Words With Friends PC: Train Your Brain While Having a Fun Game

Kaitlyn Brock
8 min readSep 2, 2020

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Close your eyes and imagine playing Scrabble with your friends. If you’re a wordsmith in your own right, you probably want to demolish your pals in the word game. After all, that’s what friends are for, right? Now open your eyes and check out Words With Friends.

So what can you expect in Words With Friends PC? It’s a great brain-training game that builds your vocabulary. You can try it on your phone, tablet, or PC.

Words With Friends offers excellent company when you’re bored or just want to relax after a tiring day. Plus, it’s wonderful entertainment that keeps your mind sharp. For the diabolical word masters, this is the wordplay game for you.

Let’s Take a Quick Look at Words With Friends Game

So what’s up in Words With Friends? Let’s see its gameplay, features, and more.

Released in 2009, Words With Friends PC is a multiplayer wordplay game developed by Zynga (formerly called Newtoy). Following the gameplay in the classic board game Scrabble, players take their turns in building word

You probably want to check it against your friends, right? Well, guess what. You can do that up to 40 games simultaneously, relying on push notifications to know your turn is up.

To engage your friends, you can look them up through Facebook. Or you can just let the game randomly assign an opponent for you.

Did you know Words With Friends PC is a cross-platform game? It runs on various operating systems, which include iOS, Android, and Windows Phone. In addition to Facebook, you can also try it on Kindle Fire and Nook Tablet.

It also has a chat feature that you can use to connect with your playing partners. You can exchange messages with your opponents.

The game is so popular that it was among the top-ranking games in the iOS app store. There is a free ad-supported version, but you can also go for an ad-free paid version.

Due to the popularity of the first game, Zynga released a sequel to Word With Friends. In September 2017, The second game version came out.

How to Play Words With Friends?

If you are familiar with Scrabble, you can quickly understand the gameplay and rules in the game. However, there may be some variations in terms of placement of the premium squares. You can also expect some differences in the point values of the letters.

In this match, you start with seven randomly provided letter tiles. You will receive the same number of letter tiles as you have used during your turn. However, during the later part of the game, there may no longer be enough letter tiles for replenishment.

Just like the classic board game, players will take turns in forming words on the board. In the alternative, players can opt to add a letter tile or two to concepts already existing on the board. Or they can swap their letter tiles or take a pass if there are no possible words to create.

Forming words on the board, players can only do so either horizontally or vertically. The main goal is to score as many points as possible on every turn.

Premium Squares on the Board Game

Like Scrabble, there are squares on the board that let you double or triple your points. So if you land on a square marked with DL or TL, you get double or triple the letter points. Similarly, when you fall on a DW or TW; you get double or triple the points for that word/s.

How Does Each Game End?

There are 104 letter tiles in every game. So each game ends when these two things concur.

First, when a player plays the letter tiles, and there are no more available letters in the pool. In this case, there may be no more word combinations to make. And second, given the limited letter tiles, the players could no longer make any word on the board.

After playing the last tile, the players will add the values of their respective remaining letter tiles. Then they will subtract that number to their points. The player who garnered the highest score (after making the corresponding deduction) wins.

Game Features

What Are the Game Features of Words With Friends PC?

Before you start crushing your friends in this classic wordplay game, check out the fantastic features of Words With Friends PC. With more game modes and fresh gameplay, you can expect more fun challenges in this beautiful brain-training game.

Fun and Very Entertaining Play

Grab your phone, tablet, or PC, and download Words With Friends PC (and Words With Friends 2). It is the perfect company when you need to relax after a tiring day or when you are bored. Whether you are on a break at the office or waiting for someone, this wordplay game will entertain you.

And what better way to preoccupy your mind during your downtime than with this game. Words With Friends PC can stimulate your brain and help build your vocabulary. It keeps you sharp as you look for the best word combinations to try on the board

Multiplayer Play Challenges

The heart of this match is in its multiplayer online gaming feature. You can get in touch with your friends on Facebook and invite them for a game or two.

Did you know you can play up to 40 games simultaneously at any given time? The game sends push notifications. That way, you don’t have to check on your phone often to see whose turn it is. The app simply alerts you.

Passing a Game Turn

One of the ways a game can end is when there are three scoreless moves in succession. So if you took a pass or failed to make tile exchanges three consecutive times, the other player wins.

That said, it allows the players to pass their turn. All versions of the game have a “pass” feature. There is also a “resign” feature that lets players resign their turn. You can also lose a corner if you choose to swap a letter tile from the pool. Simply pick a letter tile from your fold and choose what letter you want for it.

Do you want to look up what the remaining letters in the pool are? You can do that too. However, you will lose a turn when you opt to do that.

Chat Play Feature

Another cool feature is its chat system. You can get in touch with your opponents through this messaging function. It is a convenient way to communicate with other players. Perhaps invite them for a game or two or simply keep up the banter with your equally competitive friends.

Random Game Opponents

Did you know there were a few couples who met through this match? What started as a friendly match between strangers blossomed into romantic relationships. These couples eventually got married. All because of the game’s random opponent feature and chat function.

In 2009, a Chicago-based woman named Megan Lawless met her future husband by the name of Jasper Jasperse. This Dutchman also lived in Chicago at that time and got to know Megan through the game. A relationship developed, and they eventually got married in July 2011.

Think You Are the Best at the Wordplay Game?

Prove it and crush your friends at this game. Rack up the points in the match with your friends.

Guides

How to Play Words With Friends PC?

The overall objective is to score as many points as you can. You will take turns with your opponent in forming words based on the letter tiles on hand. Then you will tally all the points scored while deducting the value of the tiles on side. The final score shall determine who wins the game.

Placement of the Letter Tiles on the Board

When forming words on the board, you will need to arrange your letters either horizontally or vertically. The game will not count any formed words in a diagonal arrangement.

For the first word thrown in the game, one of the letter tiles needs to be on the star. The next name must connect with the first word. And all following words need to share at least one letter tile from any existing word on the board.

When placing tiles on the board, you can only follow one direction: either vertically or horizontally. You can set the letter tiles in a way that multiple words can form simultaneously with the neighboring letters. So it is possible to form words horizontally or vertically with the nearby letters.

However, you must adhere to the placement rule, following a horizontal or vertical arrangement of the letter tiles. And you cannot place your letter tiles if they form illegal words (or non-words) in relation to the neighbouring letters.

Blank Tiles

Once in a while, you may receive a blank tile from the letter tile pool. This thing can be both a good thing or a bad thing.

You can substitute a blank tile for any letter. So if you want to complete your desired word, this tile is perfect.

But the downside to this is that it has no point value. So what happens if that the blank tile lands on a double or triple letter score? Nothing; you get no points for it. However, you get corresponding points if it falls on a double or triple word score.

Pass, Swap, or Resign in the Play

In addition to forming words on the board, you have three options when it is your turn to play. You can pass your turn, or you can swap your letter tile with your choice from the pool. Or you can resign from the game, which will count as a loss; but you can do this any time.

You may pass your turn when you want to. If you do that, you will not be able to form words on the board. You will have to wait until it is your turn once again. However, when you pass your turn for three consecutive times, it will result as a loss.

Can’t find the right letter combinations to form your desired word? You can swap any letter tile that you have with the ones from the letter tile pool. But when you opt to exchange your letter tiles, you lose a turn. Hence, you will not be making any words on the board for that round.

Scoring Tile

Each letter tile has a corresponding value for scoring purposes. So what if it lands on a double or triple letter score? Then you get double or triple the points based on the letter tile’s value.

When landing on a double or triple word score, you add up all the values of all letter tiles used. Then you multiply it by two or three accordingly.

However, you can no longer double or triple the value of the letters or words played on previous rounds. This thing means you can only enjoy once the bonuses in these premium squares.

Word Game List

You can use any of the 173,000 acceptable words featured on the Enhanced North American Benchmark Lexicon for this match. Also known as ENABLE, it is a public domain tool used by many word games.

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