About Wortwiesel, from BoardGameGeek:
Wortwiesel is a speed word-building game (German language). Each card has 2 letters. There are three types of cards: Cards with 2 consonants, cards with 2 vowels, and cards with 1 consonant and 1 vowel.
Two things are special:
- The cards can be placed next to each other or partially overlapping, so that one letter is covered. Just by smart placement of your cards you can cover and replace letters with those of another card. The combinatorics of just a few cards are breathtaking, and it is this puzzle effect which creates most of the fun.
- The sand timer does NOT define an upper time limit for finishing an action. Instead, the timer defines lower(!) time limit i.e. the period before the next drawing of cards is triggered. It is merely an option: You do not have to trigger drawing immediately once the timer is finished! Instead, it is perfectly fine to take it easy and to grant yourselves more time before taking the next card.
The game starts by flipping the sand timer. Players race to build words out of their cards, using as many letters as possible. Individual letters which are in the way must be covered by other cards, but no card may be covered completely.
Each player has four tiles with which to cover letters at the end or at the beginning of a word, and one wild card tile which can be used for any letter. These tiles can only be used once in the game.
When the sand timer runs out, any player can announce that they are drawing an additional card. All other players must then also draw another card. After a player shouts “stop”, the sand timer is started one last time. The other players may try to improve their word in that time. The round ends when the timer runs through again. Players mark their words on a score sheet – the longer a word is, the more points are awarded.
Play three rounds. Deduct points for unused cards, get bonus points for unused tiles. The player with the highest combined score wins.
There's a significant learning curve involved: The more experienced you get the faster you will play. That's when the sand timer kicks in and becomes a tactical element: You can decide whether to rush to a solution or to trigger the next drawing right before your counterpart(s) can finish and conclude the round.
NOTE: The present version Wortwiesel (2023) is designed for German language. Based on the combination of letters and letter frequencies, it ist not directly playable in most other languages.
NOTE by Author: Other language versions are in preparation
