How to Play Boggle

Setting Up

Put the game together. Getting ready to play Boggle only takes a minute or two. Start by putting all of the letter dice in the game board (it looks like a square-ish grid), then put the dome-shaped cover on top.

Give every player a pencil and paper. Any basic scratch paper will work well. If you're worried about cheaters, you can have each player write on a clipboard or a stiff book. Boggle is for two players or more.

Scramble the letters. Pick up the grid with the dome on top and the cubes inside. Turn the domed grid upside down and shake to scramble the dice. Turn the grid right side up and give it a few gentle shakes until all of the dice fall into place. You want each letter die in its own space before you start.

Set a time for three minutes. The mini hourglass that comes with Boggle is pre-set to run out of sand in three minutes time. Let all the sand fall to the bottom, then, when you're ready to start, flip it and the game will begin! You can also use a watch or digital timer set to three minutes — the hourglass isn't essential.

Finding Words

Find words by "chaining" letters. The goal of Boggle is to score points by finding words in the random letters in the grid. The letters you use must be touching vertically, horizontally, or diagonally in a chain. You can't skip or "jump" across letters. When you find a word, write it down on your paper. At the end of the round, you'll use all of the words you found to figure out how many points you've scored.

Words must be at least three letters long. Very short words, like "I," "an," and so on are not allowed.

The same letter can't be used twice in the same word. When you're making a word, you can only use each die once. For example, if you make the word "neon", you can't use the "n" at the start of the word again at the end of the word. You can (and should) use the same letter multiple times in separate words. For example, if you find the word "tear," you can use the "a" in words like "apt," "part," and so on.

Words can go in any direction. The words you find don't have to go right-to-left. They can go up, down, backwards, forwards, and diagonally as long as all of the letters are connected in a chain and each letter is used only once.

Count each word only once. It's common for simple words to appear on the Boggle board several times. However, you may only write each word once on your piece of paper. In other words, you're trying to see how many different words you can find. This rule is also true when a word has more than one definition. For instance, "tear" (a drop of water that comes out of your eye) and "tear" (the act of ripping something) count as the same word.

Any word found in an English dictionary is allowed. It's a good idea to have a dictionary handy when you play Boggle to settle disputes. If you can find a word in the dictionary, it's "fair game."

Plural forms of words count as separate words. For example, if you see the word "apples," you are actually allowed to write down two words: "apple" and "apples."

Words-within-words are allowed. For example, if you see a word like "Webster," you can also write down "web" "webs." This is an excellent strategy for scoring as many points as possible.

Know which sorts of words are usually disallowed. Some players choose not to allow the types of words listed below. However, these words are not specifically mentioned in the official Boggle rules provided by Hasbro, which only say that words have to be in a dictionary to count. Proper nouns (i.e., names of specific people, places, etc. that start with a capital letter). Examples: "Mary," "Cairo," "Microsoft." Abbreviations and contractions (i.e., words that use periods or apostrophes to take the place of letters). Examples: "can't," "A.C.L.U." Words borrowed from languages other than English. Examples: "tete," 'bushido," "mazeltov."

Scoring

Stop writing when the timer runs out. As soon as the three minutes are over, all players must set their pencils down. Even if you notice new words after this point, they can't count towards your score.

Have each player read off his words. Starting with the player who shook the Boggle grid, all players take turns reading the words they wrote down. As other players read their words, look at your own list and see whether you wrote down any of the same words. Whenever two or more players have written down the same word, all players cross this word out. The word will no longer be able to score points for any player. When it's your turn to read your words, ignore words that you've already crossed off. You're only trying to name words that there's a chance no one else noticed.

Count up the letters in your scoring words. When all the players have narrowed their lists down to only the words that no one else has, have them count the number of letters in these words. The number of letters determines how many points each word is worth.

Score each word by its number of letters. The official Boggle scoring rules are as follows: Three or four letters: One point Five letters: Two points Six letters: Three points Seven letters: Five points Eight letters or more: Eleven points The "Qu" cube counts as 2 letters even though it takes up one space in the grid.

Total up all players' points. Have all the players add up the points from their scoring words. The winner for the round is whoever has the most points overall. Alternatively, you can play multiple rounds and have the winner be the first person to reach 50, 100, or more points. The official Boggle rules suggest both game styles.

Using Smart Strategies

Find longer, less common words to score more points. As a general rule, it's wise to spend your effort finding a few long, difficult words than it is to look for lots of short, easy words. Not only are longer words worth more points — they're also less likely to be found by other players, which means there's a better chance you'll score points from them. As an example, scoring a tough eight-letter word like "acquaint" means your opponent has to find eleven unique three- or four-letter words to match your score. Since these easy words are more obvious, it will be much harder for her to find eleven that no one else has found.

Make the most of plurals. The letter S is your best friend in Boggle. Sticking it at the end of a noun or many verbs will instantly get you an extra word that's one letter longer. It's easy to forget this simple trick, so racking up lots of plurals is a great way to find words that your opponents will overlook. Other common prefixes and suffixes can be used in a similar way. For instance, an "-ed" at the end of most verbs will give you a separate word that's two letters longer. Other combinations to look for are "er," "est," "ier," "de," "re," and "es."

Use anagrams to get lots of short words. Short words may not be the most effective way to get points, but if you're crafty, they can push you over the edge to victory. A good way to find short words that other people won't is to use anagrams — different words made from the same letters. You may be surprised how many words you can make from a handful of five or six letters. For instance, if you have the letters H, E, A, R, and T in a cluster, "heart" is the obvious word that everyone will notice. However, it's not as likely that everyone will notice "earth," "rate," "tear," "rat," "heat," "tea," "hater," "art," and the other words made from these letters.

Use the Boggle challenge cube to boost your score. Some Boggle sets come with a "challenge cube" that you can use in place of one of the other letter dice (chosen at random). Successfully making a word with the challenge cube gives you five extra points for that word, which makes it a great scoring opportunity. Be careful, though — everyone else will be looking to make words with the challenge cube, so look for difficult words that others are unlikely to find. When you're playing with the challenge cube, the standard Boggle scoring rules are a little different. See below: Three letters: One point Four letters: Two points Five letters: Three points Six letters: Four points Seven letters: Five points Eight letters or more: Six points