Boggle
The 3 Minute Word Search Game
Boggle is a multi-player word game played with special letter dice and very simple rules. The game was invented by Allan Turoff and was initially published in 1972 without much success. A relaunch in 1976 combined with an expensive marketing campaign gave life to the game which soon became a store favourite and a million seller. 1980 saw the first of many of Boggle's appearances in the Games Magazine Top 100.Boggle is suitable for almost any number of people and makes a great group game. It has advantages over other word games such as Scrabble in that it is fast and all players are constantly active - there's no waiting between turns because there are no turns. However it is also a game with no long term planning or strategic element and for this reason some gamers are less keen on it.
Over the years you've been able to buy variants such as Big Boggle / Boggle Master / Deluxe, buy Boggle programs for many computers and games consoles or play online on the web.
How to Play Boggle
Boggle set consists of 16 letter cubes ("dice") and a four by four plastic tray with a lid plus a three minute timer. The only other equipment needed is pencil and paper for each player and - possibly - a dictionary.The dice are placed in the tray, covered with the lid and the whole unit shaken. The tray is then gently shaken until the dice settle and a three minute timer started.
Players now have the duration of the timer to write down as many words as they can find in the letter grid. Words must be at least three letters long and must be formed from adjacent letters (adjacent includes diagonal). The same letter may not be used more than once in a single word. Plurals and other variants on a basic word are all permitted.
Note that the same sequence of letters can produce more than one word. For example if you find "STAR" then you know you also have "RATS" plus "RAT" and "TAR". If the letters A,R,T all touch each other then they will also form "ART". They might also form part of longer words such as "CARTS" or "TRACE".
Winning Boggle relies not just on finding the most words but on finding the longest and least common. This is reflected by the scoring system.
When the timer expires each player reads out their word list. If any other player(s) also have this word then nobody scores for it. If only one player found the word then they score acording to word length:
| Word Length | Score |
|---|---|
| 3 | 1 |
| 4 | 1 |
| 5 | 2 |
| 6 | 3 |
| 7 | 5 |
| 8 | 11 |
Note that there is no "Q" on any of the dice, instead there is a "Qu". This counts as two letters if used.
There is thus a trade-off between trying to find the most words regardless of length and spending more time looking for longer words.
Boggle is usually played either for a set number of rounds (possibly just one) or until a target score is reached.