Tag: Word Game

Word Games require players to demonstrate their knowledge of a language’s lexicon.

Bananagrams

| T3d-1978
Bananagrams

Bananagrams

Bananagrams is a fast and fun word game that requires no pencil, paper or board, and the tiles come in a fabric banana-shaped carrying pouch. One hand can be played in as little as five minutes. Much like Pick Two!, but without the letter values.

Using a selection of 144 plastic letter tiles in the English edition, each player works independently to create their own ‘crossword’ faster than one’s opponents. When a player uses up all their letters, all players take a new tile from the pool. The object of the game is to be the first to complete a word grid after the “bunch” of tiles has been depleted.

There are variants included in the instructions, such as Banana Smoothie and Banana Cafe for limited set skills or space-deprived places, and the game is suitable for solo play.

Game Mechanics:

  • Racing
  • Tile Placement
  • Word Game

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 8 Players
  • ~15 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.32

A Little Wordy

| T3d-1978
A Little Wordy

A Little Wordy

From the award-winning, best-selling creators of Exploding Kittens and Throw Throw Burrito, A Little Wordy is a fresh and ridiculously clever take on the genre of tile-based word-unscrambling games.

Here’s how it works: You’re each given a pile of letters. Rearrange your letters until you come up with a word. Be sneaky and choose a word that your opponent won’t easily guess.

Write it down, keep it a secret. Rescramble your tiles, pass them to your opponent. The goal is to examine your opponent’s tiles and try to figure out their word. You do this with Clue Cards. These tell you things such as: what’s the first letter, how long’s the word, or what does it rhyme with? You win by using as FEW of these clue cards as possible to figure out what word your opponent wrote down.

It’s thoughtful, strategic, highly-replayable, and built specifically for two players. It’s not a game about having the mightiest vocabulary – it’s a game about making clever choices.

The longest, most complicated word isn’t always the best choice. Sometimes, picking a smaller, common word is better because your brainiac opponent will overthink things and blaze right past it. Trying to figure out your opponent’s secret word can be both hilarious and (delightfully) maddening. A Little Wordy levels the playing field against veteran word wizards.

Game Mechanics:

  • Tile Placement
  • Word Game

Game Specifications:

  • 2 Players
  • 5 – 15 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.09

Scrabble

| T3d-1978
Scrabble

Scrabble

In this classic word game, players use their seven drawn letter-tiles to form words on the gameboard. Each word laid out earns points based on the commonality of the letters used, with certain board spaces giving bonuses. But a word can only be played if it uses at least one already-played tile or adds to an already-played word. This leads to slightly tactical play, as potential words are rejected because they would give an opponent too much access to the better bonus spaces.

Game Mechanics:

  • Hand Management
  • Tile Placement
  • Word Game

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 4 Players
  • ~45 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.00

Word Heist

| T3d-1978
Word Heist

Word Heist

Your goal in Word Heist is to create clever words that others don’t steal, while ideally snatching words from their grasp.

To set up the game, take a number of consonant, vowel, and special letter cards based on the number of players, shuffle them, then place one card each in the +1 and +2 slots by the game board, while laying all the other letters in a row. Reveal two “bonus vault” cards that show special ways to score.

Each player then simultaneously and secretly writes a “heist” word on their player board using only the letters revealed, with as many copies of those letters as they like. Once everyone has finished, each player drops clues to their word by placing their personal clue tokens on as many public letters as they wish; if you use a letter multiple times in your word, you must mark the letter that many times.

Next, after looking at those clues, each player writes a “halt” word on their player board that they think corresponds to an opponent’s word.

All players then reveal their words one by one. If two or more players have the same word, none of them score for that word; if an opponent has “halted” your word, then they score for that word instead of you! A word scores 1 point for each clue token you placed, +1 or +2 points for you using the letters placed in those slots, and bonus points if you met one or both “bonus vault” challenges.

After writing all the used “heist” and “halt” words on a public board, shuffle the letter cards, then play another round. You cannot repeat a previously used word. After a third round conducted in the same manner, the player with the highest score wins.

Game Mechanics:

  • Targeted Clues
  • Word Game

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 6 Players
  • 20 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.80

Unspeakable Words

| T3d-1978
Unspeakable Words

Unspeakable Words

Decode the ancient secrets of R’lyeh by forming words with the letters you find in this sanity-sapping letter game. The more angles that appear in the words, the greater their mystical value, but beware! For each word that is created, you must roll a sanity check against its value to see if the word’s power drives you mad!

Game Mechanics:

  • Dice Rolling
  • Hand Management
  • Player Elimination
  • Push Your Luck
  • Word Game

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 6 Players
  • ~30 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.32

Tapple

| T3d-1978
Tapple

Tapple

Each round in Tapple, one player draws a topic card, then starts the timer. In the next ten seconds, that player must give a single word answer that fits within the topic, press down the letter key in a special electronic device that corresponds to the first letter of that word, and restart the timer. The next player must then think of a word for the topic that starts with a different letter, press down that starting letter, and restart the timer. 

If a player runs out of time, she’s out for the round. If only one player remains in a round, she collects the topic card. If players manage to press down all of the letters before knocking all but one player out of a round, the players reset the device, draw a new topic card, then start the timer again, this time having to give two answers for the topic – each starting with a different letter – within the allotted time. Whoever collects the most topic cards wins!

Game Mechanics:

  • Memory
  • Party Game
  • Player Elimination
  • Word Game

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 10 Players
  • ~30 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.04

So Clover!

| T3d-1978
So Clover!

So Clover!

So Clover! is a cooperative word-association game. Play as a team to get the highest score. Get Keywords and secretly write their common features on your Clover board; these are your Clues. Then work together to try to figure out each player’s Keywords. At the end of the game, add up your score according to how many Keywords you found and write it in the Record of Legends. Try to beat your high score each game!

Game Mechanics:

  • Cooperative
  • Limited Communication
  • Party Game
  • Word Game

Game Specifications:

  • 3 – 6 Players
  • ~30 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.09

Phantom Ink

| T3d-1978
Phantom Ink

Phantom Ink

Renowned mediums are competing to figure out a secret object and prove they can connect with the “World Beyond”. The first team to figure out the secret object wins!

To set up Phantom Ink, divide players so that the Sun team and the Moon team each have one Spirit and up to three Mediums. The mediums on a team share a hand of seven question cards, and the spirits begin the game by choosing one of the five objects on a card as the secret object. On a turn, the mediums pass two question cards to their spirit, with sample questions like “What color is it most commonly?”, “What fictional character has it or uses it?”, and “If it were a musical instrument, what would it be?”

The spirit discards one question card face up, then returns the question card it’s going to answer to their mediums, then slowly writes the answer one letter at a time for all to see. As soon as the mediums think they know what this clue word is, they yell “Silencio”, and the spirit stops writing. The other team of mediums might see only the letter “Y”, but if you know the question is “What color is it?”, then you know the clue must be “yellow”. To end your turn, draw two new question cards.

On a turn, instead of handing over question cards, you can attempt to guess the answer — and to do so you write like the spirits, one letter at a time. If you write an incorrect letter, the spirits will stop you, marking out your error, with your partial guess giving the other team more information. If you guess the entire word correctly, you win!

Game Mechanics:

  • Deduction
  • Limited Communication
  • Party Game
  • Puzzle
  • Targeted Clues
  • Team Based
  • Word Game

Game Specifications:

  • 4 – 8 Players
  • 10 – 15 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.33

Mystic Paths

| T3d-1978
Mystic Paths

Mystic Paths

In the deduction game Mystic Paths, players are challenged to navigate paths through a labyrinth called the Eternal Forest. Each player’s path is unique — and only you know the way. However, you cannot traverse the forest alone. Your teammates are needed to open the sealed portals along each step. Give clever clues, hope your teammates can read your mind, and complete your journey!

To complete the journey, each player takes a turn providing clues about which portal is their next step. Each step can have up to five different portals, but only one is the correct one, so players give clues that relate (hopefully) to the correct next step.

The challenge is that the only clues available are cards that have been dealt, so sometimes the clues may not relate to the next portal of a journey, which means you have to get creative. This is where you need to try to read the minds of your teammates. For example, the next portal on your journey could be the word “anteater”, and your clues are limited to cards you are dealt, like scary, or tall, or handsome. Which would you choose as your clue?

The game takes place in five rounds. Beat the game by having everyone complete their own journey before the five rounds are over.

Game Mechanics:

  • Cooperative
  • Deduction
  • Limited Communication
  • Party Game
  • Targeted Clues
  • Team Based
  • Word Game

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 6 Players
  • 45 – 60 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.70

Crosstalk

| T3d-1978

Crosstalk

Crosstalk

CrossTalk is the party game of subtle conversation in which two teams race to guess secret keywords. Each round, teams select a clue-giver, and those clue-givers are given knowledge of the same secret keyword. The goal of the clue-givers is to help their teammates guess this keyword before the other team.

The round begins with both clue-givers writing a one-word clue to give their team in private. Then, clue-givers will alternate providing one-word public clues to everyone — but there is a catch! After your team gives a public clue, the other team — and only the other team — may attempt to guess the keyword. Clue-givers will need to use their private clue to provide context for the future. This will allow them to slip public clues by the other team.

The round ends when one team correctly guesses the keyword or both teams run out of guesses. Each correct guess is worth 1 point, and the first team to earn 5 points wins.

Game Mechanics:

  • Deduction
  • Party Game
  • Team Based
  • Word Game

Game Specifications:

  • 4 – 8 Players
  • 20 – 30 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.18