The main goal of Confabulation is to score points by spelling words.
First, a category card is drawn and a category is chosen. This can be done by playing the categories in order, or by rolling a die or otherwise randomly selecting one if just one round is to be played.
Second, each player is dealt 6 word cards, which have 3x3 grids of letters on them. A timer is set for three minutes. The players will use their own hand of cards to spell words in the selected category until the time runs out.
The players can rearrange the cards as much as they would like; the cards can be rotated or overlapped. Players write down each word once they find it, then they can rearrange the cards (they don't have to preserve the configuration that allowed them to spell the word).
When spelling words, any adjacent letters may be used, including diagonally-connected letters (similar to the mechanics of the game Boggle). Letters may only be used once in any given word.
At the end of the round, points are counted. 3- and 4-letter words are worth one point, 5-letter words are worth 2 points, 6-letter words are worth 3 points, 7-letter words are worth 4 points, etc.
Plural words do not count unless the word is naturally plural (eg. pants). Spelling the word 'mountains', for example, would count only as the 8-letter word 'mountain'.
Proper nouns DO count if it makes sense in the category. (For example, if the category is 'science terms' then the word 'Einstein' would be allowed).
Players can challenge the spelling of another player's word. If the spelling is incorrect, the word does not count.
Players can play as many or as few rounds as they want.
Alternative scoring:
Instead of totaling the score of all words at the end of the round, the player who spelled the longest word in the three-minute time period is the winner.
Alternative gameplay:
Players can adjust the number of cards dealt to each player or the amount of time in a round.
—description from the designer
Word Game · Spelling, Tile Placement
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