How to play Bear Minimum
Bear Minimum is a drawing and guessing game for 2 or more players. Every drawing starts as the same blank bear, and the Artist dresses it up as a secret prompt. The catch: every feature you leave off earns you points, but only if the table still guesses right.
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Setting up
- Open Bear Minimum, type a name and create a room.
- Share the 4-letter room code or the invite link. Friends join from any browser, with no account.
- The host picks the mode and settings, then starts the game once at least 2 players are in (4 to 6 is ideal).
The four phases of a round
- Draw (90 seconds). The Artist gets a secret prompt card, like Vampire, with five features worth 2 to 5 points each. They add features and colour to a blank bear. There are five bear poses to choose from, and tools for pencil, brush, lines, shapes, fill and eraser. No letters, numbers or symbols. The Artist can finish early.
- Guess (30 seconds). The bear is revealed and everyone types guesses in the chat. The first correct guess ends the round. Plurals, alternative answers (“spaceman” for Astronaut) and a single typo on longer words all count.
- Review (25 seconds). The card is revealed. The table ticks which features they can see on the bear, starting from what we spotted. The Artist can argue their case in the chat. The majority decides, and ties go against the Artist.
- Score. If the bear was guessed, the Artist scores 5 plus the points of every feature left off, and the first guesser scores 2. If nobody guessed it, the Artist scores 0.
Scoring example: the Vampire
The Vampire card lists fangs (5), cape (4), coffin (4), bat (3), sparkles (2): 18 points in all.
- Draw only the fangs and the table guesses it: 5 + 13 = 18 points.
- Draw the fangs and the cape: 14 points.
- Draw all five features: 5 points, the minimum for a guessed bear.
- Draw only a bat and nobody guesses it: 0 points. Too minimal!
Game modes
🔴 Live drawing (the default). Everyone watches the bear as it's drawn and can guess the whole time. The first correct guess stops the drawing, so any feature not yet on the bear still scores. Draw the least obvious clues first. If nobody gets it before time runs out, there's a short last-chance round.
🙈 Draw, then reveal. The printed rules. The Artist draws in secret, then the bear is shown to everyone for the guessing round.
Host settings
- Turns: each player is the Artist 1 to 4 times (3 by default). Everyone gets the same number of turns.
- Timers: 45, 60, 90 or 120 seconds to draw (45 is hard mode), and 20 to 45 seconds to guess.
- No colour: black lines only, no paint bucket.
- Custom cards: write your own prompts, features and points, and optionally play with only those.
Winning
The highest total after everyone's turns wins. Tied players play one more round each, up to three times. The game ends with the Bear Showcase: final standings, a slideshow of every bear, and awards like The Bear Minimum (the highest-scoring bear) and Barest bear (guessed with the fewest features).
Tips
- Colour is free. A pale bear with red eyes might be all a Vampire needs.
- Low-point features are cheap clues. Save the big giveaway for when the table is stuck.
- Watch for features shared between cards: a horse could be a Cowboy, a Knight or the Headless Horseman.