Description

Wordage has two identical decks; one deck is used for 2-4 players, both decks for 5-8 players. Each deck has: 3 A's and E's, 2 O's, I's and S's, and 1 of each other letter, all in red, and the same again all in black, plus two Joiner cards that can stand for any letter, making 68 cards. Each letter has a point value of 1-5.

Each player is dealt 14 cards (children 10 cards), and during their turn a player draws a card, lays down cards if possible, and discards a card. The initial lay-down must be one or more words that have at least 14 points in value and include at least one 5+ letter word in one color (for children, at least 10 points and no color requirement). A word's value is the sum of its letters' values, plus bonuses for length, doubled if the word is of one color.

In turns after the initial lay-down, a player may also: draw the top discard instead of the top of the deck; add letters to any word on the table instead of playing a new word (this doesn't score points, though); replace a Joiner (wild) card with the letter it currently stands from from the hand.

The player who plays all the cards in their hand except one which is then discarded, wins the round. The game is won by the first player to win two rounds consecutively; for shorter games, the consecutive requirement is dropped.

In the party version of the game, points for words played are tallied and totaled -- a score pad is included -- and a round's winner gets a bonus of 50 points plus the values of the cards left in others' hands.

—user summary