Beginning a Game:

To begin a one-player game (mainly for practice), simply select "1 Player" in the pull-down menu and click the "Begin Game" button.

To begin a multiplayer game, the other players must be with you at the computer. Select the number of players (2 to 4) from the pull-down menu and click "Begin Game."

Playing WordScram

When the game begins, it's player 1's turn. The randomly-chosen list of letters will appear on the left of the screen. Next to it is a type-in field where you enter your words.

Your words must be made up of the chosen letters. (Note: they do not have to be touching each other!) You can't use a letter more than once (unless it appears more than once).

Words must be in English! (A dictionary of about 260,000 english words is used to verify whether the words are real or not. This is also supplemented by Dictionary.com.)

If you enter a particular word more than once, you only get score for the first word.

In timed games, you have 60 seconds in which to enter your words and submit them! Note that if your network connection takes more than a few seconds, you should submit a few seconds before the on-screen timer counts down to "00."

If you take longer than 60 seconds, you will receive 0 points for your attempt!!!

Scoring

Once you've submitted your list of words, a scoring screen will appear, showing how many points (if any) you received for each word.

For each word, one of four messages will appear next to it:

• A number - How many points you received.
• "Illegal word" - You used a letter that was not listed on the screen; remember, you can only use a particular letter as many times as it appears on the screen!
• "Already used" - You've already used this word.
• "Not an english word" - The word was not found in the current english language dictionary (which contains nearly 52,000 words). Maybe you misspelled it?

The number of points you receive for a word depends on both the length of the word and the letters used. All letters are worth one point except: J, V, W and Z are worth 2, and Q and X are worth 3. Multiply the score for each letter times the length of the word to get the final score for that word.

Continuing the Game

After the scoring is complete for a player, click the "Continue" button to begin the next player's turn. Be sure the person is ready and seated at the keyboard, since the time starts immediately!