What Is Boggle With Friends?
Boggle With Friends is a timed spelling game. It adds all of the common elements of modern mobile games into the mix. But, at its core, it is a digital version of Boggle.
In each round of Boggle With Friends, you spell as many words as you can from a selection of 16 letter squares. The words you spell earn you points, and having the highest score at the end of the game is the only way to win. So, spell fast and spell a lot.
From Scramble and Word Streak With Friends
The origins of Boggle With Friends stem from a Boggle clone. Originally, Zynga released a game called Scramble With Friends, which they later changed to Word Streak With Friends. It featured the basic gameplay of Boggle, distinguishing itself with extra features and a different visual style.
In 2017, Zynga got the rights to use the Boggle license. They then released Boggle With Friends effectively as an updated version of their original game. This helped to align the game's title with Words With Friends, Zynga's hugely popular Scrabble-like game.
How to Play
The steps for playing Boggle With Friends are simple. That doesn’t mean the game is easy. The difficulty depends entirely on how skilled you are at finding words.
You and your opponent (either another person or a computer) play in a three-round match. The game generates a new set of 4 x 4 letter squares for each round.
Before each round, you can select or purchase different power-ups to help you find elusive words.
Once a round begins, you have two minutes to find words from the collection of letters. Do this by drawing a path from one letter to the next. The line does not need to go in a straight path, but it cannot overlap and you cannot use a letter more than once for a word.
Each letter has an assigned value. Your score increases by the value of those letters when you complete a word. Special squares in later rounds also award bonus points.
At the end of the match, the player with the highest combined score from all three rounds wins the game.
There are clearly elements of a word scramble here. The main difference is that when you make words, the letters must be connected to one another and not just in a random pattern.
Mind-Boggling Game Modes
Since Boggle With Friends is a Zynga game, there are, of course, multiple game modes to explore. Playing against AIs, entering tournaments and other staple modes are present in Boggle With Friends.
Multiplayer Mode
Playing Boggle With Friends online with other people is the app’s bread and butter. It’s where the “With Friends'' part of the name comes from, after all. You get matched with one of your friends, or you can play in a “Smart Match” against a new, random player.
When you look for opponents, you can see a number in the top-right corner of their profile picture. This number is their play rank. If you want to avoid playing more experienced people, or you want to find people who are probably newer to the game, you can filter your choices by watching those numbers.
Solo Play Mode
Solo Play is exactly the same as multiplayer, except for the obvious absence of a second player. In this mode, you play against the computer character Coach. Coach plays to your skill level and allows you to test new strategies and hone your skills.
Tournament Mode
Tournaments are single-elimination events. You compete with other players (or computer characters if there aren’t enough people) in a traditional tournament bracket. The gameplay does not change. However, you only have one minute and 30 seconds to finish a round rather than the normal two minutes.
The further you make it into a tournament, the more rewards you will earn. Your global rankings among other tournament players will also increase in the game’s leaderboard.
Weekly Points Challenge
As the name implies, the Weekly Points Challenge is a seven-day event in which you compete to get a certain amount of points before time runs out. You can complete this challenge while playing in normal multiplayer games.
If you complete the objective within the time limit, you’ll earn bonus prizes. For example, if you score 16,000 points by the end of the week, you might earn 40 tickets. Tickets are what you use to enter tournaments.
Boggle With Friends Power-Ups
Again, as this game takes heavy inspiration from Zynga’s other games, it comes with plenty of useful tools. The most important ones are the power-ups. These assets can save you from perilous situations and put you back on the path to victory.
Freeze: Freeze the timer to give yourself more time to find words.
Inspiration: Highlight words you haven’t found on your own.
Spin: Jumble the letters on the board to find new combinations.
Vision: Reveal three words that you can find on the board.
Blaze: Double the points earned for each word for 13 seconds.
Mega Freeze: Stop the clock for a longer time period than the regular Freeze.
Mega Inspired: Highlights ups to eight the best words on the board.
Mega Blaze: Triple the points earned for each word for 21 seconds.
Tips and Tricks to Win
It’s essential that you get the maximum points for each round. Failing to do so can make it very difficult to come back from a losing score and win a match. That’s why getting some proper Boggle With Friends help is critical. These following strategies will help you stay in the lead for every round of every match.
Hone your vocabulary: To excel at a game like Boggle With Friends, you need to have an expansive vocabulary. That’s why you should do what it takes to expand your knowledge of words. Carefully studying a Scrabble dictionary certainly helps.
Know the right time to use the power-ups: Power-ups only last for one round each. So when you have them, use them. Don’t assume that you should save all of them for later. Let them help you take a strong lead early on.
Look for the various forms of words: You’ll often have the chance to create different forms of one word. One example is if you see “bait” on the board. Look to see if “baits” is there too. And also look for “baiter” and “baited.” Get the most points as you can from extending a single word.
Create any word you can: Pairing with the previous idea is the one of spelling out any word you notice. Don’t become fixated on using certain letters or a certain amount of letters. Even if a word is something small like “as,” take the points. Every bit helps.
Boggle With Friends App Problems
As with any mobile game or other app, there’s a chance you might run into performance issues. If Boggle With Friend is not working or won’t load properly, there are few things you can do to potentially fix the problem.
Return to the home screen: This essentially refreshes the screen. Sometimes, that’s all you need. Return to your device’s home screen, then return to the game. This can either fix the issue, or the game will partially reset itself.
Close the app: If trying to get the game to refresh itself does nothing, you’ll have to close the app entirely from your home screen.
Delete the app and re-download it: If the first two options don’t work, the last reliable option is to delete the app from your device and re-download it. If you do, the game will save your player account information, so you won’t lose any progress.
More Games for Boggle Lovers
Boggle With Friends is definitely the largest and most well-known digital version of the classic word game. But, there are other options out there. Boggle’s core mechanics are popular and easy to understand, which is why many developers have adapted them in different versions of the game. If you want to find some other Boggle-like games, read our list of the seven best online versions of Boggle. You might find another version you like the same as or even more than Zynga’s app.
Zac Pricener has been a content creator for the past eight years. He’s a bit of an all-around nerd, and he has a bad habit of working movie and TV show references into conversations whenever possible.
