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Wordthief - Page 2

© Sandra Linville

If a player makes a word out of letters of the same suit, the word is wordlocked and can't be stolen.

However, anything else is fair game. A player can steal a word from another player and increase its value with added letters or make two or more words by rearranging letters until all the stolen letters in addition to at least one more letter are used in the new words. When a player's word is stolen, he or she must forfeit the score or chips given for that word and the person stealing the word gains those points. Bonuses are also earned for making wordlocked words, for words of five letters or more and for making words using all seven cards. Players keep their bonus points if a word is stolen.

So, many strategies soon emerge, such as making only wordlocked words, to steal and steal again or to make the most exotic words (which may not be a winning strategy, but it is challenging.) You can't afford to drift off in this game since you are constantly weighing your options, mentally ferreting out words combining your hand and the words on the table, and trying to figure out how to make a word with only one vowel. I thought it great fun and I would recommend this game to players from nine to 99.

Others have agreed. It has won many awards, including best new game at the 1997 British International Toy Fair by U.K. Sumo Games Magazine, highest rating of the Canadian Toy Testing Council, The National Parenting Center's Seal of Approval rating, listing in the 1999 Games magazine Games 100 Award and a rating as one of San Francisco Chronicle's Top Five Games.

You can buy Wordthief at Barnes and Noble, Zany Brainy and Amazon.com. For more information, read more at http://www.fabygames.com.

(continued to part two)

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