Word Sleuths

Write down your secret words. Guess your opponents’ words. Accumulate coins.

Plays a bit like multi-player “Hangman”!

For 2-7 players, ages 18 and up.

Game Components:
• 26 A-Z letter cards • seven coin cards • seven word length cards • instructions • deduction forms available via website • indicator tile.

Setup: Scatter the A-Z letter cards face down in a random pile. Shuffle the word length cards and stack face up. Place the "Found/Nobody" separator card on the table. Give each player a deduction form and pen/pencil to write down player’s names or initials on the left. Decide upon an end of game score, usually between 200 and 500 points.

Round Progression: The game is played in multiple rounds, usually starting with three-letter words, progressing through to six- or even seven-letter words. Rounds repeat until a winner is declared. Alternatively, shuffle the word length cards and stack face up and use those to select word length.

Round Preparation: Before a round starts, all players concoct a secret word then write it down on their form. Fold the form to hide words before and after writing. Always stack six fresh coin cards face up in decreasing values ordered 50 (top), 40, … 5 (bottom).

Game Play: Any player flips over a single letter card and all players whose word has that letter call out that they have that letter. Players now write down the letter within their form in the appropriate spot (player by word length). As a player correctly guesses a word, they will be rewarded with the top coin, with the first player to guess a word getting 50 points.

As a bonus, the last person to have their word guessed, get 25 extra points.

Play until someone hits the target score.

Tips: When picking your word, avoid duplicate letters and be devious in your word choices. Ambiguous letter combinations work best, for example a word like LEAK might get attempted wrong guesses like LAKE or KALE.

Box:

Our proprietary deduction forms are designed to maximize your decoding:

Lasercut Game:

A larger lasercut version is available. Game play is identical to this GameCrafter version. Here's a video: