dont ogle play boggle (Boggle)

Member Name: competition.man

Product:	Boggle
Date:	14/10/04 (232 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: educational, fun, family orientated

Disadvantages: frustrating, annoying

The Three Minute Word Game

With autumn in situ , dark nights approaching fast and the inevitable stormy weather to boot , its time for those with children look for things to keep them occupied during non school hours and what better a start than a fun but also educational word game that will provide hours of fun . Its even suitable for adults ! So what is this game I hear you ask ...... BOGGLE .

~ The Game ~

The game comes in two variations both containing the following ; sixteen lettered die ( a die being a cube ) , a base with sixteen segments for said die , a lid and a three minute timer . The difference between the two versions is one has a three minute egg timer ( approximate cost of game £9.99 ) and the other has a built-in electronic timer with flashing L.E.D.'s in place of said egg timer ( approximate cost of game £14.99 ) . The game is manufactured by Parker Brothers Games and is available from most decent games outlets eg. Argos , Index and Toys R Us .
For ease of playing the Z is underscored so as not to confuse it with the letter N , and the Q is represented as Qu as most words containing a Q are followed by a U .
As a rule of thumb the game is suitable for ages eight to adult and can be payed by yourself or in teams of infinite size .
In addition to the above players require a writing instrument and paper ( plenty of it ! ) .

~ To Play ~

Drop the die into the dome , join the lower tray and choose a player to shake the unit . Keep moving the unit until all die are securly seated . As the player removes the lid another starts the timer . Its then a case of making as many words as possible from the combination of letters formed from the shake up , until the time is up.
Words are formed from adjoining letters in proper sequence. No single die can be used more than once within a single word .
Any word , plural of , form of , or tense is allowed provided it can be found in your household dictionary , with the exception of proper names ( eg. London ) , abbreviations ( eg. RAF ) or hyphenated words ( eg. X-RAY ; WON'T ) . Words of different meaning but with the same spelling only count as one word ( eg. Tear ( rip ) and Tear ( eye droplet ) ) .
The minimum length of a word is three letters .

~ Scoring ~

At the end of the alloted time , players take it in turn to call out the words they have found . Where words have been found by other players then such words are discounted ( ie. only words found by the player alone will score ) and must be crossed out . What words are remaining score in accordance to their length . words of 3 and 4 letter length score 1 pt. ; 5 letter words score 2 pts. ; six letter words score 3 pts. ; seven lettter words score 5 pts. ; words of 8+ letters length score 11 pts. .
Doubtful words can be challenged and should be looked up in the dictionary and if not found struck from that players list .

It goes without saying that the more players the harder it becomes to find unique words. A game is played up to a predetermined value or number of turns.

A quick tip when looking for words -

1) Look for anagrams , eg. you find the word TEA , this could be arranged to produce ATE and EAT as well .
2) Check for words within words , eg. ; you find SPARE , within this are also SPAR , PAR , PARE , ARE and SPA ( plus possible anagrams SPEAR , PEAR and PEARS etc.) .

~ Typical game playing time ~

This again depends on the number of players and the predetermined game score / turn count - a 2 player game can last for a few minutes , whilst an eight player game could in theory last many hours.

~ Example game ~

The die have been shaken and land as follows :

I N Y L
O C L A
N E T I
S Qu E N

Allowable words include ; TIN , QUEEN , QUEENS , ONCE , CONSEQUENT and ( for showing off purposes ) a word of maximum length possible ( 17 letters long ) ; INCONSEQUENTIALLY .

Examples of a non allowed words would be TINT ( same die used twice ) SEQUIN ( die are not adjoining ) and QUIET ( die are not in proper order ) .

~ Adjusting to your own needs ~

Why not make the game more difficult by not allowing words less than four letters in length and not permitting the plural form of words ( therefore in the above allowable words , the following would become illegal ; TIN and QUEENS ) . You could even alter the scoring method so that words score by their word length , therefore allowing the likes of INCONSEQUENTIALLY to score more than CONSEQUENT .Its up to you !!

~ Overview ~

A challenging educational yet fun game , ideal for all family members of reading age . I myself have the original version ( cost just 20p at a car boot sale ) , which I prefer to the newer version , but that said I wouldn't mind the electronic timer version . The game itself is regularly played by all the family and a definate favourite.

Summary: