Nobody gets the better tiles
One random 86-letter sequence is shared by everyone in the game. All players start with the same 7 letters and refill from the identical order — so luck is taken out and it's All's Fair.
In the Daily Tournament it goes further: that day's letters are the same for every player in the world, not just the ones in the room with you.
The word list
All's Fair judges words against the All's Fair International English Lexicon — a fixed list built from open dictionary sources and checked entirely on your device. No word is ever looked up over the internet, so the same word is valid for every player, everywhere, whatever the date.
It takes British, American, Australian and other English spellings. Names of people and places aren't playable, so PARIS and DOYLE won't score. Slurs and strong profanity have been removed and can never be played.
Tap the version number on the home screen to see the sources and their licences.
Your own board
Each player builds words on a private 15×15 board — you can't see anyone else's, only their score and how many tiles they have left. Your first word can go anywhere; later words must connect, crossword-style.
Scoring — count the letters
A word scores one point per letter, whatever the letters are. TIGER scores 5.
Place a tile on a multiplier square and every word that tile is part of is multiplied — so a 5-letter word landing on 4x scores 20. Multipliers run 2x, 4x, 6x, 8x, 10x. On the Classic board they climb the diagonals outward, with 10x in the four corners — but each board in the Board Pack arranges them differently, so it pays to read a new board before you race on it.
Stretch one word across TWO multiplier squares and they multiply together, not just the better of the two. A 7-letter word covering two 2x squares scores 7 ×2×2 = 28. Reaching for a second multiplier is where the big scores are.
One move can build more than one word: the word you laid, plus any word you extend sideways. Each is counted separately and added up, and each is only multiplied if one of your NEW tiles sits on a multiplier — a square covered on an earlier turn is spent.
Example: you play MOG downwards through a 4x, and it also makes NO across that same 4x tile and EM across a plain square. That's (3×4) + (2×4) + 2 = 22.
Use all 7 tiles in one move for a 40-point bonus — and a bell rings on every player's board.
Speed matters too
The clock at the top of your board is always running, and how it's used depends on how you're playing.
In a live game it counts up, and the first player to place every tile ends the game for everyone — so being quick denies the others time to score.
In a one-iPad race the first player's clock also counts up, because their time becomes the target. Everyone after them sees it count DOWN from that target.
In relaxed mode there's no clock at all.
Swapping costs time
Swap tiles whenever you like, but each tile you swap locks you out for 10 seconds. A countdown takes over your board and everyone hears it ticking, so your rivals know you're stuck.
Swapped tiles go to the back of your own sequence and come round again later — you never lose them, you just delay them. (In relaxed mode swapping is free and instant.)
Winning a live game
The game ends the instant one player places every tile — everyone else stops where they are and loses a point for each tile still on their rack or in their bag. The highest score after that deduction wins.
If you're stuck with letters you can't use, tap the finish flag: you stop there and your leftover tiles are deducted, but the others play on. Finishing early doesn't end anyone else's game, so there's nothing to gain by dumping awkward letters — think ahead about how you'll use them.
The one-iPad race
Pass one iPad around and each player runs the very same letters in turn. The first player has no clock — their time to play out sets the target. Everyone after them counts DOWN from the best time so far: your turn ends when you play out (setting a new, faster target) or when the clock runs out.
Everyone is then judged at that winning time, exactly as a live game is judged: your score at that moment, less a point for every tile you were still holding. Take ten minutes to score 300 and you'll still lose to someone who scored 210 in eight — because at eight minutes you were on 200 with tiles left over. Highest score at the winning time wins.
Daily Tournament
One puzzle a day, open to every player, on the Classic board. Everyone in the world gets the same 86 letters, so the only thing separating two scores is how they were played.
You get one go. Your entry is used the moment you start, and there's no replay — seeing the letters once and going again would make it a memory test rather than a race. A new puzzle opens at midnight UTC, and the countdown on the tournament screen tells you when.
It's the one ranking every player shares, whatever else they've unlocked. Sign in to Game Center to appear on it.
The tournament is paid for by advertising, shown before you begin — never once the clock is running, because the clock is your score. If you'd rather not see it, Ad-Free is a small one-off purchase.
Compare Boards
When it's over, tap Compare Boards to see everyone's finished board side by side, with the words they made and what they scored. It's the only time you get to look at an opponent's board.
Game Stats
From Compare Boards, tap Game Stats to see how each player's score climbed over their game, all drawn to the same scale.
A steep line is fast scoring; a flat stretch is a swap penalty or a long think. The dashed line marks the winning time, so you can see exactly where each player stood when the game was judged.
Scoreboard
The Scoreboard on the home screen keeps every game you've played, along with your best score and best pace. Ranking is by points per minute — your final score, after any tiles left over are docked, divided by the time you took — so both halves of the game count. Sign in to Game Center to see how you compare worldwide.
Only online and nearby games are ranked worldwide. A pass-around on one iPad isn't — several people share the screen under names they've typed themselves, so there's no way to tell whose score belongs to whose Game Center account. Those games are still kept in your history.
Practice and relaxed games aren't ranked either. Nor is a game you quit: stopping early would let you keep a fast opening and skip the slow middle. Running out of time still counts — you were still playing.
The Daily Tournament is the exception: everyone plays alone, on the same letters, so it has its own worldwide ranking that every player gets.
Ways to play
One iPad is free and always will be — it covers practising on your own and passing the iPad round for a race with 2–6 players. The Daily Tournament needs no purchase either.
A one-off unlock adds the two live modes: Play Online over Game Center, and Host or Join a Game Nearby over the local network, both for 2–6 players. Hosting and joining share one screen — whoever opens a lobby first hosts, and everyone else taps their name.
On one iPad each player picks their own theme as you type the names, and the whole screen changes to theirs when the iPad reaches them.
Turn on Relaxed mode from the home screen whenever you'd rather think than race: no clock anywhere, and swapping costs nothing.
Relaxed games aren't ranked, and the app tells you before you start one rather than after — host a game with relaxed left on and you're asked whether you meant to; anyone joining sees it before they commit.
The Store
Tap Store on the home screen. Everything there is a one-off purchase, never a subscription, tied to your Apple Account and shared with your family.
Multiplayer unlocks Play Online and Host or Join a Game Nearby. The Board Pack adds three more layouts, each with cut-outs and its own worldwide ranking. Themes change how the board and tiles look. Ad-Free removes advertising from the Daily Tournament.
Nothing on sale makes you better at the game. Themes are purely cosmetic, and every board layout is ranked separately — so a Board Pack score is never compared against a Classic one. The Daily Tournament, where everyone plays the same letters, is open to every player whatever they've bought.
Changed device, or reinstalled? Tap Restore at the top of the Store.