Letra-Mix
Letra-Mix Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Contents
- 1 rules leaflet
- 13 dice
- 1 dice cup
- 1 sand timer
Gameplay
One player is chosen as the starting player. He rolls all 13 dice. As soon as he tips the cup out, the sand timer starts to run. If he rolls no vowel or only one vowel, he may roll again, but the sand timer keeps running!
From the rolled letters the player must now form words. He lays them out in the manner of a crossword puzzle. To avoid disputes, only words that can be found in the dictionary are allowed; invented words, proper names, abbreviations, dialect words and foreign words are therefore not permitted!
The diamond side of a die is the joker. The joker can replace any letter, but it is not scored. If the joker is used and a second word is laid against it, it must replace the same letter. The joker cannot have two different meanings in the two words.
While the sand timer is running, all dice may be rearranged freely. When the sand timer has run out, the player must stop immediately and score his layout of dice.
Scoring
Each letter has a specific numerical value. The joker counts zero points.
When the sand timer has run out, the numbers of the individual dice in the horizontally and vertically laid words are added together. Letters used both horizontally and vertically are counted twice.
The values of the unused dice are also added up, and this total is then subtracted from the result of the used dice (see example).
Example (the layout is shown as an image in the leaflet; the figures are transcribed as printed):
- Horizontal (Waagrecht): 14 points
- Vertical (Senkrecht): 9 points
- Subtotal: 23 points
- minus unused die: 3 points
- Total: 20 points
Transcriber's note: the printed example shows the letters with their values as subscripts (N1, A1, R1, O2, S1, E1, H2, E1, X6, I1, M3, with the unused B3). The word-by-word breakdown is not printed, and the figures above are reproduced exactly as printed.
After the first player has scored his throw and noted the points, all dice are returned to the cup, and the player to his left takes his turn.
Ending the Game
The winner is the player with the highest score after a previously agreed number of rounds. It is possible to limit the length of the game as desired, or to set a target score that the winner must reach (for example 200).
A round must, however, be played to its end even if a player has already reached the target score, so that nobody is disadvantaged. If several players reach the target score in the same round, the winner is the one who scored the most points beyond it.
Solitaire Play
To train your personal vocabulary, LetraMix also works well when played alone. The aim is then to use all 13 dice in chains of words.