Let's play some Letter Jam! It's my GOTY for 2020 (though it released in 2019), and it makes for an easy adaptation to PbP.
Letter Jam is a cooperative word game for 2-6 players. 6 is ideal, so we'll shoot for that.
Getting started: Sign up by replying here and PMing a five-letter word to me. Your word must not contain the letters J, Q, V, X, or Z, because there are no cards in the game that bear those letters. The letters in your word will be scrambled and passed to the player to your virtual right, who will place them face-down. Everyone then places their first card upright, facing the other players, so you can see everyone's card but your own.
How to play: Players look at the letters they can see and mentally arrange them into words. They then collaboratively choose someone to be the cluegiver for the round by discussing how many letters they plan to use.
Example: "I can make a six-letter word that uses four players' letters."
The cluegiver then gives the clue by putting number tokens in front of each player. If your letter is part of the clue, you'll know where in the word it's found but not necessarily what your letter is.
In addition to the players' letters, a wildcard (*) is available, which can sub in for any single letter. If the wildcard is used multiple times in a word, it must represent the same letter each time.
Example: Terrence sees the letters H, G, R, and R. He gives the clue "horror" by putting a 1 in front of the H, a 2 and 5 on the wildcard, a 3 and 4 on the first R, and a 6 on the second R. The player holding the H writes down "?*RR*R" for this clue and tries to determine what her letter could be.
There are no invalid words as far as clues are concerned. If you think "USSR" or "awoogah" would make a good clue, you can use it. That said, you are trying to help your teammates.
End of round: Any player may advance to the next letter at this time. Usually, you'll do this because you have identified your letter; sometimes you'll do it because there aren't enough rounds left in the game.
That's right: there's a limited number of rounds in the game. However, if each player takes a turn as cluegiver, you earn yourselves one bonus round.
If you advance past your fifth letter, you can take a letter from the deck as a bonus. After each round in which your letter was used, you may attempt to guess it. If you guess correctly, you can put the card face-up on the table to be used like the wildcard. Once used this way, the card is discarded.
End of game: Players rearrange their letters to form a word. It doesn't have to be the word that was given to you. You don't even have to know what word you're spelling! All you have to do is firm a valid, English word with your cards.
You can use any cards on the table (including the wildcard) as part of your word, either subbing out one of your cards or creating a longer word. Each card can only be used once, however.
You collectively score points for words that were spelled correctly: 15 points plus 1 for each letter past 5. If you were unable to spell a word, fear not: you are still eligible for 1 point per letter you correctly identified (whereas there is no need to correctly identify your letters if you managed to spell a word). You also earn 1 point per round remaining if you decided to end early.
And that's it! If this sounds intriguing, please sign up.
Letter Jam is a cooperative word game for 2-6 players. 6 is ideal, so we'll shoot for that.
Getting started: Sign up by replying here and PMing a five-letter word to me. Your word must not contain the letters J, Q, V, X, or Z, because there are no cards in the game that bear those letters. The letters in your word will be scrambled and passed to the player to your virtual right, who will place them face-down. Everyone then places their first card upright, facing the other players, so you can see everyone's card but your own.
How to play: Players look at the letters they can see and mentally arrange them into words. They then collaboratively choose someone to be the cluegiver for the round by discussing how many letters they plan to use.
Example: "I can make a six-letter word that uses four players' letters."
The cluegiver then gives the clue by putting number tokens in front of each player. If your letter is part of the clue, you'll know where in the word it's found but not necessarily what your letter is.
In addition to the players' letters, a wildcard (*) is available, which can sub in for any single letter. If the wildcard is used multiple times in a word, it must represent the same letter each time.
Example: Terrence sees the letters H, G, R, and R. He gives the clue "horror" by putting a 1 in front of the H, a 2 and 5 on the wildcard, a 3 and 4 on the first R, and a 6 on the second R. The player holding the H writes down "?*RR*R" for this clue and tries to determine what her letter could be.
There are no invalid words as far as clues are concerned. If you think "USSR" or "awoogah" would make a good clue, you can use it. That said, you are trying to help your teammates.
End of round: Any player may advance to the next letter at this time. Usually, you'll do this because you have identified your letter; sometimes you'll do it because there aren't enough rounds left in the game.
That's right: there's a limited number of rounds in the game. However, if each player takes a turn as cluegiver, you earn yourselves one bonus round.
If you advance past your fifth letter, you can take a letter from the deck as a bonus. After each round in which your letter was used, you may attempt to guess it. If you guess correctly, you can put the card face-up on the table to be used like the wildcard. Once used this way, the card is discarded.
End of game: Players rearrange their letters to form a word. It doesn't have to be the word that was given to you. You don't even have to know what word you're spelling! All you have to do is firm a valid, English word with your cards.
You can use any cards on the table (including the wildcard) as part of your word, either subbing out one of your cards or creating a longer word. Each card can only be used once, however.
You collectively score points for words that were spelled correctly: 15 points plus 1 for each letter past 5. If you were unable to spell a word, fear not: you are still eligible for 1 point per letter you correctly identified (whereas there is no need to correctly identify your letters if you managed to spell a word). You also earn 1 point per round remaining if you decided to end early.
And that's it! If this sounds intriguing, please sign up.