How to Play Boggle
Overview
Boggle is a simultaneous, timed word-search game. Each round, sixteen (or twenty-five, in Big Boggle) letter dice are shaken in a tray and settled into a covered grid. When the cover is lifted, all players race to find as many valid words as possible by tracing chains of orthogonally or diagonally adjacent letters. After three minutes, players compare lists; duplicates are crossed off and only unique words score.
Components
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16 letter dice (4x4 standard tray) or 25 dice (5x5 Big Boggle / Boggle Deluxe).
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Letter grid tray with dome cover that allows shaking and settling the dice into the grid.
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3-minute sand timer (or any agreed timer).
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Pencil and paper for each player.
Setup
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Drop all letter dice into the dome.
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Shake the dome to randomize the dice and settle each die into one cell of the grid.
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Lift the dome carefully so no dice shift.
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Hand out paper and a pencil to each player.
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One player starts the 3-minute timer and shouts "Go!".
Word-Finding Rules
A word is valid if all of these are true:
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Adjacency: Each letter must be horizontally, vertically, or diagonally adjacent to the previous letter (eight-way adjacency).
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No reuse: No single die may be used more than once in the same word.
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Length: Words must be at least 3 letters in standard Boggle and at least 4 letters in Big Boggle / Boggle Deluxe / Super Big Boggle.
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Real word: Must appear in the dictionary the group has agreed on (typically a standard English dictionary or an approved word list such as TWL or SOWPODS).
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Common nouns only: Proper nouns, abbreviations, hyphenated words, contractions, and prefixes/suffixes alone are not allowed.
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"Qu" die: The Q die is printed as "Qu" and counts as two letters whenever it is used.
Players may write down inflected forms (plurals, verb tenses) as separate words.
End of Round
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When the timer runs out, everyone immediately stops writing.
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Players read their lists aloud one word at a time. Whenever two or more players have the same word, that word is crossed off all lists and scores nothing for anyone.
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Any word that any player challenges as not in the dictionary is checked; invalid words are crossed off and may incur a small penalty in some house rules.
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Each player tallies the points for their remaining unique valid words using the scoring chart below.
Scoring Chart
Standard Boggle (4x4)
| Word length | Points |
|---|
| 3 letters | 1 |
| 4 letters | 1 |
| 5 letters | 2 |
| 6 letters | 3 |
| 7 letters | 5 |
| 8+ letters | 11 |
Big Boggle / Boggle Deluxe (5x5) and Super Big Boggle (6x6)
| Word length | Points |
|---|
| 4 letters | 1 |
| 5 letters | 2 |
| 6 letters | 3 |
| 7 letters | 5 |
| 8+ letters | 11 |
Winning the Game
The player with the highest total score at the end of the round (or the highest cumulative score after an agreed number of rounds) wins. Ties are common and acceptable.
Common House Rules
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Round count: Single round vs. best-of-3 vs. cumulative-over-N-rounds.
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Minimum length: Some groups raise standard Boggle's minimum to 4 letters to speed scoring.
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Dictionary: Agree up front (Merriam-Webster, OED, TWL, SOWPODS, Collins Scrabble Words).
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Penalty for invalid words: Some groups subtract the would-be points for any challenged word that is invalid.
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Solo / hot-seat: Single player aims to beat a personal best total or word count.