Game play rules Want some quick tips and tricks? Look at our Tips & tricks page SmartFeud is a game like traditional word games, and can be played by two, three or four players. The most important difference between SmartFeud and other word games is that SmartFeud makes it possible to take one letter from the board each turn. This makes it strategically a completely different game! The objective is to score as much point as possible. Scoring is done by forming words and putting them on the 16*16 board in a crossword-style. Words placed on the board are being placed horizontally, spelled from left to right, or vertically, spelling it downwards. Each letter has a given value, see the letter-distribution below for the exact value and letter distribution. At the start each player gets 7 random tiles and one 'blank' space where he can put the tile he took from the board. The starting player gets a 'blank' tile to use as any letter he wishes, so he can possibly form an 8-letter word. If he doesn't use it in the first turn he loses it. The starting player combines two or more of his or her letters to form a word and places it on the board to read either across or down with at least one letter on one of the four center squares. Diagonal words are not allowed. The second player, and then each in turn, decides whether or not he takes a tile from the board. If he does, he swipes this tile to the blank space available for this purpose. Then he uses it and other letter(s) to form one or more new words by placing them adjacent to one or more letters already on the board. The tile taken from the board MUST be used this turn. It is not allowed to take a letter from the board to use it during a later turn. All tiles played in a turn must be placed in one row across or down the board to form at least one complete word. If, at the same time, they touch other letters in adjacent rows, those must also form complete words, crossword fashion, with all such letters. The player gets full credit for all words formed or modified on his or her turn. New words may be formed by: ● Adding one or more letters to letter(s) already on the board. ● Placing a word at a right angle to a word already on the board. The new word must use one of the letters already on the board or must add a letter to it. ● Placing a complete word parallel to a word already played so that adjacent letters also form complete words. ● Splitting a word into two words by taking out one of the letters (eg: by taking the 'i' out of the word 'section' two new words are formed, 'sect' and 'on'; both words score points). This may result in a word that is not connected to any other word on the board! The letter that is removed must be used in the same turn to form another word in combination with one or more of the player's letters. You may use a turn to exchange all, some, or none of the tiles. This ends your turn. You may also pass your turn. Premiums Using all 7 tiles available gives a premium (bonus) of 30 points. Using all 7 tiles plus a tile that's been taken from the board gives a premium (bonus) of 50 points. The standard board layout consists of 56 premium squares in an orderly fashion. It is possible to play with a random setting, in which the premium squares are randomly shuffled across the board. There are four types of premium squares: ● Green: two times letter value ● Blue: three times letter value ● Pink: two times word value ● Red: three times word value. Letter and word premiums (the colored squares) count only on the turn in which they are played. On later turns, letters already played on premium squares count at face value. If one player removes a tile from a premium square this becomes active again. Scoring ● Any tile played from the player's rack onto a previously vacant square that is a two- or three times letter-value premium square has its point value doubled or tripled as indicated. ● Add the normal point value of all other letters (excluding blanks) in the word (whether newly played or existing) ● If a new tile is placed on a word value premium squre the total of the word value (taking into account premium letter values) is doubled or tripled. The word value can even be multiplied several times if the word covers multiple premium word squares! All words on the board should be in the dictionary. We use International English, i.e. both British-English and American-English words may be played (ie: both colour and color are allowed). It is not allowed for a player to ONLY use the tile he took form the board. Every newly formed word on the board scores points. Professional mode If you play with the paid version of SmartFeud you can invite people to play in 'professional mode'. In this mode you lose your turn if you play a word that is not in the dictionary. Multiplayer Games In multi-player games, when a player resigns, the remaining players get an option to play on or to quit - provided everybody else quits as well (i.e conditionally quit). If everybody chooses to conditionally quit the game ends and the winner will be the player with the highest score at that point. Note that if a game is prematurely ended in this way it will not count as a resigned game in someones statistics. Waiting Time In the settings you can set the maximum waiting time. Standard this is 48 hours, it can be set to 24 hours, 12 hours, 20, 10, 5 or 3 minutes. Game Ending The game ends when one of the players is out of tiles and there are no new tiles to replenish. It also ends when all the other players have resigned. If a player passes three consecutive times the player loses the game. If a player does not play within the given time limit this is considered a pass. Settings It is possible to alter the settings of the game in the settings-menu. Here you can set the maximum waiting time, the way the game sends you notifications, if you like to play in normal or professional mode and what dictionary you would like to use. Letter Values and Distribution The table below sets out the letter values and quantity of each letter if the game if the game is played with the English dictionary:
| Letter | Value | Number of tiles |
| Blank* | 0 | 2 |
| A | 1 | 10 |
| B | 3 | 2 |
| C | 3 | 3 |
| D | 2 | 5 |
| E | 1 | 13 |
| F | 4 | 2 |
| G | 2 | 3 |
| H | 4 | 2 |
| I | 1 | 10 |
| J | 8 | 1 |
| K | 5 | 1 |
| L | 1 | 5 |
| M | 3 | 3 |
| N | 1 | 10 |
| O | 1 | 8 |
| P | 3 | 3 |
| Q | 10 | 1 |
| R | 1 | 7 |
| S | 1 | 5 |
| T | 1 | 6 |
| U | 1 | 5 |
| V | 4 | 2 |
| W | 4 | 2 |
| X | 8 | 2 |
| Y | 4 | 2 |
| Z | 10 | 1 |
*The blank that is always awarded to the first player in the first game and that he has to use or lose is regarded.
