Boggle by Hasbro

Editorial Review

Boggle is a three-minute word game for any number of players (you can even play alone) and is suitable for anyone over the age of eight. The game includes the special Boggle tray, which is the bottom part of the clear cube container, containing 16 letter dice and a sand timer which lasts for three minutes–you must supply your own pens and paper. The dice are placed in the Boggle container and given a good shake. Players must then place the container upright to allow the dice to settle with one letter on each side facing up. The sand timer is set, and you have to make out as many words as possible from the letters facing upwards before the sand timer runs out. The letters used must be from adjoining dice, and you can only use each letter once in any word. Words can be singular or plural in form and can be in any tense, so long as they appear in any standard English dictionary. In fact, it is a good idea to have one of the main dictionaries of record to hand, for when the inevitable disputes arise.

There are some other minor rules, all of which are explained in the directions for play (for example, you aren't allowed to have foreign words or abbreviations) but the game itself is quite uncomplicated. All you need to bring is a good vocabulary. As soon as the timer runs out, every player stops writing immediately. Each player then takes it in turns to read out the list of words they have compiled. Any word that has been recorded by another player is discounted and does not score–other words score from one point for a three or four letter word, up to a maximum of 11 points for any word of eight letters or more.

To win the game, you must be the first player to reach a pre-agreed score, or the player who has the highest score after a pre-agreed number of rounds.

This is a thinking game for adults and an ideal way to extend the vocabulary of the younger players. Ben King