Word Chain Scoring System

Core score formula

The caps are worth knowing about. QUARTZ collects the full 6 for its Q and its Z, and scores 13 on Normal. JAZZ has three rare letters but still only collects 6, because that is the limit for one word. Each tile on screen shows the points it earned, so you can check any of this mid-run rather than taking the page on trust.

• wordPoints = length points + rare letters + difficulty bonus, where length points = n + 2 x (n - 6) past six letters
• Difficulty bonus: +0 on Easy, +1 on Normal, +3 on Hard.
• J, Q, X and Z are worth 3 each, up to 6 in a single word.
• K, V, W and Y are worth 1 each, up to 3 in a single word.

Pot, multiplier, and what banking pays

If you bank after every word you bank at x1.5 every time, and the multiplier never gets anywhere. Eight words is where it tops out. A Pot of 74 at x5 pays 370 when you bank it, and past that point extra words only add their own face value, because the multiplier has nowhere left to climb.

• Each valid word adds its points to the Pot and steps the multiplier up by 0.5.
• The multiplier stops at x5, which is eight words after your last bank.
• Banking locks in the Pot times the multiplier, rounded down, and pays Flow for the multiplier it spends: nothing at x1, 12 at x5.
• Banking then resets you to an empty Pot at x1. A bust takes the whole Pot.

Flow is the same word, priced as time

Length counts for half as much toward Flow as it does toward the Pot, but rare letters count the same toward both. A J or a Q therefore buys you points and time in the same move, which is why they are worth hunting for. CAT refills 6 Flow on Normal, which at the opening drain is about two and a half seconds of clock. QUARTZ refills 13.

• flowRefill = 3 + (length points / 2) + rare letters + difficulty bonus, rounded.
• Flow starts at 150 and is capped at 150.
• Drain starts at 2.5 per second and gets 4 percent steeper with every word you play; past 150 percent steeper the climb eases to about 1 percent per word, but it never stops.
• Banking pays 3 Flow per point of multiplier above x1, so a x5 bank returns 12. Clearing a goal adds a flat 8.

Goals and boosts

• Clearing a goal banks 10 points for every goal you have cleared so far: 10, then 20, then 30.
• It also adds 8 Flow and raises the minimum word length by one, up to three.
• Then you draft a boost. The drain steepens with every word, not with the goal. Flow pauses while you choose.

Worked example (Normal)

You are eight words in, the Pot is 74 and the multiplier has capped at x5, so banking would pay 370. One more six-letter word with no rare letters adds 7 to the Pot and nothing to the multiplier, which works out at 35 more points for however long you spend thinking of it. The next word after that is worth the same 35 or so against a timer that is draining faster, and so on down. That is the shape of the decision every run keeps asking you to make.