Wordoku: Fun Spelled Out
Wordoku: Fun Spelled Out Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Objective
In Wordoku™, players arrange their tiles to create words that earn points. Players earn awards by creating the highest number of points each round and for improving their individual high scores between rounds. The player with the most award tokens after three rounds wins.
Contents
- 120 Wordoku™ game tiles (30 each of green, purple, red, and blue)
- 30 Expert tiles (black)
- 3 Victor Award tokens
- 12 Personal Best Award tokens
- 1 score pad
- 1 storage pouch
Setup
Use only the green, purple, red, and blue tiles for a standard game. Black diamond tiles are used only as part of the Expert rules variant (see back page) and are kept separate in the Wordoku™ storage pouch.
Shuffle the tiles letter-side down so that only symbols are visible. Then create a draw pile for all players by placing them in the center of the play area, easily accessible to everyone.
Keeping the letter side down, players take four tiles of each symbol type from the draw pile, placing them in their own play area directly in front of them. These 16 tiles represent each player's personal puzzle tiles.
Give each player a pencil and score sheet. Set aside the Victor Award and Personal Best Award tokens until the scoring phase.
Overview
Wordoku™ is played over three rounds. During each round, players will arrange their tiles into a 4x4 grid in an attempt to create the longest word possible in each row and column while simultaneously "balancing" the symbols. Words that appear in columns and rows that contain one of each symbol type are balanced. Balanced words are worth double points! Players also try to improve their personal high scores each round to earn additional awards.
Rules
Wordoku™ is played in three 5-minute rounds. You may use any available method to track time, but we recommend downloading the official Wordoku™ app.
To begin a round, start the timer and have all players turn their personal tiles letter-side up. Players try to create as many words as possible using the following rules:
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Crossword Rules. Using their tiles, players try to spell words from left-to-right and top-to-bottom. Every tile must belong to exactly one row and one column. Backward or diagonal words do not count. Personal tiles may be freely rearranged as long as time remains in the round.
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Personal Grid. In front of every player is an imaginary 4x4 grid with four rows and four columns. Players may create up to four words across and four words down, for a maximum of eight scoring words each round.
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Acceptable Words. Words must be in English, with a minimum length of two letters and a maximum length of four letters. Proper names and abbreviations are not allowed. Use the Wordoku™ app or similar reference dictionary to check acceptable words.
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Tile Swap. Once per round, players may replace one tile of each symbol type (a maximum of four swapped tiles) from their personal grid with a random tile of the same symbol from the draw pile. Replaced tiles are removed from play for the round and set on the right side of the players score sheet, letter-side down.
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Wild Letters. Players may turn their personal tiles into wild letters by flipping them over to their symbol side. Wild letters may stand for any single alphabet letter (even Q, which doesn't have its own printed Wordoku™ tile!), but must be the same letter for both the row and column into which they fall. Only one tile of each symbol type may be used as a wild letter each round. Only letters can be wild—not symbols.
Figure caption as printed: "Wild Letter = 'E'" (the red square tile in the lower-left of the L P A Y / K E F grid is shown as a wild letter standing for E).
Scoring
When the 5-minute timer ends, players must stop rearranging their tiles. Players insert any unplaced tiles upside-down to fill in any empty spaces within their personal grids; these tiles are not scored and do not count for word balancing purposes. Use the score sheets to tally the round.
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Word Length. For every row and column, players earn 1 point for each letter used in the longest correctly spelled word. If more than one word is possible within a row or column, only the longest correctly spelled word counts for points. This means that some letters may not be used in scoring.
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Balanced Words. If a row or column has exactly one of each symbol, it is considered balanced. Words in balanced rows and columns are worth double points.
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Wild Letters are always valued at 0 points; however, their symbol still contributes to a row's or column's balance. Wild letters count as their symbol type for purposes of balancing.
Scoring Example
This player has scored 34 points, starting with 1 point for every qualifying letter. This player also scored additional points thanks to three words that appeared in a balanced row or column. BANG would normally be worth 4 points, but because its row is balanced, it doubles to 8 points instead. ABLE would normally be worth 3 points (the E is a wild letter, so it's worth 0 points), but its row is also balanced, so it doubles to 6 points. Finally, RAP goes from 3 points to 6 points due to being in a balanced column, even though the K is not used in the word (all that matters is that every symbol appears in the column).
Grid:
| Column 1 | Column 2 | Column 3 | Column 4 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Row 1 | A | R | T | D |
| Row 2 | B | A | N | G |
| Row 3 | L | P | A | Y |
| Row 4 | (red square, wild) | K | E | F |
| # | Across | Points | Down | Points | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ART | 3pts | ABLE | 6pts | 9pts |
| 2 | BANG | 8pts | RAP | 6pts | 14pts |
| 3 | PAY | 6pts | NAE | 3pts | 9pts |
| 4 | EKE | 2pts | — | 0pts | 2pts |
Round score: 34 pts
Record each player's round score on the score sheets. The player who scored the highest earns one Victor Award token. In case of a tie, the tied player who used the fewest wild letters earns the award. If there is still a tie, the player with the most balanced words without wild letters earns the award. If there is still a tie, the remaining tied players each earn a Personal Best Award token instead of a Victor Award token.
Begin New Round
After round scores have been recorded and awards earned, return all tiles (including any swapped tiles) letter-side down to the draw pile. Shuffle the tiles as in setup and draw a new hand of tiles to play in the next round.
The second and third rounds play the same as the first, except there are additional awards for personal improvements:
Players who beat their previously recorded high score during the game in the second or third round also each earn a Personal Best Award token. It's possible for players to earn more than two of these per game due to Victor Round Award tiebreaker rules.
Winning
After three rounds, the player with the most awards wins. In case of a tie, the player with the single-highest round score wins. If still tied, players share victory.
Expert Variant
5x5. For more advanced play, add the black diamond expert tiles during setup. At the start of each round, players will take five tiles of each type for a total of 25 tiles. Players now create 5x5 personal grids over 10 minutes instead of 4x4 grids over 5 minutes. During the scoring phase, a row or column is considered balanced only if it contains all five symbols. Expert games typically take 40-50 minutes to play.