Mag Web (Magazine Web)
August 2001
Russ Lockwood
USA

My Word! provides 56 cards with one or two letters on them, including a few "?" which act as wildcards. The object is to form words out of three or more cards like you form words out of letter tiles in Scrabble. The one with the most cards wins. There are no turns--you just announce the word first and scoop up the cards. Ideally, a neutral dealer flips the cards face up between the other players. We played one-on-one, and so simply one of us acted as the dealer. There's no advantage or disadvantage. A game lasts through one deck, and takes about 10 minutes with adults.

Since quantity, not quality, matters, forget about creating fancy words. Just spell "cat" or "dog" and grab the cards. Sometimes, you'll get a series of cards without a vowel to be seen and other times, visa versa. On rare occasions, you'll have a nice mix and nothing can be found word-wise.

After an hour, we placed the cards back in the box. I'm thinking that this would be useful on family vacations when TV is boring and you need something to do. Scrabble is better, but My Word! is quicker.

If I could present an option, perhaps a Yahtzee-style bonus for the first four card word, first five-card world, and first six-card word. That way, you inject a little quality into the quantity aspect.

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