Quiddler is a
word-
building game played
rummy-style.
Each player is dealt a certain number of
cards (varies from
three the first round to ten in the last) and by drawing a card
and discarding a card each turn, attempts to build a
hand which can
be used
completely to form words. Once a player has done so, he may
play his cards down
on the table as words and
go out.
Some cards have two-letter combos on them: QU, ER, and IN. These
are important for the strategy of the game, as described later. Each
card has a point value, going from 1 for the most common letters to
15 for the Q without a U. Each word must use at least two cards.
Once a player goes out, each other player gets one more turn to
draw, play what he can, and discard. Each player scores the sum of the
letter values of the cards he played, minus the values of unplayed cards.
In addition, there are bonuses for the longest word and the most words,
but in the case of a tie for either award, the award is not given. The
two-letter cards can be extremely valuable for this purpose, since they
can let you make a 4-letter word (or even conceivably a 5-letter word)
during the 3-card round.
The game seems to be somewhat flawed, since it seems too easy for players
to go out on their first turn, and the bonuses aren't usually enough
incentive to keep them from doing so as soon as possible. But it might be
more balanced with a more normal group of players; I was playing a game
against member of the National Puzzlers League.