Party games
Boggle
HasbroBill Cooke, Allan Turoff1972
- players
- 1–8
- minutes
- 20
- years
- 8+
In the box
16 letter dice · 1 grid with a lid · 1 sand timer
Official rules (PDF, publisher's site)
Box details
- Designers
- Bill Cooke, Allan Turoff
- Publisher
- Hasbro
- Mechanics
- Dice RollingPaper and PencilPattern RecognitionWords
Where to buy it
Near you and online
In a shop
Within 50 km.
Online
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The basics
Find as many words as possible in three minutes in a grid of sixteen letter dice. Everyone writes at the same time, chaining neighbouring letters (across, down or diagonally), without reusing a die in the same word and with at least three letters. Words found by two players or more are crossed out, the others score by length, and the highest total after the agreed rounds wins.
The rules, step by step
Setup
16 dice, 4 × 4 grid, 3-minute timer, Paper and pencil
- Sixteen letter dice in a four-by-four tray, a lid, a three-minute sand timer.
- Paper and a pencil for each player.
- Shake the tray and set it down: the sixteen dice settle into the slots, one letter showing on each.
How to play
Neighbouring letters, Each die once per word, 3 letters minimum
- Turn the timer over and everyone writes at the same time, in silence.
- A word is formed by moving from one letter to a neighbouring letter, across, down or diagonally.
- The same die cannot be used twice in one word.
- Words must be at least three letters long. Proper nouns are not allowed.
Scoring
3-4 letters: 1 point, 8 letters or more: 11, Shared word crossed out
- 3 and 4 letters: 1 point. 5 letters: 2 points. 6 letters: 3 points. 7 letters: 5 points. 8 letters or more: 11 points.
- Everyone reads their words aloud: any word found by at least two players is crossed out for everyone.
- A word rejected by the table, or not in the dictionary, does not count.
End of the game
Often 5 rounds, Highest total
- Play the agreed number of rounds, often five.
- The highest cumulative total wins.
House rules and pitfalls
It is the rare word that pays, not the long one: an eight-letter word that three people found is worth…
- It is the rare word that pays, not the long one: an eight-letter word that three people found is worth nothing.
- Qu counts as two letters on the same die: a word with Qu moves up a scoring band for free.
Going further
Frequently asked questions · In the same family
Frequently asked questions
What is the idea?
Sixteen letter dice are shaken into a 4×4 grid; within a time limit, everyone writes down as many words as possible made of adjacent letters.
How do you link the letters?
Through neighbouring squares, diagonals included, without using the same square twice in a word. The word must exist and be at least three letters long.
How do you score?
By length: 3- and 4-letter words are worth 1 point, and the score climbs with size (up to 11 points for eight letters or more).
What happens to words found by several players?
They cancel out: a word written by two or more people scores for nobody. Looking for rare words therefore pays better than obvious ones.
How long is a round?
Three minutes on the sand timer. Play several rounds and add up the points; the widest vocabulary wins.