Wordz

The rules of Wordz

In brief

Trace words by connecting neighboring letters, at least 3 letters, without going through a tile twice. A dictionary word earns points; if it is one of the game's crossword words, it is revealed there. The game ends when the timer runs out, or earlier in Circle and Grid when all the target words have been found.

The goal

The app draws letters and hides crossword words: these are the target words. Each word you trace that is one of them is revealed in the crossword. The goal is to find them all before time runs out, scoring as many points as possible.

Tracing a word

  • Put your finger on a letter and slide to a neighboring letter: next to it, above, below, or diagonal.
  • A tile can be used only once per word. Moving your finger back does not remove a letter: the word is submitted when you lift your finger.
  • A word must have at least 3 letters; a shorter trace is ignored.
  • If your finger slides fast and skips a tile, the app adds the skipped tiles one by one, in a straight line.

In the grid below, drawn by the app, the word EPAND is traced by following the numbers on the tiles:

The word EPAND: each letter touches the previous one.

Accepted words

A word is accepted if it is in the dictionary of the chosen language. The app's letters are unaccented letters, and its dictionaries spell words without accents: for "été", you trace ETE. The word "été" with its accents does not exist in the app's French dictionary.

A word already found in the game earns nothing a second time. A rejected word does not change the score.

Words to find and bonus words

The crossword in this game has 10 words to find:

The game's crossword, shown here with all its letters.

Any other dictionary word traced in the grid is a bonus word: it earns its points, but it does not count toward completing the crossword. In this grid, 350 bonus words can be traced in addition to the 10 words to find. The end screen sorts words into two lists, WORDS TO FIND and BONUS WORDS.

The end of the game

  • The timer starts as soon as the grid appears: 2 minutes in Circle, 3 minutes in Grid, 6 minutes in Score. At zero, the app shows "Time's up!".
  • In Circle and Grid, finding all the words to find ends the game and adds a perfect bonus.
  • In Score, there is no crossword: only the timer ends the game.
  • Once the game is over, no more traces count, even ones started before time ran out.

Pause and resume

The pause shows "Game paused": the timer is stopped. Going back to the home screen leaves the game paused; you resume it from the home screen. If the app goes to the background during a trace, that trace is canceled on return, without changing the score.