Taboo Rules: How to Play the Forbidden-Word Party Game

Explain the word. Just don't say any of the five forbidden ones. The party game where the constraint is the whole game.

Taboo is the verbal cousin of Charades. One person tries to make their teammates say a target word, but they can't use the word itself, and they can't use any of the five "taboo" related words printed alongside it. Suddenly Apple isn't allowed to be "fruit, red, tree, doctor, or iPhone", and you have to find another path. This guide covers the full rules including setup, scoring, the buzzing system, and both solo and team variations.

What you need to play

• 2 or more players. The sweet spot is 6-12, but two people can play perfectly well by alternating who explains.
• A list of cards, each with one target word and ~5 forbidden words. Online apps generate these automatically; the printed game ships ~500 cards.
• A timer. 60 seconds per round is standard. Easier words get less time, harder words more.
• A buzzer or "buzz" caller. Someone from the opposing team listens for forbidden words and calls out a buzz when one is used.
• A way to keep score. Pen and paper, phone, or an app.

Solo mode (rotate through the room)

In solo mode the room takes turns being the explainer, and everyone else guesses. Scores are kept individually for the explainer. There's no permanent buzzer; if anyone notices a forbidden word they call it out.

1. Players sit in a circle. Pick the first explainer.
2. The explainer sees one card privately: the target word + the 5 forbidden words.
3. The timer starts. The explainer begins talking. They can describe, define, give context, do impressions, anything as long as they don't say the target word, any forbidden word, or any obvious fragment of either.
4. Everyone else guesses out loud. Many guesses can fly at once — that's good, that's the whole point.
5. When someone guesses the target word, the explainer confirms ("yes!"), the timer stops, and the explainer scores 1 point.
6. If the explainer accidentally uses a forbidden word, anyone in the room can call "buzz!" and the round ends with 0 points (or -1 in stricter rules).
7. If the explainer is stuck, they can say "skip" and draw the next card; this costs them 1 point so it isn't a free re-roll.
8. If time runs out, the round ends with 0 points and the actual word is revealed.
9. The next player in the circle becomes the explainer. Repeat until everyone has gone an agreed number of times.
10. Highest individual score wins.

Team mode (classic Taboo)

In team mode the room splits into 2-4 teams. One team is "active" each round. A member of the active team becomes the explainer. The opposing team(s) act as buzzers — they watch for forbidden words and call them out.

1. Divide players into 2-4 roughly equal teams. Sit so that teammates can see each other.
2. One team starts as active. The first active-team player becomes the explainer for round 1; the next becomes the explainer for round 2 when the team is active again, and so on.
3. The explainer sees the card. Their teammates guess; the opposing team watches the card and listens for forbidden words.
4. Timer starts. Same rules as solo: describe, define, gesture without saying the target word, the forbidden words, or fragments of either.
5. If a teammate guesses correctly within the time limit: the team scores (typically 1 point per word guessed in the round; some variants give bonus points for difficulty).
6. If the opposing team buzzes a forbidden word: the round ends, that card is discarded, and the explainer takes the next card if time remains. Some rules also award a "buzz point" to the opposing team.
7. If the explainer says "skip" or runs out of time on a card: the round ends with 0 points for that card.
8. Active team rotates after each round (clockwise or by lowest score gets to go next, you choose).
9. Game ends after a fixed number of rounds OR when one team reaches a target score (often 30-50 points depending on group size).

What counts as a buzz

This is where house rules vary the most. Strict tournament rules say:

• The target word in any form (singular, plural, past tense, gerund) — buzz.
• Any of the 5 forbidden words in any form — buzz.
• Any obvious fragment of the target or forbidden words — usually a buzz. Saying "icon" when explaining "iconic" is a buzz; saying "art" when explaining "artist" is a buzz. Common short syllables (in, on, the) generally aren't buzzed.
• Sound-alikes and rhymes intended to convey the word — buzz. "It rhymes with cat" is illegal.
• Saying the word in another language — buzz. The whole point is to find a different path to the same idea.
• Spelling the word out loud or in the air — buzz.
• Pointing at things in the room that ARE the answer — buzz. (Pointing at things that are part of describing it is fine.)

Casual rules relax most of these. A common house rule is "fragments don't count as long as the explainer didn't say the whole word." Another is "no buzz on technical/scientific synonyms — only on the everyday version."

What the explainer CAN do

• Describe the function, shape, color, smell, feel, sound
• Tell a story or give a scenario where the word would naturally come up
• Use synonyms that aren't on the forbidden list
• Define by negation ("it's NOT a vehicle, but it's something you ride")
• Use cultural references that don't include the word itself
• Gesture, mime, point at body parts (as long as the body part isn't the answer)
• Make sounds (buzzing, ticking, etc.) as long as the sound isn't a direct giveaway

Difficulty tiers

Most Taboo variations split words into three tiers, and time/score per word scales with the tier.

• Simple (40 sec, 4 points): Common everyday words like Cat, Pizza, Beach. Forbidden words are also obvious — most adults will dance around them naturally.
• Semi (60 sec, 6 points): More specific words like Penguin, Croissant, Lighthouse. The forbidden list closes off the easy path so you have to be creative.
• Complex (80 sec, 10 points): Rare or compound words like Komodo Dragon, Beef Wellington, Aurora Borealis. You'll often need to describe context the team has to piece together.

Common house variants

• The "Buzzer" rotation: in team mode, instead of the whole opposing team listening, designate one person as that round's buzzer. Stops the chaos of multiple buzzes from different people.
• "Pass" instead of skip: explainer can pass any card without penalty, but only X passes per game.
• Custom decks: groups of friends write their own cards. Inside-jokes work great as targets, with the obvious related words as taboo.
• Themed nights: only words from one category (movies, foods, professions). Faster pacing, lower variety.
• Bilingual challenge: forbidden words include translations into a second language the group also speaks. Brutal but funny.
• "Anti-Taboo": opposite goal — the explainer MUST work in all 5 forbidden words while still getting the team to guess the target. Harder than it sounds.

Why the game works

Taboo's design is a lesson in good constraints. A blank "describe this word" prompt would be too easy; a "describe this word using only mime" prompt would be too hard (that's Charades). Five forbidden words is the perfect middle: enough constraint that you can't take the obvious path, but enough room that you can almost always find a creative angle. The forbidden words are also chosen to be the most natural ways someone would describe the target — so the game forces you to think about a familiar concept from an unfamiliar direction.

That's also what makes Taboo great for language learners: it pushes you to access vocabulary you don't normally use. Many language schools include Taboo as a speaking exercise for exactly this reason.

Try it now

You can play Taboo on gamingrooms.net right in your browser, free, no signup. Pick solo or team mode, share the room code with friends, and let the game pick words at the difficulty tier your group wants. Comes with hundreds of words across 8 categories in English, Persian and German.

Play Taboo →