The rules in four lines
- On your turn, add one letter anywhere: at the front, at the end, or between two letters.
- Keep the letters inside some real word. You don't have to say which one.
- If your letter completes a word of four or more letters, your opponent can challenge and you lose the round. Short words like CAT don't count.
- If you think your opponent has no real word in mind, challenge. They must name a word that contains the letters. If they can't, they lose the round. If they can, you do.
That's the whole game. It is a modern version of Superghost, the harder cousin of the old spoken game Ghost, with a 196,000-word dictionary as referee so nobody argues about whether a word counts.
Four ways to play with someone
| Situation | What to tap | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| Same couch, one phone | Duel → Pass & Play | Hand the phone across after each move. |
| Same room, two phones | Duel → Challenge a Friend → Create a Game Code | The other phone joins with the code or the game link. No install needed on the browser side. |
| Friend far away | Duel → Challenge a Friend → Create a Game Code → Share game link | Send the link in any messaging app. The game waits in Active Games, so you can take turns hours apart. |
| No one around | Duel → Play the World | Post a game for anyone to accept, or accept one that's waiting. |
Matches are best of 1, 3 or 5 rounds. Turn timers are optional.
A short example
- Ana plays P. Ben adds A: PA.
- Ana adds N: PAN. Three letters, so it's safe.
- Ben has a problem: PANE, PANT and PANS are all words. Instead of adding to the end, he slips an L in the middle: PLAN.
- PLAN is a four-letter word. Ana challenges, and Ben loses the round.
Ben had a safe move: C at the end makes PANC, which isn't a word but sits inside PANCAKE. Finding the letter that keeps the string alive without finishing anything is the whole puzzle.
Why it works well for two
- Rounds are short. A round is one string of letters, usually over within a few minutes, so a best of three fits in a coffee break.
- Vocabulary isn't everything. A player who knows fewer words can still win by bluffing calmly and challenging at the right moment.
- Both players think on every turn. You are guessing what word your opponent has in mind while protecting your own.
Other two-player word games that need nothing
If you're away from a screen, these classics need only two people:
- Ghost: take turns adding a letter to the end of a word in progress. Whoever completes a word loses and collects a letter of G-H-O-S-T.
- Superghost: the same, but letters may go at either end. WordCracker goes one step further and allows letters in the middle.
- Word chain: each word must start with the last letter of the previous word. No repeats.
- Jotto: each player picks a secret five-letter word; take turns guessing and the other says how many letters your guess shares with their word.
- Hangman: one player picks a word, the other guesses letters before the drawing is finished.
Questions
Is it free?
Yes. The full game plays free in any modern browser and on iPhone and Android.
Can we play on one phone?
Yes. Duel → Pass & Play.
Does my friend need the app?
No. A shared game link opens in the browser. The apps play the same game if you'd rather install.
Can I practise alone first?
Yes. Solo has a Quick Match against the AI at four difficulty levels, and a Daily Puzzle that's new every day.