We researched the best word games besides Scrabble, considering the duration, difficulty level, and player count. Our best overall pick is Spinmaster’s Upwords, an easy-to-learn Scrabble variation that involves stacking tiles on top of each other to earn points. Here are the best word games. This modernized version of the classic old-school 80’s variety of Upwords is fun and challenging for all ages to play. It makes a great Friday night game for the family, a fun indoor activity for a rainy or snowy afternoon, or an occasional break from worksheets and online instruction for school spelling and vocab lessons. Like Scrabble with a few interesting twists, some folks love to play it without even keeping score. Players compete to build words across or down the board to earn points. But the twist is that you can also stack tiles on top of each other to create new words and increase your score. The game board even spins for easy access no matter where you play. Unlike Scrabble, players can place one or two tiles down on the board while still earning many points and creating a large word, making it accessible to more ages. However, some may find it difficult to stack the tiles, and the quality of the board is not as high as the original game. Price at time of publish: $15 You won’t need to write anything down for this game, so if you’ve got a steady surface, you can play it on the move, too, with its convenient banana-shaped carrying case. Price at time of publish: $14 Price at time of publish: $22 Equipped with a sturdy wooden surface, an erasable whiteboard, a dry erase marker and eraser, you have everything you need no matter where you want to play. Price at time of publish: $11 Price at time of publish: $20 If you’re ever not sure whether your partner’s word is actually a word or not, you can keep track in your best dictionary or by looking them up online before tallying up the points—and be sure to double check the spelling, too! Price at time of publish: $10 It’s a cinch to learn: As always, using one-word clues, players have to try to guess the password: If they fail, their opponents get to guess. The game is based on a televised game show that aired in the 1960’s and 70’s, of which old episodes can still be watched on YouTube and other channels today. Price at time of publish: $20 Price at time of publish: $20 To play, you predict words that you think complete certain phrases while trying to match your guess to others’. You’ll get points depending upon how many others had the same prediction. Price at time of publish: $25 Price at time of publish: $20 Brush up on your parts of speech (you remember adjectives, adverbs, nouns, etc., right?) while using cards to make wacky sentences for the most votes. Get the most votes three times and you’re the winner. Price at time of publish: $18 For an authentic touch, all of the puzzles are written by the Wheel of Fortune staff, so you can really feel like a contestant on the show. The game includes 100 new puzzles to solve for hours and hours of playtime. Happy spinning! Price at time of publish: $15 This word search collection contains 84 pages of varying subjects to softly engage your mind. Inside, there are also several unique puzzles requiring secret answers or hidden clues that aren’t like the average word search. Price at time of publish: $13 The difficulty levels go up from this very first book in the series to the most advanced activities of Volume IV. Assisted Living staff may find this book useful in their activity planning, and family members may find it enjoyable to play with their relatives. “Fill in the Blank” and “Complete the Song Title” are examples of the types of games described in the book. Price at time of publish: $12 A great party activity, this game ends once each category has at least four puns written in and is most fun for creative people. Some say you can easily remove a few “inappropriate” cards from the pack and then the game becomes kid-friendly. Price at time of publish: $30 Price at time of publish: $24 Price at time of publish: $39
Occasion
Are you in search of a game for a specific event? Or something themed? You want to be on the lookout for something that you can either use at home or out with people or something for an event like bridal showers or birthday parties. Some themed games will make the night at parties.
Game Duration
If you are at an event, knowing how much time a full round of a game will take can help you schedule other activities throughout the night. Or, if you’re at home, you’ll know whether or not a game is going to take up most of the evening or just last for a few minutes. Sometimes quick games are a nice change of pace.
Why Trust The Spruce?
KJ Callihan writes for The Spruce and has created numerous shopping and gift guides for several publications. A former counselor and educator, she loves searching for just the right gift for her friends and family. Additional contributions for this guide came from Austin Fracchia, a freelance writer, avid do-it-yourselfer, and teacher, and Katie Pittman, a lifestyle and digital media writer and expert for MyDomaine.
