Goal
Write words on the page. When the letters run out, you score the words you still own. Highest score wins.
Everything is face up
The nine letters in the inkwell, everyone's letters and every written word are visible to all scribes. There is nothing hidden.
Your turn: one of these
- Take a letter from the inkwell onto your rack (7 letters at most). A new letter turns up at once.
- Write a word of 3 letters or more from your rack. It goes on the page as yours.
- Take a word that is already on the page: anyone's, including your own.
Taking a word
This is the heart of the game. Add one or more letters from your rack to a word on the page and make a longer word that keeps every letter of the old one. You may rearrange them freely.
- RATE + your W → WATER. The word is now yours, wherever it came from.
- STONE + your H → HONEST. The letters may be rearranged, as long as all five of STONE are still in there.
- STONE + your H → HOSE? No: that throws away the T and the N, and it isn't longer.
- Taking your own word is allowed, and is often the way to keep it safe.
Every time a word changes hands it gains a flourish: a permanent +2 for whoever holds it at the end. A much-fought-over word is worth having.
Scoring
- Each letter is worth its value (shown in the corner of the tile).
- Length pays: +1 for a 4-letter word, +3 for 5, +6 for 6, +10 for 7, +15 for 8, +21 for 9, +28 for 10.
- +2 for each flourish on the word.
- −1 for every letter still on your rack at the end, so spend them.
- Only the words you own when the game ends count. A word you wrote and lost is worth nothing to you.
The end
The bag empties, then the inkwell empties. The game ends once nobody can take a letter or write anything, and everyone has had the same number of turns.
On screen
- Take a letter: tap it in the inkwell, then tap it again (or ✓ Take).
- Write: tap your letters to spell a word, then ✓ Write. Tap a letter in the line to put it back.
- Take a word: tap it on the page, then add letters from your rack and spell the new word.
- Keys: type letters, Backspace to undo one, Enter to write, Esc to clear.
Tips
- A long word is a prize for the next scribe as much as for you. A word nobody can extend is worth more than a bigger one that everybody can.
- Words ending in S, E or R are easy to extend. Awkward endings are safe.
- Late in the game there is no time for anyone to answer, so the big plays belong at the end.