Recommendations are marked with an asterisk (*) and/or explicitly stated as such. They can be ignored, depending on players' preferences.
Players take turns submitting a word and a drawing representing the word. The selected word must begin with the same letter as the last letter of the word selected by the preceding player, like in Japanese shiritori.
For example,
basketball --> levitate --> element
The word must not have been already used in the match, regardless of which player used it. Only one form of any given word can be used per match. A form can be a conjugation, an alternate spelling, a plural form, or a word with Latin suffix. (This is not a comprehensive list of what can be defined as a "form.") It does not matter which form occurs first; all subsequent uses of the word and its forms are illegal.
For example,
ascend --> dog --> gala -->
ascension
This is illegal because "ascension" is a derivative of "ascend," which was already used. If "ascend" and "ascension" were to swap order, "ascension" would be valid and the second use of the word (i.e. "ascend") would be illegal.
The drawing must resemble the word selected. Simply writing out the word is not a valid drawing. If the drawing is intended as a joke or is not literally representative of the word, other players must agree that the drawing is acceptable. For example, drawing a pile of poop for "physics" is only valid if other players agree that physics is poop.
Players must complete their drawings at least partially by hand. Fully computer-rendered graphics are not allowed, but drawing aids (e.g. shape tools) are okay. Hardware aids, such as a drawing tablet, are allowed*.
Players can only start their drawings after the preceding player has ended their turn. Preparing drawings or assets in advance is not allowed. Selecting a colour palette ahead of time is allowed.
All English words are allowed, with the following restrictions:
- No words ending with 'x', 'y', or 'z' ("banned letters")
- No abbreviations or acronyms
- No proper nouns
The Rulebook recommends using high school level vocabulary so that all players can understand the words played.
Wiktionary is the recommended source to check spelling or pronunciation. If unavailable, Merriam-Webster is a good alternative.
The Rulebook recommends allocating at least 3 minutes per turn, starting from the time that the preceding player ends their turn. Failure to submit a word and a drawing within the time will result in forfeiting the match.
Rather than match letters, players match phonemes ("sounds") between words. Banned letter rules do not apply. Voicing, stress, and phonetic differences between allophones of the same phoneme can be ignored.
A sequence of words could go as follows:
telegraph --> factory --> east
IPA:
tɛləɡɹæf --> fæktəɹi --> iːst
Players should not submit IPA transcriptions: words submitted must be written in the normal Latin alphabet.
There may be disputes about acceptable pronunciations: see Verification for more details. Players should decide before the start of a match whether to accept all dialectal variations or to restrict pronunciations to one or more dialects.
Phonetic shiritori can be considered more faithful to the Japanese game since Japanese kana represent phonemes and phoneme groups directly.