SpellTower

About SpellTower

SpellTower began as a mobile game by Zach Gage in 2011, built from the idea of mixing Tetris with Boggle. When Gage and Orta Therox opened Puzzmo in October 2023, SpellTower was one of the first games on its daily page, and Puzzmo's credits list Gage for the design and Gage and Jack Schlesinger for the puzzles.

The Puzzmo version is a single tall grid of letters that looks like a word search. You drag through neighbouring letters to spell a word, and you can turn corners, go diagonally, cross your own path and read backwards. Every letter you use drops out of the grid and the letters above fall into the gap, so the board changes shape after every word.

Longer words score more and do more damage: a word of five letters or more also clears the tiles next to it, which is how you get rid of the grey blank blocks that cannot be spelled. Some rare letters clear their whole row. The aim of the day is a total clear, with as high a score as you can manage on the way.

Everyone on Puzzmo gets the same grid for the date, so scores can be compared on the leaderboards and with friends. It suits people who like word searches and Boggle but want a game where the order you play your words matters.

How to play SpellTower

1. Open today's SpellTower on puzzmo.com or in the Puzzmo app.
2. Drag through touching letters in any direction to spell a word, then let go to submit it.
3. Watch the letters you used disappear and the tiles above them drop down.
4. Use words of five or more letters to also clear the tiles around them, including grey blank blocks.
5. Keep going until the grid is empty or no more words can be made, then compare your score.

Screenshots

Tips

• Clear letters near the bottom first; the tiles above will fall into new combinations.
• Save long words for spots next to blank blocks, since only a five-letter word or longer clears them.
• Do not spend rare letters in short words early if they could anchor a long word later.
• Before your last few words, count the leftover letters so you do not strand a single vowel or consonant.

Questions