How to Play
The same 4×4 board. Ninety seconds. Shared words score nothing.
2–16 players · 3 rounds, 90 seconds each
A round, start to finish
1. Everyone gets the same board
When the host starts a round, a 3-2-1 counts you in and the same 4×4 grid of letters flips up for all 2–16 players at once. Same tiles, same clock — fair fight.
2. Trace as many words as you can
Drag across touching tiles — sideways, up, down or diagonal — to spell a word. Three letters or more, and you can't reuse a tile in the same word. The Qu tile counts as two letters.
3. Race the 90-second clock
Each word is checked the instant you submit it: a real word you can trace lights up green and banks its points, anything else bounces back. Keep hunting until the timer runs out.
4. Duplicates get locked at the reveal
When time's up, every word is laid out. Any word two or more players found is stamped LOCKED and scores nobody anything — only the words you alone snaffled count.
Scoring
Every word is worth points by its length — longer words pay off big. But a word two or more players both found is locked and scores zero for everyone. Only the words you alone find bank their value.
- 1 pt3–4 letters
- 2 pts5 letters
- 3 pts6 letters
- 5 pts7 letters
- 11 pts8+ letters
Three rounds, scores stacked — the highest total at the end wins. (The Qu tile counts as two letters when sizing a word.)
Tips to outfox your mates
Common short words are everyone's first grab — and they lock instantly. The safest points are the ones nobody else spots.
Longer words are worth far more AND less likely to clash, so hunt for that 7- or 8-letter monster.
The Qu tile is two letters in one — handy for length, but plan your trace around it.
Three rounds, one winner. A round you blank still counts, so keep tracing right up to the buzzer.