How to Play Boggle: Complete Rules & Game Guide

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Plus, winning strategies to help you earn the most points
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If you want a classic word game to try out with friends, Boggle is perfect choice. The object of the game is simple: make the most unique words from the letter dice in just 3 minutes to earn points, but only score a word if no one else wrote it down. Keep reading, and we’ll walk you through all the rules of Boggle so you can start playing. As a bonus, we even have some top strategy tips to help you win your next game!

How do you play Boggle?

Shake the letter dice in the game tray and start a 3-minute timer. Then, all players write down as many words as they can find that are at least 3 letters long using letters that are touching. When the timer runs out, players earn points for each unique word they found, and whoever has the most points wins the game!

Section 1 of 4:

Boggle Setup

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  1. All you need is a Boggle set to get started. Put all 16 letter dice in the slots of the game tray, which looks like a square grid. Then put the dome-shaped cover on top. [1]
  2. Give each person a basic piece of scratch paper and a pen or pencil to write with. Make sure everyone has a sturdy writing surface, like a tabletop or clipboard. [2]
    • You can play Boggle with 2 or more players.
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  3. Pick up the Boggle tray with the dome on top and dice inside. Turn the dome upside-down and shake the dice to mix them thoroughly. Then, flip the board right-side up and give it a few gentle shakes until all of the dice fall into their own space on the tray. [3]
    • If the dice land crooked or stacked, re-shake them so they perfectly fit into the grid on the tray.
  4. The mini hourglass that comes with a Boggle game already counts down 3 minutes, but a watch or digital timer on your phone works if you need it. Flip the hourglass or start the timer, and immediately remove the dome from the Boggle game so the players can see the dice clearly. [4]
    • The letter dice may land in a random direction in the grid. If players have trouble reading them, wait to start the timer and turn the dice so all the letters face the same direction.
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Section 2 of 4:

Playing a Round of Boggle

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  1. Look over the letter dice in the tray and look for words that are at least 3-letters long. To form a word, each letter must be touching the previous letter either vertically, horizontally, or diagonally without any skips or jumps. When you find a word, write it down on your paper. [5]
    • As long as you can find the word in a standard English dictionary, it’s a legal word in Boggle.
    • You cannot use the same letter die twice in the same word. For example, you can only make the word NEON if you have 2 letter dice that show the letter N.
    • Plural forms count as separate words than their singular forms, so you’re allowed to write down “MIND” and “MINDS” if the letters are connected.
    • Some letters have lines to tell you which way they’re supposed to face. For example, Z has a line below it so it's not mistaken for N, and M has straight sides while W has slanted sides.
  2. While it's common for simple words to appear on the Boggle board several times, each word only counts once when you write it down. [6]
    • This also applies for words that are spelled the same but have more than one definition. For instance, "tear" (a drop of water that comes out of your eye) and "tear" (the act of ripping something) count as only one word in a game of Boggle.
  3. Stick to full words that can be found in an English dictionary and don’t contain any special characters or extra punctuation. Any of these words you write down are not scored at the end of the round: [7]
    • Proper nouns like "Mary," "Cairo," or "Microsoft"
    • Abbreviations, contractions, and hyphenated words like "can't," "ACLU," or "one-up"
    • Non-English words like "tete," "bushido," or "mazeltov."
  4. As soon as 3 minutes pass and the timer ends, all players must set their pencils down. If you’re in the middle of writing a word, finish writing it down but don’t add any more to your list afterward. [8]
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Section 3 of 4:

Scoring in Boggle

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  1. Starting with the player who shook the Boggle grid, take turns reading the words you each wrote down. As other players read their words, check for the same word on your own list. [9]
    • Whenever two or more players wrote the same word down, every player crosses out that word from their list. The word will not score points for anyone.
    • Ignore any words that you've already crossed off when you read your list because you already know other players wrote it down too.
  2. After everyone crosses off the words they share with other players, count how many letters are in each of the remaining words. Write the number down next to the word so you don’t have to count again. The number of letters in each word determines how many points it's worth. [10]
  3. Shorter words earn fewer points, but longer words can boost your score quickly. The number of letters and point values are: [11]
    • 3-4 letters: 1 point
    • 5 letters: 2 points
    • 6 letters: 3 points
    • 7 letters: 5 points
    • 8 or more letters: 11 points
    • The "Qu" cube counts as 2 letters even though both letters are on the same cube.
  4. Total up all the players' points from their scoring words. Everyone announces their score out loud, and whoever has the most points overall wins the game!
    • Alternative Rules: Play multiple rounds for a longer game, and win the game if you’re the first person to a set number of points, such as 50, 100, or more.
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Section 4 of 4:

Winning Boggle Strategies

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  1. As a general rule, it’s worth spending most of your effort finding a few long, difficult words instead of looking for short and easy words. Longer words are worth a lot more points, and they're also less likely to be found by other players, so there’s a better chance you’ll be able to score them at the end of the round and win the game ! [12]
    • Example: Scoring a tough 8-letter word like "acquaint" means your opponent has to find eleven unique 3- or 4-letter words to match your score. Since shorter words are easier to find, it will be much harder for your opponent to catch up.
    • Strategy Tip: If you’re playing with 2 players, make sure to add the short words to your list near the end of the time limit. That way, you can easily cancel out the easy words the other player wrote down.
    • In a standard game, the longest potential words you could find are 17 letters long and are “inconsequentially,” “sesquicentennials,” and “quadricentennials.” [13]
  2. The board game experts at Our Family Plays Games agree that the letter S is your best friend in Boggle. Putting it at the end of most nouns or verbs will instantly get you another word that's an extra letter longer. It's easy to forget this simple trick, so racking up lots of plurals is a great way to find words that your opponents will overlook.
    • Example: If there’s an S next to the letter T when you make the word MINT, you could easily add the word MINTS to your list for another 2 points.
    • Look for other common prefixes and suffixes that you can add to a word to make it longer and earn more points. Other suffixes to look for are "ed," "er," "est," "ier," and "ing." Some prefixes to look for include "de," "re," and “in.”
  3. After you find a longer word, look for shorter words inside of that word to add to your list. If you have the word “INTERNET”, then you can also make the words “INTERN” and “NET.” [14]
  4. Short words may not be the most effective way to get points, but they can add up if you write down ones that other players can’t find. Try to find different words that are made from the same few letters.
    • Example: If you have the letters H, E, A, R, and T in a cluster, "heart" is an obvious word most people will notice. However, it's not as likely that everyone will notice "earth," "rate," "tear," "rat," "heat," "tea," "hater," "art," and other smaller words made from these letters.
    • Check for any words that can be made by spelling other words backwards. For example, if you can make the word DRAW, you can also make the word WARD.
  5. Some older Boggle sets come with a "challenge cube" with tougher letters. Just remove another letter die at random and replace it with the challenge cube. Successfully making a word with the challenge cube gives you 5 extra points toward your score. Just be sure to look for long, unique words because everyone else will try to use the challenge cube too.
    • When you're playing with the challenge cube, the standard Boggle scoring rules are a little different. See below: [15]
    • 3 letters: 1 point
    • 4 letters: 2 points
    • 5 letters: 3 points
    • 6 letters: 4 points
    • 7 letters: 5 points
    • 8 or more letters: 6 points
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Community Q&A

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  • Question
    Should points be removed for misspelled words?
    Community Answer
    Yes, as you need to spell them correctly or else you don't get the points for the word.
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  • Question
    Are any of the dice supposed to be blank on one side?
    Donagan
    Top Answerer
    No.
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  • Question
    Is this good to play with second graders?
    Community Answer
    Yes, but make it simple/easy. You might want to make it so it's about who has the most words, not the longest.
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      Tips

      • If you want more of a challenge, try playing Big Boggle with a 5x5 grid or Super Big Boggle with a 6x6 grid. In these games, you can only use words that are 4 letters or longer, and there are more possible words on the board. [16]
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      • Keep your phone or a dictionary nearby so you can check any words you’re unsure about.
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      • Unlike Scrabble and other word games, "hard" letters like Z and J aren’t worth more points in Boggle. Don’t stress yourself out trying to use tougher letters if you’re having trouble finding words.
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      Things You'll Need

      • Boggle
      • Paper
      • Pencil
      • Included hourglass or digital timer

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      Thanks for reading our article! If you’d like to learn more about having fun with board games, check out our in-depth interview with Our Family Plays Games .

      References

      1. ↑ https://www.hasbro.com/common/instruct/BoggleMaster.PDF
      2. ↑ https://www.hasbro.com/common/instruct/bigboggle.pdf
      3. ↑ https://www.hasbro.com/common/instruct/Boggle_(1997).pdf
      4. ↑ https://www.hasbro.com/common/instruct/BoggleMaster.PDF
      5. ↑ https://www.hasbro.com/common/instruct/Boggle_(1997).pdf
      6. ↑ http://www.hasbro.com/common/instruct/boggle.pdf
      7. ↑ https://www.hasbro.com/common/instruct/BoggleMaster.PDF
      8. ↑ https://wordsrated.com/boggle-statistics/
      9. ↑ https://www.hasbro.com/common/instruct/bigboggle.pdf
      1. ↑ https://www.hasbro.com/common/instruct/Boggle_(1997).pdf
      2. ↑ https://www.hasbro.com/common/instruct/BoggleMaster.PDF
      3. ↑ https://www.hasbro.com/common/instruct/Boggle_(1997).pdf
      4. ↑ https://wordsrated.com/boggle-statistics/
      5. ↑ https://www.hasbro.com/common/instruct/Boggle_(1997).pdf
      6. ↑ http://www.hasbro.com/common/instruct/boggle.pdf
      7. ↑ https://www.hasbro.com/common/instruct/bigboggle.pdf

      About This Article

      Article Summary X

      Boggle is a word game that can be played with 2 or more players. The goal of the game is to find words within the random combination of letters on the dice in the game tray. To play, first each player is given a piece of paper and a pencil. Set 16 dice up in the plastic tray and place the plastic cover on top. Then, shake the tray to mix up the dice. Remove the plastic cover and make sure each cube on the tray has one die in it. Now, turn the hourglass upside down to start the 3-minute timer. Each player has 3 minutes to write down as many words as they can make using the dice in the tray. Words must be at least 3 letters long, and the letters used to form the word must connect horizontally, vertically, or diagonally. You can form words by moving in more than one direction when chaining letters together, as long as all the letters in the word are connected. No dice may be used more than once when forming a word. Once the 3 minutes are up, each player stops and reads the words they've written down. Any words that appear on more than 1 player's list are crossed out and do not count toward a player's score. Each player is awarded 1 point for words that have 3 or 4 letters, 2 points for words with 5 letters, 3 points for words with 6 letters, and 4 points for words with 7 letters. A word made of 8 or more letters is worth 11 points. The dice with “Qu” printed on it counts as 2 letters. Whoever has the highest number of points wins! For more information on how to play boggle, like how to total points and specific rules, read on!

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        Apr 28, 2017

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