Outspell

What is Outspell?

Outspell is a turn-based word board game. You and the computer take turns building connected words on an 11 × 11 grid. You begin with seven letter tiles. Place a word, earn its points, draw back up to seven tiles, and try to finish with the higher score. This site has its own independently built board, controls, and word policy.

The game opens immediately above this guide. There is no account, timer, or daily limit. A game in progress is saved in your browser when storage is available. If browser storage is blocked, you can still play, but the game will not survive a reload.

How to play Outspell

1. Make your first word through the center. Select a letter from your rack and then select an empty square. Place at least two letters in one horizontal or vertical line. Your opening word must cover the center DW square.
2. Connect later words. Each new move must touch at least one tile already on the board. You may use existing letters inside your new word, but every new tile in that move must share one row or one column.
3. Check every word your move creates. A tile placed next to an existing word can form a crossing word. All words of two or more letters made by the move must appear in this game's word list.
4. Play, pass, or swap. Press Play word to submit. If you do not want to play, Pass gives the computer a turn. Swap rack exchanges all your tiles when the bag has at least that many tiles left.
5. Finish ahead. The game ends when the bag is empty and either player uses the last tile in a rack, or after six consecutive turns without a played word. Remaining rack points are deducted from each player's score.

To undo a tile before playing, choose its board square again. Clear tiles returns every unplayed tile to your rack. New game starts with a new shuffled bag and replaces the current game.

How scoring works

Each letter has a base value. The values used here are shown below. There are 98 letter tiles and no blanks in this version. The word data and scoring rules are the same at every difficulty setting.

Letter point values

Points	Letters
1	A, E, I, L, N, O, R, S, T, U
2	D, G
3	B, C, M, P
4	F, H, V, W, Y
5	K
8	J, X
10	Q, Z

Colored bonus squares are also labeled on the board. DL doubles the new tile's letter value; TL triples it. DW doubles the full word; TW triples it. If a move makes a main word and crossing words, each word is scored. A newly placed bonus tile can affect each word that includes it. Existing tiles do not activate their old bonus squares again.

For example, the opening word AT across the center scores four points: A and T are worth one point each, and the center DW doubles the two-point word. Playing all seven tiles from your rack in one turn adds a 40-point bonus after the words are scored.

Board and tile bag

The 11 × 11 board has 121 squares, including the center starting square. The board's letter and word bonuses are arranged symmetrically. A square keeps its label after a tile covers it in the underlying rules, but the bonus is consumed by the first tile placed there. You can use that letter again in later words without receiving the bonus again.

The bag begins with 98 tiles. Seven are drawn for you and seven for the computer, leaving 84 in the bag at the start. After a played word, the player who moved draws back up to seven tiles while the bag has tiles. You cannot see the computer's rack. The bag count above the board helps you judge when the endgame is near.

There is no word timer, and you can take as long as you need on a turn. Only a submitted word, a pass, or a rack swap advances the turn. Selecting and clearing tiles does not use a turn. The game saves after completed turns, so the positions you are still arranging are not part of a saved move.

Eight practical ways to improve

1. Look for two words at once. A tile beside an existing row can make one word across and another down. Both scores count, provided both words are accepted.
2. Plan around multipliers. A high-value letter on TL can be useful, but a word that reaches DW or TW may score more. Check the full move before committing.
3. Protect useful vowels. Spending every A and E in one low-scoring move can leave a rack that is difficult to use. A balanced rack gives you more possible words next turn.
4. Use existing letters. Once words are on the board, you can extend them or cross them. A move using two or three of your own tiles may still score well if it connects to valuable letters.
5. Watch the bag count. As the bag gets smaller, there are fewer chances to refresh a difficult rack. Long-term tile balance matters more near the end.
6. Swap before you are stuck. The Swap rack button exchanges your whole rack, so use it when the whole rack is unhelpful. It also gives up your turn.
7. Use short words as bridges. A legal two-letter word can open a new area of the board or place a letter near a bonus square for a later turn.
8. Consider the endgame deduction. When the bag is empty, unused high-value tiles can reduce your final score. A modest legal move may be better than holding out for a perfect one.

Choose a computer difficulty

Difficulty changes how the computer picks from the legal moves it finds. Easy chooses from a wider group of good moves. Normal chooses from a smaller, stronger group. Hard chooses the highest-scoring move found in its curated vocabulary. The computer does not see your rack and does not use a different dictionary. A harder setting is a move-selection rule, not a promise that the computer always finds the best move possible.

You can change difficulty in Settings during a game. Dark mode and colorblind labels are available there too. The board labels TW, DW, TL, and DL remain readable without relying on color alone.

What words count?

The game accepts two-to-eleven-letter alphabetic entries from the included Wordnik game word list. This list contains familiar words and less common entries. It does not provide definitions or official tournament rulings. If a move fails, the status area names the first word that is not in this list. Your unplayed tiles stay on the board so you can adjust them.

The computer draws its words from a smaller, hand-selected common-word set, while the same large list checks legality for both players. The Outspell Dictionary uses the same acceptance policy and lets you check a word before making a move.

Frequently asked questions

Is this the official Outspell game?

No. This is an independent word board implementation for outspell.online. It does not use another publisher's artwork, sounds, or game interface. Its tile distribution, bonuses, and endgame rules are described on this page so you can see exactly how this version works.

Can I play on a phone?

Yes. The board stays inside its own horizontal scroll area on narrow screens so its squares remain large enough to tap. Select a tile, slide the board to the square you want, and tap the square. The rest of the page stays within the screen width.

Can I use a keyboard?

Yes. Press a letter key to select a matching tile in your rack. With a board square focused, use arrow keys to move between squares and Enter or Space to place the tile. All game buttons and settings can also be reached with Tab.

What happens if I reload?

The board, scores, tile bag, and both racks are saved in local browser storage after completed turns. Unplayed placements are cleared on reload. If storage is unavailable or blocked, the game remains playable during the current visit, but it starts fresh after a reload.

Can I exchange only some tiles?

No. Swap rack exchanges all the tiles in your rack in this version. It is available only when the bag contains enough tiles for the exchange. Swapping uses your turn, so compare it with a small legal word first.

When does the game end?

It ends when the bag is empty and either side plays the last tile in its rack, or after six consecutive turns without a played word, including swaps. Each side then loses the point value of tiles left in its rack. The side with the higher final score wins.

Is Outspell free here?

Yes. The game on this page can be played without payment or an account. Press New game to begin another match. There is no daily limit or timed session in this version.

Are there blank tiles?

No. This version uses 98 letter tiles and does not include blanks. Every letter you place has its printed point value. That makes the rack simpler to use on a small screen and keeps the scoring rules consistent across mouse, touch, and keyboard play.

Does the computer know my letters?

No. The computer chooses from its own seven-tile rack and the letters visible on the board. It checks candidate moves against the same large acceptance list as you. Difficulty changes how it selects among the legal moves it finds, not what it can see.

Can I change the difficulty mid-game?

Yes. Open Settings and select Easy, Normal, or Hard. The change applies to the computer's later turns and does not alter moves already played or the word list used to check them.

If you want a shorter word challenge, play Hangman with category clues and six misses.