Bongo

About Bongo

Bongo was designed by the author Seth Godin, who spent eighteen months on it with Zach Gage, Jack Schlesinger, Orta Therox and the rest of the Puzzmo team. It joined Puzzmo's daily page in November 2024. Puzzmo's credits list Schlesinger for the puzzles, including the generator that turns a set of words into the day's tiles.

Each day you get 25 letter tiles with point values and one wild tile that can be any letter. The board has five rows, some multiplier squares and a highlighted bonus line that cuts across the rows. Words only count across: you fill a row with a real word and it scores the values of its letters, multiplied by any squares under them. A word along the bonus line scores extra, and Bongo gives a bonus for common words rather than obscure ones.

The day's tiles are built from five words on a theme, often chosen by Puzzmo players, friends of the site or guest setters, and a word from the theme turns purple when you play it. There are many ways to fill the board, so you can submit, see how you rank and keep trying for a better arrangement. The first player to post the day's top score becomes Bongo Champion.

It suits Scrabble players who want a solo puzzle without luck of the draw, and anyone who likes tinkering with one problem to squeeze out more points.

How to play Bongo

1. Open today's Bongo on puzzmo.com or in the Puzzmo app.
2. Look at the 25 letter tiles, their point values and the multiplier squares on the board.
3. Drag tiles onto a row to spell a word across it; columns do not count.
4. Try to make a word along the highlighted bonus line, and use the wild tile for any letter you lack.
5. Submit your board to see your score and rank, then rearrange to beat it if you like.

Tips

• Place the hard letters such as Q, Z or X first and build their words around the multiplier squares.
• Keep the wild tile for the bonus line if you can manage without it elsewhere.
• Common words earn a bonus, so a plain word on a multiplier can beat a rare one.
• Look for the five theme words; playing them often lines up the high-value letters.

Questions