Game of Words and Sentences 1877

The game consists of more than 300 small cards, each about 3/4" square and bearing a single capital letter. The letters are distributed by frequency, ranging from six Q, X and Z to 24 E. The rules say to place all the letters in a box from which players draw blind.

In the Game of Words, players draw one tile at a time. The first two players put their letters on the centre of the table, forming a pool. Each turn thereafter, a player tries to use the letter in his hand to form a word from the letters in the pool. If he succeeds, the word is placed in front of him. Players may use their letters to add to another word to create a new, longer one, and "capture" that word from another player. They also may add their letter to one of their own words. Letters in a word may be rearranged. Unplayable letters are added to the pool. Players draw a new tile to end their turn. The player with the most words at game end wins.

In the Game of Sentences, players draw two tiles per turn and again try to form words. Words of only one or two letters are allowed, as are proper names, place names and possessives. The winner is the first to use all of his words to form an intelligible sentence of an agreed length. The rules suggest that five to 10 words forms a pleasant game.

The rulebook also contains rules for two more games, The Block Game of Words (where letters are face up and players can choose) and The Game of Alphabets (where each player thinks of a word, gathers the necessary letters and passes them to his neighbor, who then must try to figure out what word those letters spell).