OBJECTIVE OF BOGGLE: Find as many words as you can on the 4×4 game tray within 3 minutes.
NUMBER OF PLAYERS: 2+ players
MATERIALS OF BOGGLE: 16 letter cubes, cube game tray, 3-minute timer
TYPE OF GAME: Board game
AUDIENCE: 8+
OVERVIEW OF BOGGLE
One of the most popular word games of all time is Boggle. If you’re getting sick of playing Scrabble over and over again and you’d like to find another word game that’s just as fun with endless replayability, you’ve got to check out this game. Whether you’re playing it for the first time or simply want a refresher on the rules, here are the Boggle rules you’ve got to know. And don’t worry; this game is super easy to play, and you’ll be playing in a matter of minutes.
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SETUP FOR BOGGLE
Before you begin, make sure each player has a piece of paper and a pen. Then, place all 16 letter cubes inside the game grid. Close the grid with the provided lid and then shake to scramble all of the cubes. Then, turn it right side up and give it a few gentle shakes to get all of the cubes to sit nicely within the grid, with no cubes crooked or stacked on top of one another.
And now, remove the lid from the grid and start the 3-minute timer.
HOW TO PLAY BOGGLE: BOGGLE RULES
And now, it’s finally time to play Boggle. Here are the Boggle rules to know.
FIND WORDS
The objective of Boggle is to find words by using adjacent letters on the grid. Look at the letter cubes in the tray and try to look for words that are AT LEAST 3 letters long, keeping in mind the letters you use to form a word must be touching either vertically, horizontally, or diagonally.
Have you found a word? Write it down on your piece of paper.
If the word can be found in an English dictionary, it’s a valid word. Plurals count as separate words. So, for example, you can write both GOD and GODS as separate words on your piece of paper, as long as the S is adjacent to the D.
NO REPEATS
However, there are a few things to keep in mind to play Boggle. First of all, you cannot use the same letter cube more than once in a single word. For example, if you want to write the word GOOD, you cannot use the same O cube twice. Instead, you can only write this word down if there are two adjacent Os on the grid.
Similarly, you cannot repeat the same word twice. Yes, it’s possible for the same word to appear on the Boggle grid more than once, especially if it’s a simple word. But if you’ve already written it down, don’t write it down again, even if you are using different letter cubes to form the word. And yes, this applies to synonyms as well, so you can’t justify putting both BEAR (the animal) and BEAR (to stand) on your paper, for example.
WORDS TO AVOID
In addition to the above, there are other types of words to avoid if you want to follow official Boggle rules. Here are the words to avoid:
- Proper nouns
- Contractions
- Abbreviations
- Hyphenated words
- Non-English words not found in an English dictionary
PENS DOWN
Write down as many words as you can within the 3-minute time limit. As soon as the timer goes off, all players must put their pens down. If you’re in the middle of writing a word, you may finish writing the word before you put your pen down, but you can’t add any more.
CROSSING OFF WORDS
Players take turns reading out all of the words they have found on the Boggle grid for this round. If, at any point, another player says they’ve also got the word that was said out loud, all players who have this shared word must cross it off their list.
By the time the last player has finished reading their list, all words on everybody’s piece of paper should be unique.
SCORING
Ignoring all the words that have been crossed out, now, it’s finally time to score!
Score your words according to how many letters are in that word.
- 3-4 letters: 1 point
- 5 letters: 2 points
- 6 letters: 3 points
- 7 letters: 5 points
- 8 or more letters: 11 points
Keep in mind that although Q and U are in a single cube, they count as two separate letters when scoring.
END OF GAME
The player with the most points wins the game. If you’d like to play more rounds, you can simply tally the points and shake the letter cubes within the grid for a fresh set of letters. If you play more rounds, you can play until a player wins a specified number of points, such as 50 or 100.
VARIATIONS OF BOGGLE
If you want to further challenge yourself, there are variations of Boggle you can play with more cubes to allow players to find more words within the grid.
You can now play Boggle with a 5×5 grid and even with a 6×6 grid! You can find the links to both below.
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BOGGLE STRATEGIES
Beyond simply knowing the rules, there are some strategies to keep in mind if you truly want to be an amazing Boggle player. Obviously, there is some level of luck involved in Boggle, as you never know what letters will turn up on the dice, but with these strategies and tips in your back pocket, you should be on your way to beating all of your friends and family whenever you play!
LOOK FOR PREFIXES AND SUFFIXES
If you find a prefix or suffix on the Boggle grid, look around those letters to see what words you can make. For example, do you see ED on the grid? Then, on top of simply writing words like BANG and TAX, you could also write BANGED and TAXED.
Similarly, if you find a prefix like RE, you could write REWIRE and RECOVER instead of only writing WIRE and COVER.
DON’T UNDERESTIMATE THE LETTER S
The letter S will be your best friend when playing Boggle. There are many different words you could add an S to at the end of the word to create a whole new word that you could win points for.
FIND ALL THE LITTLE WORDS WITHIN A BIGGER WORD
Bigger words are more valuable, not only because they are worth more points to begin with, but also because they can be a gold mine for finding more words. If you find a bigger word, look within that word to find the smaller words within that word. For example, if you find the word THRASHER, you could also find the words THRASH, RASH, ASH, and HER.
SPEND MORE TIME FINDING HARDER, LONGER, AND MORE UNIQUE WORDS
Yet another reason a bigger word is more valuable is that other players are less likely to find the word. After all, according to Boggle rules, if someone else has the same word you’ve written down, no matter how hard you’ve worked at finding the word, you’ll have to cross it out before you count your points. So, one Boggle strategy you could use is to focus on finding harder, longer, and more unique words rather than writing all the little easy words that likely everyone else will have written.
FAQ
What Is the Longest Word Ever Found in Boggle?
In a standard 16-cube Boggle game, the longest words you could potentially play are: inconsequentially, quadricentennials, and sesquicentennials. These are all 17-letter words that are made possible due to the Q and U appearing on the same side of a single cube.
What Words Are Not Allowed in Boggle?
According to official Boggle rules, you cannot list proper nouns, abbreviations, contractions, hyphenated words, and words not found in an English dictionary.
Do 2 Letter Words Count in Boggle?
No, they do not! In order to qualify for points, a word should be AT LEAST 3 letters.
Can You Make Words Diagonally in Boggle?
Yes, you can! As long as the letter cubes are touching in some way, whether that be because they are adjacent horizontally, vertically, or diagonally, you can create words in that way.
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