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1. SETTING UP THE GAME
A.
Place the game board in the middle of the table.
B.
Put the easels and the bag of letter-tiles along the sides of the game
board.
C.
One player draws five letter-tiles from the bag and places them,
face-up, on the board (as illustrated below).
2. DETERMINING WHO GOES FIRST
A.
Each player (or team) draws a letter-tile from the bag and places it,
face-up, on the board. The player (or team) who draws an "A",
or the letter closest to it alphabetically, plays first. For instance,
in a four-player game, if one player drew the letter
D
and the other three players drew the letters
L,
O
and
T,
the player who drew the
D
would go first. If two players draw an "A",
or the letter closest to it, they draw again until it is determined who
goes first.
The player to your left is next to play.
All the letter-tiles drawn so far remain on the board and serve to start
the game.
3. STARTING THE GAME
A.
Each player (or team) draws another letter-tile from the bag and, this
time, keeps it in his/her hand to hide it from opposing players.
B.
The starting player will go first. The player to your left is next to
play.
C.
The standard time limit is one minute per turn, so set the digital timer
to one minute (also refer to section
7. Game Strategies).
D.
The player places his or her letter-tile on the board, and tries to make
a word by moving the letters around. You don’t need to use the
letter-tile from your hand. You can use any combination of letter-tiles
on the board.
RESTRICTIONS:
THE
WORD MUST HAVE AT LEAST 3 LETTERS TO BE VALID.
Proper nouns, abbreviations and acronyms are not valid, except for those
also considered common nouns by the dictionary. A player cannot steal a
noun by merely adding an
S
to change it to its plural form (e.g.
PENCIL
into
PENCILS,
or
BRICK
into
BRICKS).
However, a player can turn
CHILD
into
CHILDREN.
Also, a player can steal a word by changing its verb form (e.g.
MEND
can become
MENDS,
MENDED
or
MENDING).
F.
If the timer beeps before the player can make a word, or if the player
cannot make a word, that player’s turn is over. The player leaves his or
her letter-tile on the board, draws a new letter-tile from the bag, and
keeps that letter concealed in his or her hand. Play proceeds to the
left (clockwise) until a player can make a word.
NOTE: When your turn is over, always remember to draw a letter-tile from
the bag and keep it in your hand for your next turn.
4. WHEN YOU MAKE A WORD
A.
When you make a word, either from letters on the board or by stealing an
opponent’s word, place the word on your easel. Turn the easel toward the
other players so they can read it (as illustrated below).
Remember:
The word must have at least 3 letters to be valid.
B.
Now you continue your turn, resetting the timer and drawing another
letter-tile from the bag.
C.
Continue playing until you can no longer make or steal a word (see
section
5. Stealing an Opponent’s Word),
or until you run out of time. Play continues to the left.
Once you have made a word, you cannot transform your own word again.
Only opposing players can transform your word in order to steal it and
make it theirs. However, if a rival steals one of your words, you can
steal that word back on another turn.
5. STEALING AN OPPONENT’S WORD
Stealing your rivals’ words is a key strategy in
wordXchange®,
because it makes it more difficult for your opponent to complete six
words.
A.
The player takes an opponent’s word, including the easel, and places it
in front of him or herself.
B.
To steal, you must make a new word by adding at least one letter to
those on your opponent’s easel. The letter can be the one "hidden" in
your hand, or it can come from the center of the board. You can either
add on to the existing word or rearrange the letters to make a new word.
Anything goes as long as you use all of his/her letters, plus at least
one of your own.
C.
Continue playing, re-setting the timer and drawing a letter-tile from
the bag.
DECLARING A WINNER
The
winner is the first to make and line up six words.
6. USING THE JOKER TO MAKE OR STEAL WORDS
The Joker-tile can represent any letter you choose. For example, in
Player 3’s word
EAN
below, the Joker can represent either the letter
B,
D,
L,
or
W.
To increase your options of making or stealing words:
1. REPLACE:
You can take the Joker-tile
(but not the word, since you did not add a letter)
and replace it, for example, with the letter
L
from the board. Next, use the Joker-tile (which would now be on the
board) to make or steal another word and add it to your set of words,
then play again.
2. STEAL:
You can steal the word
EAN
and rearrange it to make
ANGE
by changing the value of the Joker to
L
and adding the letter
G
from the board. Reset the timer, draw another letter-tile from the bag
and continue playing.
Remember:
The rules for stealing still apply. You must add at least one letter.
3. REARRANGE:
You can replace the Joker-tile with the letter
T
from the board and rearrange the letters of your opponent’s word to
transform it into
ANTE.
However, you cannot steal the word because you did not add a letter to
the word. Next, use the Joker tile (which would now be on the board) to
make or steal another word and add it to your set of words, then play
again.
GAME STRATEGIES
OFFENSIVE STRATEGY
While waiting for your turn to play, consider the possibilities. Think
about the words you could make if you combined one of your opponent’s
words with the letters on the board and the letter in your hand.
Mentally rearrange the words to make up new words, remembering that you
must add one or more letters to the word you wish to steal. Ideally, you
should steal your opponents’ words to try to prevent them from winning.
If that is not possible, then try to make a word with the letter tiles
remaining on the board.
DEFENSIVE STRATEGY
Use as many letters as possible to make the longest words possible.
REMEMBER! THE LONGER THE WORD, THE HARDER IT IS TO STEAL.
Also, try to use up the letters on the board as much as possible to keep
your opponents from using them to steal your words.
SUGGESTED TIME LIMITS
It is suggested that you set a time limit to make or steal words. The
standard time limit is one minute per word. Once you have composed or
stolen your first word, you are allowed another minute to make a second
word, and so on. If your time is up before you can make or steal another
word, you must leave your letter on the board, draw another letter-tile
from the bag and wait your turn.
You can alter the time limit depending on the time available to play and
the desired degree of difficulty. A shorter time limit (30 seconds)
requires quick minds, speeds up the game, and shortens the waiting time
between turns. On the other hand, a longer time limit (2 to 3 minutes)
allows more time for reflection.
LETTER DISTRIBUTION OF THE 126 LETTER-TILES
8. GAME RESTRICTIONS
RESTRICTIONS
Words shorter than three letters are not valid. Proper nouns,
abbreviations and acronyms are not valid, except for those also
considered common nouns by the dictionary. Proper nouns are names of
places and individuals that normally begin with a capital letter (for
example,
New York, Paul.
Abbreviations are a shortened form of a word or phrase—for instance,
UNESCO
(United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization).
Acronyms are words formed from the first letter, or the first letters,
of several words, i.e.,
PAC
(political action committee). If someone wants to use a proper noun,
abbreviation or acronym, look up the word in a dictionary.
THE DICTIONARY CAN ONLY BE CONSULTED TO VERIFY THE LEGITIMACY OF A WORD
(FOR EXAMPLE, TO VERIFY ITS EXISTENCE OR ITS SPELLING). THE DICTIONARY
CANNOT BE BROWSED DURING THE GAME.
You cannot steal a noun by merely adding an
S
to change it to its plural form (e.g.
PENCIL
into
PENCILS,
or
BRICK
into
BRICKS).
However, you can turn
CHILD
into
CHILDREN.
Also, you can steal a word by changing its verb form (e.g.
MEND
can become
MENDS,
MENDED
or
MENDING).
In every case where the legitimacy of a word is questioned, the
dictionary will settle the issue. If someone wishes to challenge a word,
that player must do so before the next player plays. If the word is
ruled ineligible, the player who proposed the word misses his turn (that
is, he puts his letter-tile down on the board, draws another letter-tile
from the bag and waits for his next turn).
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