a clever spin on a classic genre. There are a bunch of drawing games out there and we love that this one takes the guess work out of what to draw and instead challenges players in finding a way to describe the creature to the other players. 

This makes for a nice filler or virtual game to play with your group when you’re looking for something light and silly. While the art style may not be for everyone – particularly families with younger kids, we still think this game works well and love the mechanics for those playing with kids. Ours have had a blast playing it together and we will probably add at least another one or two of the upcoming expansions to our game in the future. 

If you are interested in picking up a copy of MonsDRAWsity for your home click HERE. 
Find all of our favorite board game suggestions on our Amazon Storefront. 

A special thank you to our friends at Deep Water Games for sending us a copy of MonsDRAWsity for review. As always, our thoughts and opinions are our own. 

Game Info:
Title: MonsDRAWsity
3-8 Players Ages 8+
Designer: Eric Slauson
Publisher: Deep Water Games

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