Find the best play
Points now, plus what the tiles you keep are worth.
Their last play
Top plays
The tiles left on your rack after a play are what you keep (players call this your leave). Some help next turn, like a blank, an S, or a mix of vowels and consonants. Some get in the way, like doubled letters or a Q with no U. Their worth comes from a table learned from hundreds of millions of self-play games. Value = points + worth of kept tiles.
| Rank | Play | Pts | Kept | Value |
|---|
Tap a play to see it on the board.
Archive
Every day so far. Playing these doesn't change your streak.
How to play
Each day you get one position from a real game of the crossword board game, the one with letter tiles and a 15 by 15 board. It's your turn. Find the best play.
The game, briefly
- You hold seven letter tiles, your rack. A play puts one or more of them in a single row or column, joined to the tiles already on the board.
- Every word your play makes, across and down, must be in the word list. This site uses ENABLE, a free English word list.
- Each tile has points in its corner. Coloured squares multiply a letter (2× or 3× letter) or the whole word (2× or 3× word). A blank tile can be any letter and scores 0.
- Use all seven tiles in one play and you get 50 extra points.
- After a play you draw new tiles from the bag, so what you keep matters.
What “best play” means here
Not simply the most points. The best play has the most value: the points it scores now plus what the tiles you keep are worth for your next turn. Keeping an S or a blank is worth a lot. Keeping UUV is a burden. The worth of every set of kept tiles comes from a table learned from hundreds of millions of self-play games.
Playing
- Tap a square to start there. Tap it again to switch between across and down.
- Tap your tiles, or type, to place them. Backspace takes back the last tile. Tap a placed tile to return it.
- Placing a blank asks which letter it stands for. Typing a letter you don't have uses your blank.
- You have three tries. After each one you see its points and its value as a share of the best play's.
- A play that isn't valid doesn't use a try.
- Done for the day? Play a random one from the practice set. Practice doesn't touch your streak.
On a keyboard: arrows move, space turns, Enter plays, Esc clears.