Acting Out is a party game that takes the basic concept of charades and reimagines it with a competitive twist involving whiteboard guesses and bluffing. The game takes place in a casual setting where one player at a time becomes the actor, drawing a prompt card and attempting to act it out using only gestures—no words or noises. The other players serve as guessers, each writing down on whiteboards what they believe the prompt was, aiming to either guess correctly or create a plausible enough answer to mislead others.
Each round unfolds in two phases: performance and guessing. During the performance, the actor interprets a prompt, such as “using a lightsaber to trim your nose hairs” or "frying bacon on a boat in a hurricane". Guessers then write down their interpretations of the performance in secret. After all guesses are submitted to the performer, they are read aloud, including the real prompt, and players vote on which one they believe is correct. Points are awarded based on correct guesses and successful deception.
The game’s humor and challenge come from the intentionally absurd prompts and the limited communication method. Without spoken clues, players are forced to exaggerate or invent physical gestures to convey often complex or nonsensical scenarios. This creates an environment where even wrong answers can be convincing—or at least entertaining enough to be mistaken for the real thing.
Acting Out is structured but flexible, making it well-suited for informal play. The whiteboard guessing mechanic distinguishes it from traditional charades by rewarding both accurate interpretation and clever misdirection. While the gameplay is easy to grasp, the variety of prompts and the social dynamics between players keep it unpredictable.
—description from the publisher