WordChain guide
How To Play Word Chain
A word chain is a list of words where each one starts with the last letter of the word before it. Play planet, and your next word has to begin with t. If you grew up calling it shiritori, or just the last-letter game, this is the same game. That is the entire rule on Easy and Normal, and it takes about ten seconds to learn. Hard chains on the last two letters. Because 415 of the 676 possible two-letter endings have no common word at all, the game detects those dead ends live and relaxes the requirement to one letter instead of ending your run on a technicality. Scoring is the part that makes it a game, because you have to decide when to keep your points instead of gambling them on one more word. Classic is at the homepage. Phrase mode, where words link into familiar phrases instead, is at /phrase.
The four things on screen
Four numbers do all the work, and the rest of this page will make more sense once they have names. Flow is a bar that empties on its own, so treat it as a timer that words refill. The Pot holds the points your words have earned but that you have not kept yet. The Multiplier climbs a little with every word you play and drops back when you cash in. Bank is the button that turns the Pot times the Multiplier into score nobody can take off you.
In one sentence: keep playing words so the timer never empties, let the Pot and the Multiplier grow, and press Bank before the timer beats you.
The chain rule
Type a word that begins with the last letter of the previous word. Play planet, and the next word has to start with t. Tiger, then rabbit, then tomato. Repeats are blocked, and a word the dictionary does not recognise is simply rejected.
- A word that is too short, repeated, or unrecognised costs you nothing. Type another one.
- A word starting with the wrong letter loses your Pot, which is why the input turns red before you submit.
- Longer words are worth more, and so are rare letters like J, Q, X and Z.
Why banking is a real decision
Every valid word does three things at once: it adds points to the Pot, nudges the Multiplier up, and puts a little Flow back on the timer. None of that is safe yet. Bank pays out the Pot times the Multiplier and tops the timer up, but it also empties the Pot and sends the Multiplier back to the start, so you are trading a bigger future payout for a certain one now.
- Bank early and often, and you keep everything you earn at a low multiplier.
- Hold on, and the same words are worth several times as much when you finally cash in.
- Flow drains faster the longer a run goes, so waiting gets more expensive as you go.
Goals and boosts
Each run sets a small goal, such as playing a word with a rare letter in it, or banking while the multiplier is high. Clearing one pauses the timer and lets you pick a boost that lasts for the rest of the run. Some give you extra Flow when you bank, some make the multiplier climb faster, and a Safety Net saves your Pot from your first wrong-letter word (the bust still restarts any chain-without-a-bust goal).
Common mistakes
- Chasing a huge multiplier and then losing the whole Pot to the timer.
- Submitting anyway when the input has turned red, which loses the Pot.
- Banking after every single word, which never lets the multiplier get going.
Take the guide into the game.
Reading about a mode only gets you so far. Open it and play a round.