⏱️ Who should start the timer in Turn-Based Drawing? Now anyone can

“🔄 Turn-Based Drawing” gets everyone involved in drawing: each player draws a few letters and then passes, until the board is full. Until now, though, the last step was left to one person: whoever drew the last letter was also the only one to see the “🚀 Start Timer” button. If they got distracted, the whole table had to wait for them.

How it works

At the bottom of the “🔄 Turn-Based Drawing” panel there’s the new “⏱️ Shared Timer Start” switch, off by default: if you leave it alone, the game works as always. If you switch it on, when all the letters are on the board the “🚀 Start Timer” button appears on every player’s phone, with the line “All the letters are on the board: anyone can start the timer”. The Master sees it too when playing in Integrated Mode, and the big board shows “Any player”. The first to tap it starts the timer for everyone; if two people tap it almost together, the timer starts only once.

As soon as it’s on, a second switch appears below it: “🤖 Bots Can Start It Too”. If there are bots in the room, they’ll be able to start the timer as well, but they wait a few seconds longer, so real players always come first.

What about bought letters?

The new rule works together with the ones in the “🪙 Letter Buying” panel, without changing them. If you can only buy on your own turn there, the “Want another letter?” box is shown only to whoever drew the last letter, as before. But be careful: if someone else starts the timer before they’ve decided, the chance to buy is gone. If the rules allow buying outside your turn, everyone keeps using their own buying panel. With “Instant Timer on Last Letter” on, the timer starts by itself, so the shared start isn’t needed.

A concrete example

There are four of you, the board has 9 letters and Turn-Based Drawing gives 2 to each player. Luke draws the last letter and stops to think about buying another. Julia already has her word in mind and doesn’t want to give him time: she taps “🚀 Start Timer” on her phone and the round starts for everyone. Luke will have to make do with the letters on the board.

A practical tip

Switch on the shared start in quick games or with lots of players, where waiting weighs more. If you’d rather give everyone time to decide on purchases, leave it off. To find out how to combine the rules at their best, you’ll find everything on the Rules and strategies page.