Word Hustle by People for Goldfish
Price: ~$28.00
Players: 1 to 4
Playtime: 20 to 35 minutes
Perfect for: Groups of word enthusiasts who like putting their vocabulary to the test under the pressure of time.
Word Hustle is a game of competitive crosswords! To begin, 1 to 4 players collect a scoresheet and draft letter tiles from a random collection drawn from the general supply (and one letter gets put back). On a turn, a player will roll five dice in an attempt to create sets. These sets then enable the player to take actions, such as randomly collecting new letter tiles from the supply or stealing desirable letters from opponents.
Once everyone has rolled, players must scramble to use their letter tiles to make a series of connected words. Longer words, and ones that use bonus letters (i.e. X, Q, J, etc.), score more points. Once a player is satisfied with their arrangement, they yell “hustle!” and start a 1-minute sand-timer in which their opponents must complete their crossword. Words are then scored and tallied (with negative points awarded for non-real words or unused tiles). After three rounds, the player with largest score wins.
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What works in Word Hustle are the clever twists on familiar words games that keep the engagement level at a high level. First, the drafting and stealing mechanics help balance out the gameplay—having more tiles means the potential for more or longer words, but it will take a player longer to use them all. There’s also a fun optional final bonus around whereby after scoring: the second-place player can challenge the person with the most points to essentially replay the last round using their letters and trying to beat their 3rd round score in two minutes.
Players who do not enjoy testing their lexicon, or the pressures of racing gameplay, may not enjoy Word Hustle as much as others. While there are some elements that help smooth out some disparities in language levels, inevitably people with stronger and deeper vocabularies will have a distinct advantage—choosing to play with suitable peers is recommended. Also, the timing element is going to have a distinct reaction for players which could be either exhilarating or nerve-racking.
Word Hustle is lovely family and small group game for word enthusiasts. While it will likely remind many of well-established classics in the genre, there are enough variables to mix freshness in with the familiar.
Recommended if you like: Scrabble, Bananagrams
Final Grade: A-
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