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Word acrobats that love juggling letters will love “Letter”, the new family game by Theta for one to six players. Unusual play mechanics encourage creative play with the alphabet. Letters become words but not only when read from left to right, but also from back to front, from top to bottom or even zigzag across the board. But you still have to observe some basic rules.
B, O, R, A, M, T: Six letters which might form the words “boar”, “art” or “mort”, besides others. But “Letter” distributed by Piatnik Germany is not that simple. When placing the letters, each tile has to touch one side of the adjoining letter tile. But mind you, letters are different sizes – covering one to nine cells on the grid – and this basic rule even challenges players that command a large vocabulary. And you will find that human eyes are quite unaccustomed to reading in a direction other than left to right.
By the way, tile placing is compulsory when playing “Letter”: In case a player cannot place a letter according to the rules, they have to release one of their own letters or place a blank tile. Blank tiles can be exchanged later or serve as barricade.
Whenever a player discovers a new word while everyone merrily combines all members of the alphabet, they may claim it for themselves, even if it is not their turn. They thump the table and change the order. Use the hourglass for additional speed: If the hourglass enters the game, players have only 30 seconds to place their tiles and discover new words.
Those able to use their imagination while handling language will be able to master the game. Even children aged 10+ will easily join in. If not pressed for time they will smoothly keep up with the rest of the family. After all, it’s not so long ago that they learned a playful approach to letters – when they learned to read and write at primary school. Grown-ups who love browsing through dictionaries will also get their money’s worth. In addition to regular points, players win extra points for especially long words. “Letter” also provides challenges for individual language experts: Soloists may try and solve several tasks – for example, forming as many words as possible out of ten given letters or trying to form the longest words possible. Those who love additional challenge apply the hourglass and press themselves for time. |
