Looking for hard charades ideas to give yourself and your group a challenge? We’ve hand-picked over 150 hard charades words just for you! These picks will have your team stumped and you acting your little heart out.
We’ve separated our hard charades ideas into the charades categories of: movies, tv shows, books, plays, songs, quotes and phrases, actions, plus a bonus randomized list! At the end, we’ve even thrown in one or two ways to make your game extra tricky with homegrown charades variations. Without further ado, *drumroll*, I give you the Hardest Charades Ideas List!
30 Hard Movie Charade Ideas
Without playing themed charades, any movie title could be challenging to guess.
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| Howl’s Moving Castle | Ocean’s Eight |
| Inside Out | Lassie Come Home |
| Casablanca | The Wolf of Wall Street |
| American Beauty | Pulp Fiction |
| Spirited Away | American History X |
| Indiana Jones ** | The Help |
| The Truman Show | Finding Nemo |
| Star Trek ** | The Big Lebowski |
| Twilight ** | Harry Potter ** |
| Avengers: Endgame | The Wizard of Oz |
| Pan’s Labyrinth | Life of Brian |
| Shutter Island | Schindler’s List |
| Inception | Zoolander |
| Anchorman | Memento |
| The Green Mile | The Shawshank Redemption |
** Must guess the full movie title as well. Ex: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
For more charades movie ideas, see our mega list of 210+ Movie Ideas for Charades including Disney and family titles!
As another clue category, you could have your team guess characters from movies, rather than movie titles. Just imagine how difficult it would be to act out the differences between the two twins in Austin Powers, or individual Ewoks. May the force be with your team, and also with you.
30 Hard TV Show Charade Ideas
I think it would be more difficult to guess TV shows rather than movies, what do you think?
To keep the game more challenging remember to act out the words or syllables of the TV show title instead of doing impressions of the characters in it!
| Taskmaster | Planet Earth |
| Fullmetal Alchemist | The Twilight Zone |
| Fargo | House |
| Friends | It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia |
| Archer | The Boys |
| Blackadder | 24 |
| Merlin | Dexter |
| Parks and Recreation | The Office |
| Superstore | Brooklyn Nine-Nine |
| Black Mirror | Better Call Saul |
| The Good Wife | Handmaid’s Tale |
| Bridgerton | Mindhunters |
| Blue Planet | Band of Brothers |
| Futurama | The X-Files |
| Altered Carbon | Mythbusters |
| The Mandalorian | Alias |
20 Hard Book Titles for Charades
I ponder how well a book club would manage this charade’s list. I reckon they would ace it.
For the added effect, I’ve thrown in old classics amongst some new bestsellers. Acting out these titles by yourself will have a room full of laughs.
| The Hobbit | The Da Vinci Code |
| Gone Girl | The Great Gatsby |
| Thirteen Reasons Why | The Odyssey |
| In the Woods | Dune |
| Fahrenheit 451 | I Am Legend |
| The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy | Gone with the Wind |
| The Catcher in the Rye | The Time Traveler’s Wife |
| The Shack | The Scarlet Letter |
| The Alchemist | Think and Grow Rich |
| One Hundred Years of Solitude | James and the Giant Peach |
30 Difficult Action Charade Words
Action verbs are my crux in charades. I could guess movies and TV shows all day, but the actions always get me. Here are some of the awkwardest verbs I could think of.
| Deflect | Complete |
| Imitate | Copy |
| Save | Chant |
| Snorkel | Inspect |
| Tackle | Rescue |
| Allow | Skid |
| Write calligraphy | Film |
| Game Plan | Dismantle |
| Shrink | Enlarge |
| Sink | Grill |
| Ride a tricycle | Dive at a shipwreck |
| Get eaten by an alligator | Transform |
| Shapeshift | Collaborate |
| Be an audience member | Respect |
| Thank you | Have a nightmare |
10 Hard Plays and Musicals for Charades
Are your group regular theatre go-ers? If so, then they’ll love these!
| A Chorus Line | Waiting for Godot |
| Rent | The Odd Couple |
| 42nd Street | A Streetcar Named Desire |
| The Producers | Our Town |
| The Importance of Being Earnest | The Humans |
20 Hard Songs for Charades
Some of these songs for charades might get stuck in your head, even if you haven’t heard the song!
| Yesterday | Respect |
| Louie Louie | Minnie the Moocher |
| Holiday | What’s Going On |
| Come As You Are | Bohemian Rapsody |
| True Colors | Wannabe |
| More Than Words | You Can Call Me Al |
| By The Way | The Real Slim Shady |
| Tainted Love | Mmm Bop |
| Milkshake | Everlong |
| Somebody Told Me | Take On Me |
20 Hard Quotes and Phrases for Charades
Movies and books are fantastic sources of pithy one-liners and famous phrases for charades!
| “These go to eleven.” This Is Spinal Tap | “Soylent Green is people!” Soylent Green |
| “Do or do not. There is no try.” Yoda | “I am serious. And don’t call me Shirley”. Airplane |
| “You’re a Wizard, Harry.” Hagrid | “With great power comes great responsibility.” Spiderman |
| “Why so serious?” The Joker | “I’m having an old friend for dinner.” Hannibal Lecter |
| “I’ll be back.” T-800 | “Houston, we have a problem.” Apollo 13 |
| “I am your father.” Darth Vader | “You can’t handle the truth!” A Few Good Men |
| “You shall not pass.” Gandalf | “Not all those who wander are lost” J.R.R Tolkien |
| “Today is a good day to try.” Quasimodo | “Always let your conscience be your guide.” Pinocchio |
| “To me, you are perfect.” Love Actually | “I’ll have whatever she’s having.” When Harry Met Sally |
| “Go ahead, make my day.” Sudden Impact | “Elementary, my dear Watson.” Sherlock Holmes |
40 Randomized Hard Charade Ideas
These could be people, places, things, actions, any of the above.
| Jay-Z | Blue |
| Gold | Drapes |
| Cotton ball | Shoelace |
| Brick wall | Deja Vu |
| Lucid dream | Stuck on Mars |
| A Hershey’s kiss | A rake |
| A knot | A silhouette |
| Singing acapella | Conducting an orchestra |
| Underwater basket weaving | The dark |
| A cloud | Chalk |
| A yoga mat | A life coach |
| Lava | Deck of cards |
| Contact lenses | Will Smith |
| Jennifer Lawrence | Miley Cyrus |
| Ellen Degeneres | Your shadow |
| A pack of wolves | A motorhome |
| Influencer | Feeling overwhelmed |
| “I’m all ears” | “Cool as a cucumber” |
| “Sat on the fence” | Standing ovation |
| A spine | A boulder |
Phew, those look tough! How do you even pretend to be a cotton ball, hey?
Charade Variations to Switch Things Up!
The original acting-out game is a party starter, but it’s always fun to try something new. Here are two of our favorite variants that’ll keep your game interesting.
Telephone Charades
Best for: Large groups
Throw out any chances of success in this mix-up and prepare to be both heavily confused and humored by telephone charades.
Assemble your group in a shoulder-to-shoulder line, with the first person facing a different direction than the others. Have the first player choose a phrase from the hat. This player then taps the next person in line and acts out the clue. The second player then taps the next player in line, acting out their version of the clue until it reaches the last player who must guess what the original clue was.
The more, the merrier.
After You Charades
Best for: Groups with common interests
The “after you” charades variant is one that my family used to play together to make things more logically challenging.
The player begins by deciding a word/phrase to act out to the audience, like usual. However, whoever guesses the correct phrase will need to piggyback off the original phrase somehow. Let me give you an example…
I act out the word “magician,” a player guesses it and then needs to come up with a similar themed or connected word. Maybe they choose to act out “rabbit,” or “wand.” If there is a tie to the words in any sort of regard, it’s fair game.
Now, players can have disagreements about if the words are connected or not after a correct guess, which just leads to more discussion and laughter as everything is mapped out.
Conclusion – Hard Charades Ideas
So, what do you think? Will you try out these hard charades ideas and charades game variations to bring some fresh dynamics to your game?
Before you get started, check out our list of Kid-Friendly Charades Ideas, or Adult-Only Charades Ideas. You’ll be able to toss a few from each round-up in the bucket for later. Or for some silly clues to mix in with the harder ones, see our list of Funny Charades Ideas for Big Laughs!
Happy gaming friends, the stage is yours!
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Emily
Hi, I’m Emily, the tabletop gamer behind My Kind of Meeple. If this article helped you, I’d be honoured if you’d say, “Thanks!” with a £3 coffee on Ko-fi.
