[Can You Guess?] A Collection of Difficult Prompts for the Gesture Game
A gesture game where you communicate only with body movements and others guess what you’re expressing—without using words.
It’s an easy game that kids and adults alike can enjoy, so it’s often used in everyday play and recreational activities.
Still, some of you might be looking for fresh ideas because the prompts are getting stale.
In this article, we’ll introduce challenging prompts for gesture games.
We’ve gathered not only prompts that represent people or objects, but also higher-difficulty ones that express actions.
Use this as a reference and enjoy your gesture game even more!
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Words and proper nouns (1–10)
Aquarium staff
Aquariums, where creatures from watersides like the sea and rivers are displayed, are a classic sightseeing spot.
Let’s focus on the staff who work at such aquariums and express each of their movements through gestures.
There are various roles, such as staff in charge of dolphin and sea lion shows and staff responsible for animal care, so it’s important to consider which aspects to emphasize.
Regardless of the job, affection for the animals is also a key point, so conveying how they interact with the creatures will make it easier to understand.
ambulance
It’s an emergency vehicle that quickly transports critically ill or injured people to the hospital—an essential vehicle that helps save lives.
Its standout features are the sense of speed as it races between the scene and the hospital, and the blaring siren.
It’s a good idea to clearly express that rushing speed with your body movements while the siren is sounding, and to add motions showing aid to a patient to distinguish it from a fire engine or police car.
Conveying its large size, which accommodates medical equipment, will also make it easier to understand.
Magician
Let’s express a magician who performs mysterious phenomena right before your eyes using gestures.
Rather than large-scale illusions, it’s recommended to portray close-up magic done with the hands.
Classic options include movements that skillfully manipulate cards or motions that look like casting spells with a wand.
Be sure to incorporate a surprised expression as if something inexplicable just happened—making it look like an actual magic trick is being performed is an important point.
Action system (11–20)
Next, we’ll introduce some challenging prompts for an action-based gesture game! A simple prompt like “a cat” is easy, but adding one extra action—such as “a cat that does 〇〇”—raises the difficulty.
Movements that you don’t usually see, actions you haven’t experienced but that actually exist, as well as real incidents or happenings, also make for highly challenging action-type prompts and are recommended.
Please use the prompts we’re about to share as inspiration, and try creating your own as you enjoy the game!
Action System (1–10)
loach scooping
Dojo-sukui is a traditional dance performed with choreography set to the folk song “Yasugi-bushi” from Yasugi City in Shimane Prefecture.
As the name suggests, it reenacts the motion of scooping up loaches with a basket, and is characterized by a comical atmosphere, including its posture.
The striking look—such as the nose piece made from an old one-mon coin or inserting a short chopstick into the nose—also leaves a strong impression, so be sure to convey these adornments clearly through facial expression.
Since it’s an act performed to music, rhythmic and comical movements that align with the tune are essential to this prompt.
acute lower back strain (commonly called a “thrown-out back” or lumbago)
The correct medical term is “acute low back pain,” referring to severe back pain that occurs when you lift something heavy or twist your body.
From how difficult it can be to even stand, you can sense just how intense and persistent the pain is.
When expressing a slipped back (lumbago) through gestures, be sure to convey a pained expression and use your hand placement to show that the source is the lower back.
Focusing on the aspect of pain so severe you can’t remain standing, gradually crouching down would likely communicate it well.
Whether you’ve experienced a sudden back strain yourself may also affect how convincingly you can act it out.
A cat lying down
While clearly conveying that it’s a cat, this focuses attention on the specific action of lying down.
To make it clear that the answer is both the animal’s name and the action of lying down, it’s best to avoid performing other actions as much as possible.
You can indicate “cat” through the shape and posture of the ears and whiskers, and once the animal is recognized, emphasize the lying-down action to make it easier to understand.
It might also be fun to incorporate a laughing gesture to signal that the answer is a pun.
A monkey eating a banana
This content asks for not only the animal’s name but also the animal’s action.
It might be easiest to first convey the animal name “monkey,” and then convey the action “eating a banana.” Maintain clear posture and movements until “monkey” is understood, and once the answer is given, transition to the motion of peeling and eating a banana.
Since “monkey” and “banana” are strongly associated words, once each is conveyed, the combination should make it possible to arrive at the correct answer.