BookWorms 2021

BookWorms is a simple word search game where players, acting as worms, find letters in adjacent books to form words.

PLAY IN ROUNDS

Play at least two rounds. Each round consists of setup and game play until the draw piles are depleted.

GAME PLAY

On each turn, the current player …

Examines letters adjacent to and in a path of letters from their location. Calls out a word using any nearby letters and optionally one letter from a draw pile. Moves their bookworm to the location of the last letter used. Collects all the book tiles used. Places the tiles collected upside down in front of them. Takes a random tile from the draw pile and places it face up on any empty board space. Moves the mole.

The mole is used to steal a random book from an adjacent bookworm.

Making a Move

Move your bookworm onto a location where the first letter will be used to form your word. The location must be adjacent to, or within a continuous “tunnel” of five empty spaces from your worm’s current position. However, you cannot move next to, or pass next to the mole. The word will be a combination of adjacent letters in sequential order and optionally a letter or bigram from any draw pile. Call out the word for others to verify. Pick up the tiles used and them place in front of you upside down. Move the worm to the location of the last letter used.

TIP: Try to use letters with the highest values.

Moving the Mole The current player moles the mole at the end of their turn. The mole is moved onto a book tile whose letter matches the first letter of the word just made. If the mole is moved next to a worm, that player loses one of their collected letter tiles at random. The current player selects one of the that player’s tiles and places it face up on a random board location.

ENDING THE ROUND When all players agree that no more words can be formed, the game is over. Each player tallies their collected books’ points and records them on a score sheet. Repeat the setup and play at least one more round. Repeat the setup and play at least two rounds.

ENDING THE GAME At the end of the last round, the winner will have the most points. In case of a tie, the youngest player wins.

—description from the publisher