Combinations

About Combinations

Combinations is a browser word game with a new numbered puzzle every day. The grid is made of tiles that each hold a small cluster of letters, such as a syllable or a word ending. A word is built by tapping two, three or four tiles in order, and a tile can be used only once in the same word, though the same tile turns up in several different words.

Every letter of a found word is worth a point, so a seven-letter word scores seven. Stars mark your progress: the first comes with your first word, the next at a quarter, half and three quarters of the day's points, and the fifth when every word is found. A number on each tile shows how many remaining words still use it, and a tile flips over when it reaches zero, which steadily narrows the grid as you go.

Rarer words that the grid can make are kept as bonus words. They do not score, but one of them is the hidden word of the day. One hint a puzzle is free and shows the tiles of a word you have not found; more hints are unlocked by watching an ad. There is also a Hard mode, a puzzle archive for past days, and versions in other languages with their own daily puzzles.

It plays like a slower, more thorough cousin of Quartiles: less about speed, more about clearing the board.

How to play Combinations

1. Look over the grid of letter-group tiles in today's puzzle.
2. Tap two, three or four tiles in order to spell a word, then press Submit or Enter.
3. Each letter of a valid word scores a point; the number on each tile drops as its words are found.
4. Earn stars at a quarter, half and three quarters of the points, and the fifth by finding every word.
5. Use Shuffle to see new pairings, and a hint if you are stuck on the last words.

Tips

• Watch the numbers on the tiles: a tile showing 1 is in exactly one word you still need.
• Try common endings such as -ing or -tion tiles against every other tile before moving on.
• Shuffle often; a new layout makes pairs you had missed easier to see.
• Proper nouns, hyphenated words and very rare words do not count, so stick to everyday vocabulary.

Questions