My Word! Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• What's in the Box
• The Object of MyWord!
• Setting Up
• Playing the Game
• Winning the Game
• MyWord! Notes
• Variations for MyWord!
• Allowable Words
• Rules for Ages 7 and Up

What's in the Box

• 54 Single Letter Cards
• 15 Double Letter Cards
• 3 Wild Cards
• Quick Play Rules in English
• Quick Play Rules in Spanish

The Object of MyWord!

Earn points by quickly finding words from Letter Cards being dealt to the center of the table. The player with the most points wins the game.

Setting Up

1. Write the players' names on a piece of paper for scorekeeping.
2. Choose a player to be the first dealer. Each player will deal the cards for one round, so the choice of who deals first is not important. Dealers are allowed to play and earn points while they are dealing. A game consists of as many rounds as there are players.
3. Remove the Ñ card from the deck. It is only used for the Spanish version.

Playing the Game

1. After shuffling, the dealer places Letter Cards, face up, one at a time, in the center of the table.
2. As the dealer is placing cards, all of the players search for words among the Letter Cards on the table. When a player finds a word, using at least three cards, he or she calls out the word.
3. When the dealer hears a word, he or she pauses to check the word (see Allowable Words).
   • If the word is allowed, the player who called out the word takes the cards used to spell the word.
   • If the word is not allowed, the player who called out the word does not receive any cards and all the other players take a free card from the table. If there are not enough cards on the table, the dealer provides them from the deck.
4. Play continues until all of the cards have been dealt. This is the end of the round.
5. Players receive one point for each card they have won. The dealer records the players' points, collects the cards, and passes the deck and score sheet to the player on the left.
6. The game continues following steps 1-5 until each player has dealt one round.

Winning the Game

The player with the most points by the end of the last round wins the game!

MyWord! Notes

1. The placement and speed at which the cards are dealt is left to the judgment of the dealer.
2. If more than one player calls out a word at the same time, it is up to the dealer to determine which word, or voice, he or she heard first.
3. If the last cards on the table cannot be used to form a word, they are not included in the scoring.

Variations for MyWord!

• The required number of cards can be matched to the skill level of the players. For example, an inexperienced player might be required to form words using two or more cards while, in the same game, a more experienced player is required to form words using four or more cards.
• Players may want to exclude the dealer from play. When a player is dealing the cards, he or she would not call out words. This allows the dealer to focus on placing the cards and listening to other players' responses. Since each player takes a turn dealing, the scoring would remain the same.

Allowable Words

• Words must be formed using three or more cards, regardless of the number of letters on each card.
• Words can be formed using the Letter Cards in any order, regardless of their location on the table.
• Plural and past tense words are allowed.
• Any word found in a standard English language dictionary is allowed, except for words that are capitalized, abbreviated, or require apostrophes or hyphens.
• Double Letter Cards can be used in any position in a word, however, they must be used as they appear. They cannot be rearranged or separated. For example, the cards ND, U and K cannot be used to spell DUNK, because the N and D would have to be separated.
• Single Wild Cards ? can be used in place of any one letter, in any position in a word. Double Wild Cards ?? can be used in place of two adjacent letters in a word; the letters do not have to be the same. For example, the M and K cards could be combined with a Double Wild Card ?? to form MASK.

Rules for Ages 7 and Up

There are only two rule changes. First, the three Wild Cards and all Double Letter Cards, except for the QU, are removed from the deck. Secondly, players are not penalized for calling out words that are not allowed. Players simply continue to call out words until a player is awarded the card for calling out an allowable word.