Wordie Wars

Wordie Wars Rulebook

Table of Contents

Game Rules
Object
Set Up
On Your Turn
Challenging Words
The End of the Game
Us vs. Them
Categories

Game Rules

Three to eight players, ages 10+.

Components: 60 Letter Cards, 150 question cards, category die and partner die, writing pad, sand timer.

Object

Collect enough Letter Cards to make a word of five or more letters.

Set Up

Before you play, everyone must have a writing instrument. All players should go get their favorite pen, pencil, quill, or marker (no laptops or smartphones). Then, shuffle the Letter Cards and place them in a draw pile.

On Your Turn

Roll the category and partner dice. The partner die determines your partner for this turn. Start with the player on your left and go around clockwise, counting the number shown on the die. (Remember to count yourself.) The person you stop on is your partner. If you stop on yourself, you'll play this turn solo.

The category die determines which question category you will answer. If the die shows "You Choose," then you may choose any category. Choose before reading the question card.
Take the next question card from the box and read the question from your category. Start the timer. If you have a partner, the two of you will work together to hash out the answer, but you get the final say. You have until the timer runs out to answer.
If you answer correctly, you and your partner each take a Letter Card. If you played solo, take two Letter Cards. Place your Letter Cards faceup in front of you.
Play passes to the player on your left.
As you collect Letter Cards, try to arrange them into a word of five or more letters. If you make a word of five or more letters at any time in the game, you may call out your word. [Photo cuts off the rest of this line; the remaining words are not legible in the source.]

Challenging Words

If you feel that another player's word is not really a word, you may challenge. The challenged player has two turns of the timer to find the word in a dictionary (hard copy or online). If the player can't find the word, the challenge is successful and the word is eliminated.

The End of the Game

When a player has made a word of five or more letters, that player has gone out. But the game is not over yet! All the other players now have an opportunity to scoop the win.

Start the timer. The other players have until the timer runs out to try to make a longer word than the player who has gone out. They may use only the Letter Cards they collected during the game. When time is up, if any player has made a longer word, that player is the winner. If more than one player makes a longer word, the player with the longest word is the winner. (If it's a tie, then there are two winners.) If no player has made a longer word, then the player who went out first is the winner and the ultimate Word Nerd!

Us vs. Them

If you roll "Us vs. Them," you and your partner will play as a team against the other players (who are each playing for themselves). If you win, take Letter Cards as usual. If another player has the winning answer, that player takes one Letter Card. Some "Us vs. Them" questions may be ties. In that case, each of the winning players or members of the winning team takes one Letter Card.