I’ve just spend the weekend with my sister in Kansas, and we – big Boggle players as are most in my family – refined and piloted a new version of playing Boggle that introduces some fun variations. (We tried a few variations and this worked best for us.)
If you have the 5×5 Boggle board (sold as Boggle Deluxe or Big Boggle), here is the way to play. Get a die, take turns rolling the die. The number on the die determines the rules for the round:
1. Standard Boggle rules, 4 letters or more
2. Standard Boggle rules, 5 letters or more
3. Nouns only (pronouns okay, proper nouns not okay), 3 letters or more
4. Verbs only (adverbs not okay), 3 letters or more
5. First person to write down a six letter (or more) word* and then say Got It wins the round. Winner earns 8 points, everyone else gets Zero. [If the claimed six-letter word is proved to not be a word, the pretended winner loses 15 points and round ends.]
6. Roller chooses any of the above games.
Point scheme is as follows: 3 letter word=1 point, 4 letters=1 point, 5 letters=2 points, 6 letters=3 points, 7 letters=5 points, 8+ letters=11 points.
* We tried the first person with a seven letter word, but my sister is one of the best Boggle players I know and even with her, I think this would lead to a lot of dry rounds. Sometimes 6-letters goes fast, but that’s okay.
We briefly piloted with a 4×4 board, and we would vary the rules pretty much as you’d expect.
1. Standard Boggle rules, 3 letters or more
2. Standard Boggle rules, 4 letters or more
3. Nouns only (pronouns okay, proper nouns not okay), 3 letters or more
4. Verbs only (adverbs not okay), 3 letters or more
5. First person to write down a five letter word and then say Got It wins the round. Winner earns 6 points, no one else wins.
6. Roller chooses any of the above games.
David Evans' personal blog 