Starbo, the SKITJAM mascot SKITJAM
SKITJAM FIELD GUIDE

First Week of College Activities

Choose a first-week college activity that creates a shared memory quickly without asking students to perform a polished introduction.

Start a Jam
Starbo wearing a party hat
Best for
first-year seminars and campus programs
Group size
6–12 players
Time
10–25 minutes
THE ACTUAL IDEA

Make the whole room part of the drawing

Students meet many groups at once, so another name-and-fact circle often becomes forgettable and exhausting.

SKITJAM changes the usual drawing-game rhythm: the group joins one room from ordinary browsers and contributes to the same timed canvas. Players do not wait for individual turns, and the activity does not depend on one confident artist carrying a team. After drawing, the room invents titles and votes, so observation and comedy matter as much as moving the pencil.

For the first week of college, that structure creates a visible shared problem instead of asking people to manufacture conversation from nothing. The messy result belongs to the room. It becomes something players can point at, explain, defend, rename, and remember together.

SET IT UP

A practical way to run it

Run one collaborative prompt about a fictional map of campus or an impossible first-day toolkit. Let the strange visual result carry the memory.

  1. Create the room. Open SKITJAM, choose whether the host is playing or screen casting, and put the lobby where the group can see it.
  2. Join without ceremony. Players scan the QR code or enter the short room code, then use a suggested silly name if they want a privacy-friendly identity.
  3. Draw before overexplaining. Let the first prompt teach the controls. Everyone draws at once while the authoritative countdown stays on the host screen.
  4. Name and vote. The room submits titles, votes without seeing authors first, and watches the winning mess replay.
MAKE IT YOURS

One variation worth trying

Invite tables or seating areas to identify one detail they recognize, without revealing which individual drew it.

Variations work best when they change one social constraint at a time. Keep the join flow, drawing controls, and phase order familiar. Change the prompt pack, time pressure, drawing rule, or way the group discusses the reveal—not all four. That gives players enough confidence to take creative risks while preserving the surprise.

QUICK ANSWERS

Frequently asked questions

Will students remember each other better?

The activity creates a shared reference, but it should complement natural introductions rather than test names.

Is personal disclosure required?

No. Prompts can remain entirely fictional.

How many rounds are enough?

One or two rounds are usually enough in a first-week schedule.

Starbo
WHO MADE THIS?

Created and written by Annabella Proctor

Annabella created SKITJAM as a social drawing game where the software gets out of the way and the room becomes the performance. Grayworth handles publication, legal responsibility, privacy operations, and hosting.

About the creator