PREPARATION

Shuffle the 64 cards. (Each card has a letter, and a number which indicates how often this letter occurs in the game.)
Place 4 random cards on the table, as the start of the 4 rows of cards.
Deal the cards:

2 players: 14 cards per player

3 players: 13 cards per player

4 players: 12 cards per player

5 players: 11 cards per player

6 players: 10 cards per player

Any remaining cards will stay out of the game.

The players don’t show their cards to one another.
If you want to you can also get a dictionary.
Determine who the ‘first player’ is and give this player the timer.

PURPOSE OF THE GAME

The players have to try to connect one of their cards to the cards on the table, so that they name an existing word that starts with the letters that are on the cards. The player who is the first to be able to place all of his or her cards on the table is a winner.

PLACING CARDS

Every round all the players choose one of their cards. When all the players have made their choice, everybody shows his or her letter at the same time. Then, it is determined which of the chosen letters is the first in alphabetical order. The player with this letter places this card against one of the 4 rows. (At the start of the game all the rows consist of 1 card.) The card can be placed in front of after a row, but the player has to form a word which begins with the letters of this row. If there is an R, a player with the card E can place this card in front of the R, an can then for example, say ERASE, or after the card, and then say REALIZE. Then, the player with the next card, in alphabetical order, has to place their card, and so on. Each player has 30 seconds (in the timer) to place their letter and say a word. When all the players have placed their cards, the next round starts, again first with everybody choosing a card at the same time and so on and so forth.

I CAN’T CONNECT MY LETTER TO A ROW!

If a player can’t form a word with the card they have chosen, or if the 30 seconds from the timer have passed, the longest row of cards will be removed. If several rows have the same length, the player can choose which row they remove. The number of letters (from this longest row) will be divided in two. (In case of an uneven number, the number is rounded up.) The second part of the row will go to the player who was not able to form a word; the first part will not be used anymore in this game. For example, if the longest row has 7 cards, the last 4 cards will be given to this player, the remaining 3 cards will be put aside, and the players will not use these cards anymore. The letter the player could not connect will be put in the place of the removed row. This card is now the first card of a new row. This player will also receive the timer.

I DON’T BELIEVE THE WORD!

If a player says a word of which more than half the players do not believe exists, then this player has to spell the entire word and the word will be looked up. (This is the only time a dictionary can be used, if the players want to!)

If the word does exist, the player in question will get the opportunity to get rid of one extra card. One of his fellow players will draw one card from the hand of this player. This card will not be used anymore in this game. This never happens if it is the last card!
If the word doesn’t exist, the longest row of letters will be replaced by the letter that was not connected to a row correctly. (See: “I can’t connect my letter to a row”). You will get one extra card from the row that will be removed, for saying the wrong word! So if the longest row consists of 7 letters, for example, you take the last 5 letters in your hand, instead of the last 4 cards.

THE TIMER- Two identical letters are player

The player who has the timer or who has received the timer will use it. Every timer it is the turn of the following player to place his or her letter, the player with the timer can turn it, if this seems necessary. Possessing the timer also means that this player can be the first place his card against a row if another player has put down the same letter, and none of them has the timer, the player who is sitting closest to the timer clockwise, will get the first turn.

THE END OF THE GAME

The player who is the first to get rid of all of his or her cards wins the game.

WHICH WORDS ARE ALLOWED?

The basic rule is: Only words which are in the dictionary are valid.

Additional rules:

Words that are allowed: compounds which are in the dictionary (like “secondhand”), forms of a verb, plural forms, diminutives, articles, etc.

Words that are not allowed: geographical names, proper names and abbreviations.