Build 4–7-letter words from your tiles and choose a part of speech. Your words stay secret until the round ends. Everyone’s first accepted word in each category goes into the shared story.

The basics

• Three rounds, three minutes each. Five printed letters and one reusable blank.
• Tap tiles in order, or type their letters. Type ? for the blank. Backspace undoes; Enter submits. Keys 1–5 select a category.
• After you submit a blank, the server checks spelling and category. If several words fit, choose your intended word in the panel on the left (above the tiles on phones). One valid match submits automatically. The blank is always worth zero. Nothing scores until you choose; the round and shared-letter clocks keep running. Cancel or press Escape to return to your tiles.
• Duplicates are allowed and score normally. Words may belong to several categories, including less-common meanings.
• Fill all five categories yourself for +20 points, once each round. Colored ring sectors show who contributed; a multicolored + counts extras.

Points

Printed tile values × length multiplier. The preview is arithmetic only—not a spelling check. Wrong spelling or category: −8. An unclassified word in the original Claim bank costs nothing and is flagged for review. Scores may be negative.

Trading letters

• Discard one: free. Its replacement stays face down during your 5-second freeze. The discarded letter becomes available to everyone.
• Full swap: −8 and a 5-second freeze. Keep your blank; no letters go to the shared tray.
• Claim: first click wins, no points cost, 5-second freeze. Use the letter within 20 seconds of claiming (15 usable seconds after the freeze). This lets you make seven-letter words.
• Return or expire: −5 and a 5-second freeze. Your own tiles stay put. Use or return a claimed tile before discarding/swapping. A lost race to claim costs nothing.
• The clock keeps running during freezes. A claim that expires at or after the round’s end has no return penalty.

Categories & stories

Singular nouns include mass nouns such as “water.” Invariant nouns such as “sheep” can be singular or plural. Verbs include accepted inflections. “Friendly” is an adjective; not every word ending in “ly” is an adverb.

Adjective help: in the Adverb category, you may play an adjective. HAPPY becomes HAPPILY; GENTLE becomes GENTLY. If there is no suitable single-word adverb, we use a phrase such as “in a lovely way.” FAST stays FAST, not FASTLY. Blank choices include both valid adverbs and supported adjective inputs. Only the original 4–7 tiles determine your points and multiplier; added letters score nothing. This fills Adverb only, not both categories.

Your words build the sentences. Stories mix everyone’s first contributions. Articles adjust automatically (“an unfit voice,” but “a useful tool”). Verbs share their dictionary root: RUNS and RUNNING can become RAN in a past-tense sentence. The reveal shows the original and adjusted forms. Unknown verb forms are quoted rather than guessed. Dotted text marks a small bridge where a contribution is missing. Later words never replace your first story word. No extra story points are invented.

Working defaults inferred from the supplied brief. The word bank is sourced from Claim ’Em and lexical references; it is not a fully editorially reviewed or age-filtered dictionary. This local prototype is not affiliated with the Mad Libs brand.