How to play Ghost
You need two or more players and nothing else: no board, no pen.
- The first player says a letter. Going round the group, each player adds one letter to the end.
- Every player must have a real word in mind that starts with the letters so far.
- If your letter completes a word, you lose the round. Groups usually agree on a minimum length, often four letters, so short words like CAT don't end things on turn three.
- If you think the last player invented their letter, challenge them. They must name a word that starts with those letters. If they can, the challenger loses the round. If they can't, they lose it.
Scoring: spelling GHOST
Each time you lose a round you take the next letter of G-H-O-S-T. After five losses you've spelled GHOST and you're out. The last player left wins.
Superghost
In the harder variant, Superghost, you may add a letter to the front as well as the end. The letters then only have to appear somewhere inside a word, which opens up far more moves and far more bluffs.
A strategy tip: count to the end
The string is PLA and it's your turn. N, T and Y each finish a word (PLAN, PLAT, PLAY), so you need a letter that keeps a longer word going.
With two players, the word you're steering toward decides who says its last letter. C, aiming at PLACE, puts the final E on your opponent. Q, aiming at PLAQUE, puts the final E back on you.
Your opponent can still escape: from PLAC an I leads toward PLACID. Good Ghost players track several words at once.
Play Ghost online with WordCracker
WordCracker is a modern take on Ghost and Superghost for two players. The rules you know are all there, with a few changes:
- Letters can go anywhere: the front, the end, or between two letters.
- Finishing any real word of four or more letters loses the round.
- A built-in dictionary of about 196,000 words settles every challenge, so there are no arguments.
- Matches are best of 1, 3 or 5 rounds instead of spelling GHOST.
- Once per round each, you can Swap one letter and Shuffle the board to get out of a trap.
Play a friend with a game code, pass one phone around the car, or practice against the AI at four difficulty levels. There's also a new Daily Puzzle every day.
Questions
Is Ghost good for families and classrooms?
The spoken game is. It builds spelling and vocabulary and needs no materials. WordCracker itself is for players 13 and up.
Can more than two people play online?
Not at once. WordCracker games are one-on-one. For a group, take turns playing the winner.
Does it cost anything?
No. It's free in the browser and on iPhone and Android, and you don't need an account to start.