Stackle

About Stackle

Stackle is a daily chain-building word puzzle. Each day has a theme title and a star difficulty, and opens with a pair of starter words, such as SITAR and TRAIN for Classical practice. Below the stack sit twelve spare letters.

To add the next word, take the word on top, swap one of its letters for one of the spare ones, and scramble the five letters into a new real word: CRAFT becomes TRACK by swapping F for K. Each spare letter can be used only once, and no word may contain the same letter twice. You keep stacking until no new word can be made from what is left. A counter shows your stack height against the day's best of eight, and a line under the board tells you how many options exist for your next word, with hints behind the info button.

Your choices early on decide how tall the stack can grow, so the puzzle rewards planning which letters to spend. Results can be shared, and a streak and score chart track your days.

How to play Stackle

1. Open stackle.fun and read the day's starter words and spare letters.
2. Pick one letter of the top word to swap out, and one spare letter to bring in.
3. Rearrange the five letters into a new real word and enter it to add it to the stack.
4. Do not reuse spare letters, and use no duplicate letters within a word.
5. Keep stacking until no word can be formed; aim for the day's best of eight.

Tips

• Spend awkward spare letters like F, H and U early, while the stack still has flexible letters.
• Check the option count under the board: a low number warns you are heading for a dead end.
• Keep common letters like R, T and A in the stack; they make the most words.
• Use the hint button when stuck rather than ending the stack early.

Questions