BOGGLE(6)

NAME
boggle - play the game of boggle

SYNOPSIS
/usr/games/boggle [ + ] [ ++ ]

AVAILABILITY
This game is available with the Games software installation option. Refer to for information on how to install optional software.

DESCRIPTION

This program is intended for people wishing to sharpen their skills at Boggle (TM Parker Bros.). If you invoke the program with four arguments of four letters each, the program forms the obvious Boggle grid and lists all the words from /usr/dict/words found therein. For example,

    example% boggle appl epie moth erhd

If you invoke the program without arguments, it generates a board for you, lets you enter words for 3 minutes, and then tells you how well you did relative to /usr/dict/words.

The object of Boggle is to find, within 3 minutes, as many words as possible in a 4 by 4 grid of letters. Words may be formed from any sequence of 3 or more adjacent letters in the grid. The letters may join horizontally, vertically, or diagonally. However, no position in the grid may be used more than once within any one word. In competitive play amongst humans, each player is given credit for those of his words which no other player has found.

In interactive play, enter your words separated by SPACE, TAB, or NEWLINE characters. A bell will ring when there is 2:00, 1:00, 0:10, 0:02, 0:01, and 0:00 time left. You may complete any word started before the expiration of time. You can surrender before time is up by hitting 'break'. While entering words, your erase character is only effective within the current word and your line kill character is ignored.

Advanced players may wish to invoke the program with 1 or 2 `+' characters as the first argument. The first `+' removes the restriction that positions can only be used once in each word. The second `+' causes a position to be considered adjacent to itself as well as its (up to) 8 neighbors.