Letter Together

1What you need

At least 20 letter cards, including 7 vowels (A, E, I, O, U), a 5-minute timer, and an agreed dictionary.

2Set it up

Separate and shuffle vowels and consonants. Deal 7 vowels and 13 consonants face up in the middle. The other cards are not used.

3How to play

1. Start a 5-minute timer. Everyone works on the same puzzle, moving cards and suggesting words together.
2. Make separate words of at least 3 letters. Each physical card belongs to one word only; words do not overlap or cross.
3. You can break apart and rebuild words as often as you like. Keep trying to use more of the 20 cards before time runs out.

4Scoring & winning

At the buzzer, check your words in the dictionary. Count the cards in valid words: 12–15 is a good start, 16–19 is a great team effort, and 20 is a perfect puzzle. Below 12? Shuffle and give it another go. Solo players use exactly the same rules.

5The finer points

No proper nouns, abbreviations, hyphens or apostrophes. Dictionary-listed plurals and verb forms are allowed. You may make the same word twice if you have enough cards. Cards in invalid words and unused cards score zero. You cannot swap cards with the remaining deck.