Beguile is a game for two or more players (or for one player as a pastime or for practice).  There are two versions: a 4x4 board and a 5x5 board - but the rules are the same for both games. Each player also requires a pen and paper when playing the basic game, but not for some of the alternatives.

The basic idea is that letters are placed on each of the squares of the board, and, in a certain time period, all the players then try to find and write down words of three or more letters that can be formed by a sequence of letters that can be found on the board connected horizontally, vertically or diagonally in any direction. 

A particular letter on the board cannot be used more than once in a word.  So, the word DREAD could be formed only if there were at least two Ds on the board.  A word can only be counted once, even though it might be formed in more than one way.

So, given the following layout on a 5x5 board

AXDWISEDMROULYECBNGSPIBZH


the word DEDUCING could be found.

AXDWISEDMROULYECBNGSPIBZH


Other words that can be found include:

AXE SOUL DUNG AXED GEM SEX AXES SOB WIRY MESH COB DYE WIRE PIN DYES WIRES PING SUN IRE BIN GNU BIB LUNG GNUS SUNG DUN LYRE

Scoring

The time allowed to identify words is restricted (by default 180 seconds or 3 minutes).  Once the time is up, all the players read out their words.  Words can of course be challenged, and the players must agree on the dictionary or other books that will be used to resolve disputes. 

Words that are accepted are scored as follows:  1 point for a 3-letter word, 2 points for a 4-letter word, 3 points for a 5-letter word, and so on.  The winner of the round is the player with the highest total, while the overall winner of a game of several rounds is the player with the highest overall total.

Alternative game

As an alternative to writing down all the words that can be found, a single-word game can be played. In this, all players simply look for the longest word they can find and write this down. Those who write down the longest word get one point each. This would normally be played over a shorter time, e.g. 60 seconds.

Playing

For a given round, the players should first agree the time to be allowed for writing down words.  The time allowed (default 180s) can be altered by pressing the + and - buttons to change the time by 15s increments.

The New button is then pressed, and letters are displayed on the board.  The countdown begins and players then write down their words until the word Stop appears in the field showing the remaining time.

Version

When Beguile is first opened, the 4x4 version is shown. To change to the 5x5 version, just press the 5x5 button. To change back again, press the 4x4 button.

Fix and Show

In addition to the standard game, with randomly selected letters only, a different version may be played. As well as the New button, you will also see a Fix button and a Show button associated with each of the boards. The Fix button behaves like the New button, to create a new layout, but with one important difference: it inserts known long words into the boards. Into the 4x4 board, it inserts one known 7-letter word, and into the 5x5 board, it inserts one known 9-letter word. You are reminded of the word length when you press Fix in the white text field between the Fix and Show buttons.

You can play just as described above, but with the knowledge that there is a long word to be found, or you can play by attempting to be the first to find a word of this length on the board. This requires no pen and paper.

It is important to realize that there may be other words of the given length to be found on the board, so any valid word of the given length is acceptable when playing this game.

If you'd like to check which word was inserted into the boards, press the Show button. The given word will be shown in the text field above the board. The system will also spell the word out by highlighting the background of the letters of the word in green, one at a time (on both boards simultaneously). Note that the given solution may not be unique.

Letter distribution

When selecting random letters to be placed on the board, the system mimics the idea of having a shuffled set of letter cards, from which it takes the top 16 or 25 (depending on the board size). You can see how many of each letter are available by pressing the More button. To return to the board, press the Back button.

Practising

You can, of course, play Beguile in practice mode by yourself. The Fix and Show game, where you just try to find a word of the given length, is particularly suitable for one player and requires no pen or paper.

Terms of use

This software may be used for personal purposes only.  It may not be used for commercial purposes.

The software, code and script of this application may not be copied or be distributed to others.

The software, code and script may not be altered in any way.

Copyright of the software, code and script, and its help documentation, is held by TopAccolades Limited.  No part of the software, code, script or documentation may be copied or used in another application or document.

Although every effort has been made to ensure that this software functions as intended, TopAccolades Limited provides no warranty of merchantability, or fitness for a particular purpose, in relation to this application or its support.

TopAccolades Limited shall not be liable for any damages whatsoever arising out of the use of or inability to use this application or the provision of or failure to provide support.

Copyright TopAccolades Limited
www.topaccolades.com

Version: 3.0 (20170327)
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