The short version
Two teams. Each team gets its own secret word. Both words are the same length and come from the same difficulty tier. The first team to work out its word wins the round. Most rounds wins the match.
On your turn, do one thing
| Move | What happens |
|---|---|
| Guess a letter | It’s checked against your own word. A hit flips every copy of that letter. Hit or miss, your turn ends, unless a chaos event says otherwise. |
| Block a letter | Lock one letter out of the other team’s alphabet for the rest of the round. You get one block per round. It ends your turn. |
| Solve | Type your whole word. Right, and the round is yours. Wrong, and the other team takes the round. |
Guessing is safe but slow. Solving is fast but fatal. Every round is a question about when to stop being careful.
Clues run on a shared clock
Every word has three clues, written from sneaky to nearly a giveaway. Clue one is showing from the start. Clue two unlocks after four moves and clue three after eight. Moves are counted across both teams, not per team.
That’s the rule that makes Word War an actual contest rather than two people doing puzzles side by side. Stall and guess cautiously, and you’re feeding the other side better clues too.
Every six moves, chaos
After every sixth move a chaos event takes over the screen and applies to both teams. The same event never fires twice in a row, and an event that would do nothing right now (Amnesty when nothing is blocked, for example) is never dealt.
| Event | How long | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Echo | Each team’s next turn | For each team's next turn, every guess is checked in both words. Careful: you could finish theirs for them. |
| Vowel Rush | Each team’s next turn | For each team's next turn, guessing a vowel doesn't end your turn. |
| Hot Hands | Each team’s next turn | For each team's next turn, every correct letter earns another guess. |
| Speed Round | Each team’s next turn | Each team's next turn lasts 10 seconds instead of 30. |
| Lucky Dip | Right away | Each team gets one hidden letter flipped for free. |
| Clue Drop | Right away | The next clue unlocks right now for both teams. |
| Recharge | Right away | Both teams get their block back. |
| Amnesty | Right away | Every blocked letter is free again, for both teams. |
The clock
Each turn is 30 seconds (10 during a Speed Round). Run out and the turn simply passes, with no penalty. The clock stops while a team is typing a solve, while a chaos card is up and between rounds, so it only ever runs while someone is actually thinking.