Letter Boxed is a fun, exciting and popular game available from the NYT Games website also known for bringing you smash hits such as Wordle and Spelling Bee. Through this article, we look at the history of the game, its general gameplay and some useful tips and tricks to turn you into a master!
How to play Letter Boxed
When playing Letter Boxed, players are shown a box with 3 unique letters on each side. The goal of the game is to make different words using these letters, using the following rules:
- Letters on the same side of the square cannot be played consecutively.
- The last letter of each word must be used to form the first letter of the next word. For example, if the 5-letter word FRONT is chosen, the next word must begin with the letter “T”.
- The game is completed when all letters have been used in a word at least once.
First time players may wish to start by simply trying to solve the puzzle, without giving too much importance to the number of words they enter. Over time, regular players should look to match the target given, before eventually completing puzzles in fewer words.
How to solve Letter Boxed
Now you should be able to understand the primary goal in Letter Boxed, but may be wondering how to put it all into practice. Follow our steps in more detail to help you solve each daily level.
- Before the game starts, Letter Boxed will provide the player with a target number of words in which they should be able to complete the level. Completing a level in fewer words is more difficult, while exceeding the number of words is significantly easier.
- Begin a game of Letter Boxed by identifying your first playable word. To do so, enter a letter on one side of the square, followed by a letter on one of the other three sides as many times as needed to form a word. The same letter can even be selected multiple times, increasing your possibilities.
- As each word is created, pay attention to how the letters chosen change colour and lines are formed between them to signify their links. Each word must have a length of at least three characters but can be as long as the player requires.
- When your chosen word is selected, press or click enter to submit it. Your next word must begin with the last letter of the word submitted previously, which adds a significant level of difficulty to the game. Each word ending can significantly impact your options for the next playable word.
- Fortunately, if you get stuck, you can press backspace or hit delete to remove characters one by one, going back to previous words if needed. The restart button can even be used to wipe the board and allow you to start over from scratch.
- Black letters are letters already played, while white letters are yet to be played. Players are required to continue building words until all letters have been submitted at least once.
- Although you can complete the game in as many words as you need, to really challenge yourself you should try to solve the puzzle in the number of words suggested by the game, or even less if you find it possible to do so.
Overall, Letter Boxed is a fairly simple game to figure out but when put into practice, you will soon see it can be more tricky than it first seems. Understanding the rules in more detail should help get you started but you will also want to embrace some of the best strategies to reduce the number of words needed to find a solution.
Letter Boxed tips and tricks
If you want to find out how to get better at Letter Boxed, you’re in luck! WordsRated have created this trusty guide to help you make the most of the words you play, so you can complete each level using fewer words!
Plan your words
One common mistake people make when playing Letter Boxed is rushing in straight away, playing a word to get off the mark. Instead of playing in this way, take your time to look at the letters on each side of the square to see if you can identify any useful patterns.
Try to identify as many playable words* as you can, especially those that contain a large number of letters as they can eliminate more letters in one turn. Once you have a list of words, see if you can combine them in an order where the last letter of one word matches the first letter of another to solve the solution.
*where each subsequent letter switches sides.
Understand letter placement
By paying attention to each of the provided letters, you will find that certain letters are more common at the start, in the middle or at the end of words. Knowing this, try to get the trickiest letters out of the way early on and make sure your word endings set you up to easily create the words that follow.
It is important to remain aware that each time you pick a letter, the next letter chosen must be from a different side of the box. Although there are 12 letters in total, only 9 of these (75%) can be chosen each time you move on to your next letter, which reduces your number of options.
Modify previous words
Each game of Letter Boxed provides players with a target number of words by which they should aim to reach the solution. Despite this, there is nothing to prevent players from making multiple attempts to find a winning solution within the game’s number of recommended words.
Players are able to remove letters one at a time, remove previous words to change solutions or even start again from scratch, to solve a level using a reduced number of words. Just make sure not to submit your final word (which uses your final missing letter/letters) if you think you can improve your score, as this will cause the game to end on a score you feel you could beat.
Take your time
Letter Boxed is a daily game with a new level released every 24 hours, allowing players enough time to solve each level, even on the busiest of days. One of the best recommended strategies to implement is to take your time and carefully consider the options available to you.
To do this effectively, take a quick look at the daily level soon after waking and try to keep the letters needed at the back of your mind. When you eventually have a moment free, try to see if you can solve it but if you are particularly busy and run out of time, remember you will still have a chance to beat tomorrow’s word.
Use a cheat tool
If you have tried all of the strategies above and are still struggling to solve the level within the target number of words, try using a cheat tool such as WordsRated’s Word Finder to help you out. All you have to do is enter the letters available to you from each side of the square and hit “search” to find a list of solutions.
When using our Word Finder, it is also important to remember that:
- Words must be at least 3-letters in length, meaning you should not pay attention to smaller words from the solver’s potential solutions.
- Letter Boxed allows you to re-use letters multiple times, so you may wish to enter common letters more than once to give you some additional word options.
- Although the Word Finder will provide you with a list of solutions, it is still down to you to choose the most appropriate words to use.
- Due to this, take into account that you cannot use letters from one side multiple times in a row and that each word entered must start with the last letter of the previous word.
Why people play Letter Boxed
Letter Boxed has a huge appeal to many players as its level of difficulty varies day-by-day, creating an unpredictable challenge. Whereas novices may simply be satisfied just finding a way to use all of the letters at least once in as many words as it takes, advanced players compete to solve the level using the least possible words.
What’s more, Letter Boxed provides players with a unique mix of word play, memorization and logic which distinguishes it from other word games. Players of all ages and backgrounds are drawn to the game as it is easy to understand and can be played on computer, mobile or tablet through the NYT Games website or app.
History of Letter Boxed
Letter Boxed was officially released on the New York Times website in 2019, after a soft launch the previous year. Designed by Sam Ezersky, Letter Boxed was created in order to entice more customers to subscribe to their Crossword challenge and attract a larger audience overall.
Since its creation, Letter Boxed has become one of the most popular games on the NYT Games section. When compared to other games offered by the website, Letter Boxed provides a captivating challenge, appealing to players that seek a different kind of word game.
When does Letter Boxed reset?
Players have a full 24 hours to complete each level of Letter Boxed before they can no longer attempt to solve it. As a daily word game like Wordle, each new level is published at 3:00 AM in accordance with Eastern Standard Time.
What other NYT games are there?
The New York Times is famed for its popular games section available through their website or through their app. The full list of NYT games includes: