Letter Trail: Free Online Word Hunt

Letter Trail is our own timed word hunt. You get a grid of letter tiles and three minutes to find as many English words as you can. A word is a chain of tiles where each step goes to a neighbouring tile, sideways, up, down or diagonally, and each tile can be used once per word. Words need three letters on the 4×4 grid and four on the big 5×5. Qu sits on one tile and counts as two letters.

Drag across the tiles and let go to enter a word; sliding back along your trail takes the last letter back. You can also tap tiles one by one and tap the last one again, or just type a word on a keyboard and the game finds it on the board. While you trace, the word shows above the grid, green with its points when it is new and amber when you already have it. Stuck? Rotate turns the board a quarter turn for free. The words stay the same, but new ones often stand out. The last ten seconds tick, and pausing hides the board.

Long words pay off. A word scores 10 points for three letters, 30 for four, 60 for five, 100 for six, 150 for seven and 210 for eight, so one eight-letter word is worth as much as 21 three-letter ones. When time is up, the end screen lists every word you found and the best everyday words you missed. Tap any of them to see its trail on a small copy of the board.

Each day brings a new 4×4 daily grid, the same for everyone, with at least 45 everyday words to find. You get one go at it, and playing it each day builds your streak. Free play makes a fresh grid every time, on the classic 4×4 or the big 5×5, and keeps your best scores. Two things cost gems: a hint reveals the longest everyday word you haven't found yet, and extra time adds one minute to the clock. A hinted word scores nothing, and words found in extra time count for the round but never for the leaderboard. A round in progress is saved, so you can come back to it.

Only the daily grid posts a score to the leaderboard: the points of the words you found in the regular three minutes. Accepted words come from the public-domain ENABLE list, and the everyday words behind hints and missed words come from SCOWL. Letter Trail is free to play in your browser with no download or sign-up, and its art, sound effects and music are made for the game.