How to create a masterpiece: Draw Something tips, hints, and cheats

Everybody and their mother is playing OMGPOP's rather excellent iOS and Android sketch-'em-up Draw Something, which managed to nab a shiny Gold Award at review.

To be fair, it's ruddy addictive. The aim of the game, in case you're one of the three people who's yet to play it, is to grab your durable iPaintbrush (your finger) and create a Rolf Harris-esque masterpiece from scratch.

Your opponent then has to guess what your frantic scribblings actually are using the jumbled letters that are displayed on-screen.

And that's pretty much it. Oh, before we forget, check out what we think are 20 of the best Draw Something creations. They're absolutely fabulous, dahling.

Drawing up a storm

In Draw Something, you take on multiple opponents in asynchronous matches, which you can drop in and out of at will. If an opponent successfully guesses your creation, you get the chance to guess theirs. A match continues until somebody gives up.

When it's your turn to sketch, you're greeted by a screen that contains three different words to choose from - all of which vary in difficulty: Easy, Medium, and Hard. The amount of coins you earn depends on the difficulty level you choose to undertake.

If you don't think you can transform any of the words into a glorious picture, you can use your limited supply of bombs to get three fresh choices. Or you can simply close the app, remove it from your multitasking dock, and then fire it back up again to be greeted with three new words. The choice is yours.

Purchase at least one new pack of colours (by tapping the '+' symbol next to your existing colour palette) using the coins you save using that cheeky cheat in the above paragraph. We suggest you stump up the cash for the Mardi Gras package early in the game, for it features a nice selection of colours that you don't have access to from the off.

Take your time while you're drawing: this game is a marathon, not a sprint. Don't just blob a ton of colour onto the playing field and hope for the best. A thin black pencil and a little outline can go a long way.

Finally, try to colour the objects you're drawing with a high degree of verisimilitude - it makes life a lot easier. Have you ever bumped into a purple hamster in the real word? Thought not.

The guessing game

There aren't many tips we can give you for guessing your opponents's drawings. To be frank, some of them are shocking. However, Draw Something does give you a helping hand.

For starters, the game lets you know exactly how many letters make up the word that your partner is attempting to convey.

It also gives you 12 jumbled-up letters with which to construct this word, so you're not entirely on your lonesome here. If you're still stuck, bombs can be used to remove the letters that you don't really need.

If you're still left scratching your head after you've exhausted the above avenues, there's only one thing left to do: cheat.

We don't normally condone cheating here at Pocket Gamer Towers, but there are plenty of ways to dirty your Draw Something hands out there on that thing we call the internet.

Firstly, you can simply head on over to the Win Every Game website, which is a website designed to help Scrabble players get one over on their intellectually gifted opponents. Just enter the letters that you've been presented with in Draw Something on this website, and it'll give you a list of anagrams - it's that easy.

Alternatively, you can head on over to Apple's App Store and download the aptly named Draw Solver Pro - Cheat at Draw Something! application for the small sum of 69p / 99c [buy].

This application allows you to upload a screenshot of the picture you're trying to guess - complete with the letters Draw Something has given you - and almost instantly receive the correct answer.

Just remember: the above method of cheating guarantees your passage into hell.

You can download Draw Something as a Universal app on iOS in one of two flavours (or both, if you wish): a 69p / 99c ad-free version [buy], and a free-to-play ad-supported version [download].

Likewise, you can download a free Android version of Draw Something for, well, free [download]. Or you can shell out 62p for the ad-free Android edition [buy].