Rules - Human Players
Object of the game
To list, within 3 minutes, as many words of the highest point value as you can find among the random assortment of letters in the cube tray.
Playing
When the timer starts, each player searches the assortment of letters for words of three letters or more. When you find a word, write it down. Words are formed from adjoining letters. Letters must join in the proper sequence to spell a word. They may join horizontally, vertically, or diagonally, to the left, right, or up-and-down. No letter cube, however, may be used more than once within a single word.
Types of Words Allowed
Any word (noun, adjective, adverb, etc.) is acceptable as long as it can be found in a standard English dictionary. Plural nouns are allowed, as are all verb tenses. Words within words are also permissible; e.g.,spare: spa, par, are, spar, pare.
Scoring and Winning
When the timer runs out, everyone must stop writing. Each player in turn then reads aloud his or her list of words. Any word that appears on more than one player's list must be crossed off all lists, including that of the reader.
After all players have read their lists, each player scores his or her remaining words:
Number of Letters: 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 or more
Points: 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 11
Things to Remember:
- Neither the cubes nor the tray may be touched while the timer is on.
- Not acceptable are: proper names, abbreviations, contractions, hyphenated words and foreign words that are not in an English dictionary.
- Multiple meanings of the same word do not earn multiple credit. The word 'tear', for example, can mean both 'rip' and 'cry'; yet it may count as only one word.
- The same word found by a player in different areas of the grid may not be counted for multiple credit.
- The 'Qu' cube counts as two letters.
- The letter 'M' has straight sides; the letter 'W' has slanted sides.
- The letter 'Z' has a line under it and should not be seen as the word 'IN'.
- Full credit is awarded for both the singular and plural forms of a noun - provided that the player has listed them as separate words.
- Common words tend to be found by more than one player. Therefore, if your words are unique and unusual, they are more likely to earn you points.
Rules - Playing with the computer
Object of the game
To list, within the allotted time, as many words of the highest point value as you can find among the random assortment of letters on the grid. The time allotted is dependent on the number of tiles on the grid
4 x 4 - 3 minutes
5 x 5 - 5 minutes
Playing
When the timer starts, each player searches the assortment of letters for words of three letters or more. When you find a word, write it down. Words are formed from adjoining letters. Letters must join in the proper sequence to spell a word. They may join horizontally, vertically, or diagonally, to the left, right, or up-and-down. No letter cube, however, may be used more than once within a single word.
The rules for valid words are similar to the general rules of the game
The image below shows the screen.
Instructions
Detailed instructions can be found here
Score rules
You can compare your performance against the computers in two ways
· Number of words
o All words carry equal weight
o Common words are identified and listed
· Points
o Longer words carry more weight
o One point for the shortest word length allowed e.g. for a 4 x 4 grid you score one point for a 3-letter word
o One extra point for every extra letter beyond shortest word allowed
o Note however that points are dependent on the size of the grid e.g. a five letter word will be worth 3 points on a 4 x 4 grid but only 2 points on a 5 x 5 grid