Set up a positionClick a square and type, or tap the letters below; click the square again to go down.
Tilefish
Play, practise and analyse the crossword game against a strong engine.
Unfinished game
Mode
Tilefish's strength
Word list
Rules
An unsuccessful challenge gives Tilefish
Game clock (total time for each player)
Advanced
First move
When a clock runs out
Theme
Blank tile: which letter? (type it, or Esc)
Games
Finished games are kept in this browser (the last 30).
Games, stats and puzzles live only in this browser.
How to play here
Place tiles: click a square and type (click it again to go down), drag tiles from the rack, or tap a tile and then a square. Typing a letter you do not hold uses your blank.
Enter plays, Esc brings this turn's tiles back, Backspace removes the last one, Space shuffles, arrow keys move the cursor. In Exchange, typing a letter (or ? for a blank) picks that tile.
Rules. Under Casual rules words are checked as you place tiles: a word that is not in the list cannot be played, so there are no challenges. Under tournament rules (NASPA, or WESPA / ABSP, in Play and Practice) words are not marked, and you may play a word that is not in the list (a phony). Tilefish knows every word, so it challenges a phony off: the tiles come back and you score nothing that turn. After Tilefish plays, Challenge checks its words; it plays only words in the list, so a challenge costs you what the rules say: your turn under NASPA rules with NWL (double challenge), 5 points a word under NASPA rules with Collins, and under WESPA rules 5 or 10 points a word, or nothing, as chosen at the start. Six scoreless turns in a row (passes, exchanges and plays challenged off) end the game, and each player then loses the value of their own tiles. Exchanges need at least 7 tiles in the bag. When a player goes out, Tilefish adds the other rack's value to their score and takes it from the other's; Woogles and many tournament records instead add twice the value and leave the other score alone, which gives the same margin.
Clocks are total time per player; tournament rules start at 25 minutes each. With the NASPA penalty, as in the NASPA rules of 1 December 2016, each started minute past zero costs 10 points, and more than 10 minutes of overtime loses the game (100 points off; the opponent is raised to a one-point win if needed). With the WESPA penalty, as in WESPA's rules (which the ABSP uses), each minute or part of one past zero costs 10 points, and 10 minutes over forfeits the game (100 points off, and a margin of at least 100). With Lose on time, the game ends when a clock reaches zero. Tilefish's thinking runs on its own clock.
Practice allows hints, take-backs and pausing; the game is marked as assisted if you use them. Play has none, and its clock keeps running if you switch tabs; after a reload it runs on as soon as the game is back (the time the page was closed is not counted).
Plan ahead: while Tilefish thinks you can set out tiles for your next move; they stay where they are if Tilefish's word leaves the squares free, and are checked as soon as it is your turn.
As you place tiles every word the move makes is listed under the board with its points and bonus squares; under Casual rules a word that is not in the list turns red, on the board too.
Rack:Sort puts it in order (A to Z, then vowels first); a quick sideways flick along the rack shuffles it. On a phone, the magnifier (or a double tap on the board) zooms in so tiles are easier to place.
Levels: Beginner and Easy choose weaker moves on purpose, for learning; Casual, Strong and Champion play their best.
Practice rates each of your moves once Tilefish has answered (switch it off under Advanced), and Hint helps in steps: a nudge first, then where the move goes, then the moves.
Puzzles: find the best move in one position; within 1% of Tilefish's choice solves it, with three tries. The daily puzzle is the same for everyone on the same word list; Share result copies your tries as coloured squares, without the position. The last fortnight's daily puzzles can be played again under Earlier daily puzzles (one solved after its day does not count towards the streak). Endgame puzzles (switch under a puzzle) empty the bag and show the opponent's tiles: only a move that ends the game as well as the best play solves it, by Tilefish's exact endgame solver. Your results and stats are under Games, where Back up saves them, with your games, to a file and Restore adds a backup to this or another browser.
Unseen tiles counts vowels and consonants and warns about what matters (the Q without a U, the last S, the tiles in the endgame). In Practice and Analyse it can also estimate what Tilefish kept from its last play: which tiles that play makes likelier, or less likely, than a plain draw (this marks the game as assisted, as a hint does).
Hints and reviews come from Tilefish's search. Winning chances are estimates (simulation) unless marked solved; moves within about one percent are effectively equal. Reviews judge each move with only what its player could see.
Game review: each move gets a class by the winning chance it gave up against Tilefish's choice:
!! Brilliant (the best move, giving up 12+ points of score for a better game) · ! Great (the only strong move) · ★ Best · Excellent (within 1%) · Good (under 3%) · ?! Inaccuracy (3–6%) · ? Mistake (6–12%) · ?? Blunder (12% or more).
Where a game is settled or the endgame is solved, points given up count instead. The better move is drawn on the board, dashed, with its coordinate and an arrow for its direction; point at any move in the list to see it there, or click to keep it. Accuracy is the average over a player's moves (100 for Tilefish's choice). Try a move sets out your own move in any reviewed position and judges it; Analyse from here opens the position before the move in Analyse, to change it, ask for hints or play on.
←→ step through the game, ↑↓ jump between key moves, B shows the best move, HomeEnd go to the start and the end.
Game links:Copy game link (beside a finished game, at its end, or under Games) puts the whole game in a link. Whoever opens it sees the game in the review, replayed and judged in their own browser; the link holds the moves, and nothing is stored anywhere else.
Offline: once opened, the page works without a connection, with every word list you have played with on this device (the start screen says which). Your browser can install it as an app: Install above where it offers that, or Add to Home Screen in the share menu on an iPhone or iPad.
Set up a board by hand (Analyse): click a square and type, or tap the letters under the board; Shift with a letter, or the blank key, makes a blank (lower case). Backspace steps back and clears; arrow keys move. Then give your rack, the opponent's if you know it, and the scores, and Analyse.
Notation:8D WORD is across from row 8, column D; D8 WORD is down. Letters in brackets were already on the board; lower case is a blank.