How to play
Last Word is a two-player game with one word on the board. You take turns changing it by a single letter. The player who can still move when the other cannot is the winner.
The goal
A game starts with a random four-letter word. Players take turns turning the current word into a new real word. You win if your opponent cannot answer: they run out of time, they have no word left to make, or they give up.
The three moves
Change
Pick a letter and replace it with a different one. You can change any position, and the new letter has to be different from the old one.
Delete
Remove one letter from anywhere in the word. Words must keep at least three letters, so you cannot delete from a three-letter word.
Add
Choose a gap (the start, the end, or between two letters) and put a new letter there. Words can grow up to 15 letters.
You cannot rearrange letters. Each move changes exactly one letter, and the result must be a word.
Rules
- Real words only. The word must be on the game's word list (ENABLE, about 168,000 words of 3 to 15 letters). Names of people and places are not allowed.
- No repeats. A word already played in the current game, including the start word, cannot be played again. The played words are shown above the board.
- 20 seconds a turn. The clock belongs to the server, so slow connections cannot gain extra time. If you lose connection, your clock keeps running and you can reconnect and carry on.
- Trapping wins. If you play a word after which your opponent has no legal move at all, the game ends and you win at once.
- Giving up. Leaving a game with the Forfeit button counts as a loss.
A short meaning is shown under the newest word. Tap an older word in the row of played words to read its meaning too.
Ways to play
Quick match
The game looks for another person, preferring someone close to your rank. This is the ranked mode: trophies are won and lost.
Play a friend
Create a room to get a 6-letter code, and give it to your friend. They type it under "Play a friend" and the game starts. Friendly games are saved but do not change trophies, wins or losses.
Practice vs computer
Choose any rank from Bronze to Diamond and play a computer opponent straight away. Practice games are not recorded at all: no trophies, no wins or losses, and they do not appear in any list.
Trophies and ranks
Your trophies place you in one of five ranks. Trophies never drop below zero.
| Rank | Trophies |
|---|---|
| Bronze | 0 to 99 |
| Silver | 100 to 299 |
| Gold | 300 to 599 |
| Platinum | 600 to 999 |
| Diamond | 1000 and up |
What a ranked game is worth depends on the rank of your opponent compared with yours. Beating a higher rank is worth the most, and losing to a lower rank costs the most.
| Result | Same rank | Opponent higher | Opponent lower |
|---|---|---|---|
| Win | +10 | +15 | +8 |
| Loss | −8 | −5 | −12 |
The leaderboard ranks people by trophies. A second list shows the longest ranked games by number of words, and you can open any of them to see the full chain.
Computer opponents
Quick match always tries to find a person first. If you have waited alone for about ten seconds, the game asks whether you want to play a computer opponent or keep waiting. If another player joins in the meantime, you are matched with them instead.
Computer opponents are marked as such. Each one has its own vocabulary, speed and style, and they get stronger rank by rank. They only play words a person at that level would plausibly know, and they take about as long as a person to tap their move. A game you accept from the queue is a normal ranked game. Practice games are never ranked.
Tips
- Think about exits. Before you play a word, ask how many words can follow it. Words that few others can be made from are good traps to leave.
- Rare letters help. Words with Q, X, Z or J usually have fewer ways out.
- Mind the short words. Three-letter words cannot be shortened, so they give your opponent fewer options.
- Use the clock, but do not rush. Both players get the same 20 seconds. A quick wrong guess is worse than a slow right one.
- Read the result. After a loss, the result screen shows words you could have played instead.