Lode (Mind Loft)

About Lode (Mind Loft)

Lode is a make-words-from-letters puzzle on Mind Loft, a free site of daily browser games. Each day every player gets the same seven letters, one of them marked as the core letter. Every word must contain the core letter and be at least four letters long, and letters can be used as many times as you like. A word that uses every letter on the board is a pangram and earns a bonus of 10 points.

What sets it apart from other letter-hive games is the scoring. A word is graded common, uncommon or rare, with multipliers of one, two and three on its length bonus, so an awkward word nobody else thinks of is worth more than several obvious four-letter fills. The board only scores a curated list of words; a real word that is not on the list goes into your "tailings", where it is noted but scores nothing and costs nothing.

Each day has a target score. Reach it and you have struck the Lode, which counts the day as solved; on the day we looked, the target was 84 points and the core letter was Y. Finding every word on the board is the Mother Lode. Only your first posted score counts for the leaderboard, with ties broken by fewer words and then the faster clock.

A new board arrives at midnight US Eastern Time, and the Sunday Edition uses eight letters. It suits Spelling Bee players who would rather be rewarded for an unusual word than for a long list.

How to play Lode (Mind Loft)

1. Open mindloftdaily.com/lode and press Start to see the day's seven letters and the core letter.
2. Type a word and press Enter, or tap the letters; it must use the core letter and be four letters or longer.
3. Reuse letters as often as you like, and look for a pangram that uses every letter for 10 extra points.
4. Keep finding words until you reach the day's target score and strike the Lode.
5. Carry on for the Mother Lode, every word on the board, if you want the full set.

Screenshots

Tips

• Work the awkward letters first: a rare word is worth two or three common ones.
• Look for the pangram early; it pays a flat 10 on top of its word score.
• Only your first posted score ranks, so do not leave mid-game expecting a second try to count.
• A word that lands in the tailings is not a penalty, so it costs nothing to try uncertain spellings.

Questions