How To Play

AGES

8+

PLAYERS

2-6

OBJECTIVE

Move forward by going BACKWORDS! Be the first player to complete all 10 Backwords word objectives. If two or more players complete their 10th word in the final round, the player with the highest total score wins.

CONTENTS

• 98 Letter Cards (Letter - Frequency)

  • A - 9, B - 2, C - 2, D - 4, E - 12, F - 2, G - 3, H - 2, I - 9, J - 1, K - 1, L - 4, M - 2, N - 6, O - 8, P - 2, Q - 1, R - 6, S - 4, T - 6, U - 4, V - 2, W - 2, X - 1, Y - 2, Z - 1

• 2 Wild Cards, 2 Skip Cards, 2 Backwords Cards

• 4 Reference Cards

• Instructions

• Scorecard

HOW TO PLAY

• Grab paper and a pencil to keep score and keep track of letters drawn.

• Shuffle deck, deal five cards per player and place remaining cards face down. This is the draw pile.

  • If dealt, exchange all Skip and Backwords cards for letter cards. Reshuffle the draw pile.

• The player left of the shuffler starts the round and play continues clockwise (to the left).

• Begin a turn by flipping over the top card from draw pile onto the discard pile. Place cards side-by-side. Write down each letter drawn. Maintaining the order of cards drawn is mandatory.

  • If a Skip or Backwords card is drawn, your turn ends and the card is out of play. For Backwords, the player before you goes again (to your right).

  • If possible, perform ONE of two actions:

    • Create your word - Use the cards in your hand or say “Backwords X”, take the last X number of cards from the discard pile, and create your base word.

    • Change words - If you have created your word in a prior turn, use the cards in your hand or say “Backwords X” to change any word(s) on the table. You cannot create an additional base word unless that is the word objective (See 3, 9 and 10 below).

• Points/Scoring

  • Each word created or changed scores points based on the letter card value.

  • At the end of a round, cards remaining in hand will be subtracted. 10 pt deduction for wild card.

    • At least one point needed to advance to the next word.

BACKWORDS WORD OBJECTIVES

• A word with 3-letters

• A word with 4-letters

• 2 words, 3-letters or more (two turns if needed)

• A word with 5-letters

• 4 or more, with double letters (ex. "POOL", “BALL”)

• 4 or more, with "CH", "CK", "SH", "TH", or "ST"

• A verb, 3-letters or more (ex. "RUN", "JUMP")

• 4-letters or more, beginning with a vowel

• 2 words, 4-letters or more (two turns if needed)

• 3 words, 3-letters or more (three turns if needed)

VALID WORDS

• Words must appear in a standard dictionary agreed upon by all players before the game begins.

• No proper nouns, abbreviations, prefixes, suffixes, hyphenated words, or words with an apostrophe.

BACKWORDS RULES

• Attempt one word objective per round.

• Declaring Backwords! X (X is a number)

  • Pick up X cards from the discard pile in order starting with the last drawn card (Last → First).

  • You can pull more letters than are needed as long as the last cards selected is used.

    • Ex. “Backwords 4” → Player pulls A-J-T-C Player spells “CAT”, “J” remains in hand. “J” was required to reach the last letter, “C”.

  • If the last letters are not used, player returns cards to the discard pile in correct order.

    • Ex. “Backwords 5” → Player pulls C-T-A-J-Z Player spells “CAT” Last letter used was “A” (Backwords 3). “Z” and “J” are returned in correct order.

    • Ex. “Backwords 5” → Player pulls C-T-A-J-A Player spells “CAT” Player only needed Backwords 3. “J” and “A” are returned in correct order.

• Wild Cards (%)

  • Represent any letter, can cover or be covered by any letter. Wild cards have no points value.

• Word Modifications

  • You must create a word before you are allowed to modify words. Turn is over after word creation.

  • Modify one or more words by:

    • Adding letters - “S” + “RUN” → “RUNS”

    • Covering letters - “P” + “LAMB” → “LAMP”

    • Adding + Rearranging letters - “V” + “TOE” → “VOTE”

    • Covering + Adding + Rearranging letters - “L” + “K” + “CAT” → “TALK” (“C” is covered by “K”, “L” is added and letters rearranged)

  • A letter card cannot be stacked on itself.

  • Covered letters cannot be uncovered.

  • Word lengths may grow, but never shorten.

  • A word may only change once per turn.

  • Rearranging letters without adding new letter cards or a Wild Card (%) does not score.

    • Ex. “LIME” → “MILE” does not score points “LIM-%” → “MIL-%” does not score points

  • Adding a wild card with or without rearranging letters scores points.

    • Ex. “LIME” → “LIM-*” scores points for letters “L”, “I” and “M”.

5. Challenges

• Any player can challenge a word or confirm a violation for over-pulling before the next turn.

• Successful challenge

  • Invalid word - All letters returned in order, points for each letter deducted, turn ends.

  • Over-pulling violation - Only over-pulled letters returned in correct order, points deducted for each returned letter, turn ends.

• Unsuccessful invalid word challenge

  • Challenger loses points for the valid word.

6. End of the Round

• (1) A player has completed a word, and has no cards in hand or (2) all cards have been drawn.