Picture This: Sarah Andersen and Valentine De Landro at Book Riot Live

Book Riot Live 2016 had me busy behind the scenes, and like many of the Rioters making it all happen, I didn’t get to see as much of the programming as I would have liked. But one of the few panels I experienced in its entirety was Sunday’s Pictionary match between Sarah Andersen and Valentine De Landro.

I was heavily invested, having written out 71 Pictionary cards featuring book titles submitted by Rioters. As I hand-lettered the index cards (super self-consciously because ARTISTS were going to see my handwriting), I had imagined how I’d try to get the audience to guess these titles. It wasn’t easy to come up with strategies quickly, so I couldn’t imagine how Sarah and Valentine were going to get ideas and draw them in front of a crowd—while in friendly competition with one another.

But they are total pros, even at parlor games. They were on fire, and so was the audience. Sarah had only to draw a heart and an attendee immediately guessed Love in the Time of Cholera. Valentine did an excellent Atlas shrugging doodle. They were burning through the cards, and by the end of the first round, my back-of-the-napkin calculations led me to scrawling out more titles off a hastily Googled list of famous books. No time to imagine approaches now. If someone hadn’t read Watership Down, I had no clue what they might attempt (upon more leisurely reflection…water, and a ship, and a down arrow?). As it happened, Sarah drew a bunny and the audience got it.