Description

A very early word card game. Its deck has 36 cards, all with letters except for two Blockade Cards, which just take up space in the hand without being usable. It also includes cardboard chits labeled "5 Points" or "10 Points"; some editions include a pocket dictionary. The rules describe five games:

Original Bild-A-Word: 5 cards each are dealt. In the first round, each player in turn lays 1-2 words of 2+ letters on the table, or adds letters to an existing word (rearranging if needed) to make a new word, or passes. From then on, a turn starts by drawing 1 card and ends with discarding 1 card; if the draw pile runs out, shuffle the discards to restock it. The hand ends when a player empties his hand, and he scores 5 points per cards held in others' hands -- the point chits are used to keep score. 250 points wins the game.

Bild-A-Word Triplets: Like the Original game, except that after the deal, 3 cards are placed in separate rows on the table. Players may not start new words, but only try to add to the existing rows to make new words. Letters may be rearranged within a row but not moved between rows.

Bild-A-Word Marathon: 8 cards are dealt to the table. In each turn, a player makes a word out of any 2 or more letters on the table. They may not repeat previous words, and have only 1 minute per turn. When a player is stumped they are out; the winner is the last player to come up with a word.

Bild-A-Word Wits: Like 5 card draw poker with words. Players start with 100 points worth of Point chits, and win on getting 300 points worth. Hands are ranked by the length of the words in them: 5 letters; 4; 3&2; 3; 2&2; 2. Ties are broken by the letters earliest in the alphabet.

Bild-A-Word Quinto: Like gin rummy. Players start with 5 cards, and in a turn draw 1 and discard 1. The first to make a 5-letter word from his hand calls "Quinto" and lays his hand down. All other players lay down their hands and make the longest word they can; the winner gets 5 point for each unused card. Game is 250.