What Word Grid is
Sixteen dice, everyone hunting at once. Trace words through touching letters — but any word someone else also found scores nothing. Win on the weird ones.
The letters come off the real dice rather than a random bag — sixteen of them, cut so that vowels land near each other and J, Q, X and Z never share a die, which is why a grid is nearly always worth playing. Qu sits on one die and counts as two letters.
A word is judged the instant you lift your finger — the path, the spelling and the dictionary all at once — so you never reach the buzzer and discover that six of your finds were misspelt. Three free misses a round, then a point each.
Everyone finds RATE and TIRE, and everyone gets nothing for them. The round turns instead on the eight-letter word nobody else traced: it scores eleven, as much as eleven short ones, and it usually settles the thing on its own.
From our tables
3,300+ games finished
Games of Word Grid, played to the end on Table Party between 16 August and 24 September 2026.
3 minutes on average
How long a finished game of Word Grid really takes here, from the first move to the final score.
How to play Word Grid
- The dice are shaken and every phone shows the same grid.
- Trace a word through letters that touch — sideways, up, down or corner to corner.
- No letter twice in one word. Three letters or more (four on the big board).
- Longer is worth much more: 5 letters scores 2, seven scores 5, eight or more scores 11.
- Anything two of you found is crossed out for both. The obvious word is the wasted one.
How to win at Word Grid
Chase length, not count
A seven-letter word is worth five four-letter ones, and eight letters is worth eleven of them.
Skip the obvious word
If it was the first thing you saw, it was the first thing everyone saw, and it will cancel to nothing.
Plurals are a whole tier
An S or a D sitting next to a word you already have lifts it a scoring tier for the cost of one more cell.
Spend your three free misses
A word you are unsure of costs nothing until the fourth miss, so try it early rather than sit on it.
Hunt from the middle out
A centre cell touches eight neighbours and a corner touches three, so the branching is where the long words hide.
Questions about Word Grid
Why did my word score nothing?
Somebody else found it too. Any word on two or more lists is struck from all of them — it still appears on your list at the reveal, with a line through it.
How does Qu work?
It sits on a single die exactly as it does in the box, and plays as two letters. QUIT is a four-letter word that uses three cells of the grid.
Is there a minimum word length?
Three letters on the 4×4 board and four on the 5×5, which is the printed rule for each. On twenty-five cells three-letter words are so plentiful that counting them turns the round into typing practice.
What is the weekly Word Grid challenge?
One 5×5 grid and three minutes, the same for every pair that week — and the rule inverts, so you score as a team with every word counted once and nothing cancelling. There is a solo ladder as well.
Is Word Grid free?
Yes. Every game on Table Party is free, with no accounts, no adverts and nothing to buy.
How many people do you need for Word Grid?
Between 2 and 12. Below 2 there are not enough of you for the game to work. Table Party for Teams seats up to 100 in one room.
Do we need to download anything?
No. One person opens the site and starts a room; everybody else joins by typing the room code on their own phone. Nothing to install, nothing to sign up for.
Can we play Word Grid over a video call?
Yes. Share the room code in the chat and play with the call running — everything private stays on each player’s own phone.
