Word Chase (CleverGoat)

Word Chase is one of CleverGoat's daily games, beside Word Grid, Stacked, Categories, Flipple and Takes. Each numbered game is one board of letters, the same for every player that day, and you have two minutes on it.

The board is a grid of about thirty letter tiles joined by lines, with gaps that change its shape from day to day: one day a cross, another a ring of tiles around open squares. A word must be at least two letters long and is traced through tiles that touch, beside, above, below or diagonally. On a phone you swipe across the letters; on a desktop you drag with the mouse or type the word, pressing Tab to switch between paths when there are several.

Each letter is worth 10 points, and from the sixth letter of a word on, each letter is worth 20, so long words pay well. One tile carries a DW badge and one a TW badge, doubling or tripling any word routed through them. Found words line up under the board in green, a repeat shows yellow and a miss red, next to the clock and your score.

When time runs out your score goes on the day's leaderboard, and with an account you can add friends or create a squad to compare. A tutorial and a practice mode sit on the start screen. The game is free with ads; a paid option removes them.

It suits Boggle fans who like a quick daily sprint with a little planning about where to spend the bonus squares.