Boggle is a word game with 16 letter cubes that takes three minutes to play. Players must find as many words as possible, with longer words earning more points. The game can be played online, but cheating is possible.
Boggle® is a word game developed in 1972 by Alan Turoff. It was first marketed by Parker Brothers which is now a subsidiary of the Hasbro Company. The game is popular with many and is excellent for playing on a family game night or in large groups. Boggle® is especially popular with Scrabble® players, because it takes a very short time, three minutes, to play a round, yet still challenges your ability to quickly find as many words as possible.
The rules of Boggle® are simple enough to follow. In playing house, players shake and then arrange sixteen cubes, each with a single letter on each side (Q is the exception and means Qu), into a square. Players agree on the acceptability of various words, such as those containing profanity, and can agree on using a specific dictionary. For dedicated bogglers, the dictionary of choice is usually The Official Scrabble Players Dictionary. Variations of the game include using 25 cubes to form 5 x 5 squares, which can help find much larger words.
A time turner, or egg timer, is employed to allow three minute players to spell as many words from the letter cube as possible. Words must have a minimum of three letters, and the letters must be adjacent to each other when forming a word. A single word cannot take a single cube more than once, but you can move vertically, horizontally or diagonally to the next letter to form a word.
Standard rules require players to read their words at the end of each round. Any duplicate words are not counted. Dedicated Boggle® players try to look up longer, less common words to get high scores and avoid duplication of words by other players. Low scores are common when the group of players is large. If you’re only playing with one or two other people, the higher scores usually prevail.
Unique words are scored by length. Three- and four-letter words earn one point each, five-letter words earn two points, six- and seven-letter words earn three points, and anything over seven letters earns eleven points. Remember that in most games you have to be the only person who finds the word to score points. Some games end in a zero tie when players are evenly matched in word knowledge. Boggle® players can spend their time looking for the biggest words possible, instead of worrying about shorter, more common words, to win the round. The largest possible words are seventeen letters long, as Q counts as two letters, Qu. Seventeen-letter words, such as subsequently, are only possible on a boggle board that contains the Q tile.
There are several Boggle® Internet sites such as WEBoggle that allow you to play online. If you’re a fast typist, you can usually score much higher in the allotted time than you would if you were handwriting the words. WEBoggle scores slightly differently than the traditional Boggle® game. Each player receives an individual score and also receives a list of unique words that he has found. Duplicate words are counted, as over 100 players can participate in a single game. Curses are allowed, so this may not be the best site for the young player. Also, unfortunately, some computer programs can find most words on a Boggle board in less than four minutes, and cheaters do exist. Despite this, the game can still be a lot of fun and highly addictive for lexophiles.
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