Boggle
Sixteen letter cubes are shaken into a grid, and for three minutes everyone hunts for as many words in them as they can.
The cubes are shaken into the grid, the dome comes off, and for three minutes everybody writes in silence. They are all looking at the same thing: the sixteen letters fell the same way for everyone, and the difference will be only in what each managed to see in them.
Words are traced through cells: the letters must run in sequence and touch, by a side or a corner. The same cell cannot be used twice, so a word with a doubled letter needs both of those letters actually to be there.
The real trick, though, is not in the finding but in the scoring. A word two people found is struck from both lists. What scores is therefore not what is obvious but what only you saw: three short words everyone spots are worth less than one long word nobody did.
Standard and big
There are two sets, and they differ in the field: sixteen cubes in four rows, or twenty-five in five.
The extra row changes more than the size. Standard Boggle counts words from three letters, Big Boggle from four, and length scores differently: a short word is worth less there, but a wide field yields more long ones.
The Boggle grid
Under these rules: Sixteen cells, four by four.
A tray of sixteen cells in four rows, with a dome under which the cubes are shaken.
The cells hold each cube in its own place, letter upwards — there would otherwise be nothing to scatter them at random and leave them lying flat. The dome closes the grid from above: the cubes are poured into it, the grid goes over the top, the whole is turned and shaken, and the dome comes off. While the time runs neither grid nor cubes may be touched, so it has to stand where everybody can see it.
Letter cubes
Under these rules: Sixteen cubes; the `Qu` face counts as two letters.
Sixteen cubes with a letter on every face; the side that lands up gives the field to hunt in.
The letters are spread over the faces neither evenly nor at random: common letters appear on several cubes and rare ones on a single cube, so a set thrown blind almost always gives a field with something to find in it. One face carries `Qu` together — in English `q` hardly occurs without `u`, and a separate `q` cube would more often than not be dead. In scoring the length of a word that face counts as two letters. Two pairs of letters are told apart only by a mark: an underline shows which way up `M` and `W` go, and the same underline distinguishes `Z` from an upside-down `N`.
Three-minute timer
Under these rules: Three minutes to a round.
A sand timer of three minutes — the length of one round.
The timer is turned at the moment the dome comes off the grid, and the round ends with the sand. Three minutes exactly is what separates Boggle from studying a grid at leisure: you have to find faster than you can check.
Rules of Boggle
What you need
A grid of sixteen cells with a dome, sixteen letter cubes and a three-minute timer. A sheet of paper and a pencil for each player.
Preparation
The cubes are dropped into the dome and the grid is placed over it, open side down. The whole is turned grid upwards, shaken and moved about until every cube has settled into its cell.
One player lifts the dome; another starts the timer at that moment.
Finding words
For the three minutes, each player hunts for words on the field and writes them down. Words count from three letters.
The letters of a word must stand on cells and run in the proper sequence: cells adjoin horizontally, vertically or diagonally — left, right, up and down.
The same cell may not be used twice in one word. To write a word with a doubled letter, both letters must be on the field and standing where they are needed.
Neither the grid nor the cubes may be touched while the timer runs.
Which words count
Any word — noun, adjective, adverb — and any form, number or tense of it, as long as it is in a standard dictionary. Words found inside other words count as well.
The singular and the plural of a noun both score, provided the player has listed them as separate words.
One spelling scores once, even where the word has several meanings. A word found twice in different parts of the field also scores once.
When time runs out
When the timer has finished, everyone stops writing. A word already begun may be completed; a new one may not.
Crossing off
Players read their lists aloud in turn. If a word read out is on anyone else's list, everyone holding it , the reader included.
When all the lists have been read, each player is left with the words nobody else found. Those are what score.
Scoring
| Letters | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 or more |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Points | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 11 |
The Qu face counts as two letters.
End of the game
The player with the most points wins. Over several rounds the points are added up and a target agreed beforehand — fifty, a hundred, or any figure the table finds reasonable.
The challenge cube
An optional game. Before the shake, one cube is removed at random and the is put in its place; play then proceeds as usual.
Scoring in this game follows another table:
| Letters | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 or more |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Points | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
On top of that, every word running through the challenge cube earns five points more.
Sources
- Boggle — Parker Brothers 3-Minute Word Game · Hasbro, Inc. Open source
Glossary of terms
- Adjoining
- Two cells adjoin if they touch on a side or a corner. The letters of a word must run through adjoining cells in sequence.
- Crossing off
- A word found by more than one player is struck from every list that holds it and scores for nobody.
- The challenge cube
- An extra cube put in place of an ordinary one; a word running through it earns five points on top of the usual score.