Getting Started

A Step by Step Guide to Playing LOGOS

A kitchen or dining room table is recommended to allow adequate surface area for letter tile placement. A 30 square inch (minimum) allows for growth of the crossword. All letter tiles should be placed in the provided bag. Insert card number 2 (or the next available card) of each category into the provided plastic sleeve. Have a pen and paper handy for keeping score and writing down words as needed. One person is chosen to keep the score.

1. To start the game, each player or team randomly picks one letter tile from the bag. Letter closest to A starts the game by rolling the LOGOS dice.

2. If dice lands on the LOGOS option, the player randomly picks 8 letter tiles from the bag. A discard option allows the player to discard and exchange up to two of the tiles. This discarding of the tiles creates the discard pile which is set up off to the side of the crossword area but accessible. Because there is nothing to take from the discard pile initially, the two letters must be taken randomly from the letter tile bag. Once the discard pile is set players may replace discarded tiles from either the discard pile or the letter tile bag. Additionally, the player can chose to pick one letter from the bag and one letter from the discard pile. Discarded tiles never go back into the letter tile bag. Player is now ready to use the eight letter tiles to start creating the crossword.

3. The player will use all tiles to create words that must connect and read left to right and up and down. Keep score by writing down each word and total the score values by referring to the plastic sleeves for letter tile values. Simply write down the premium values above the premium letters of the word and then add the values of the vowels and other letters. Adding an "s", "ed", or "ing" to any word that is already established gains only the point value of the additional letters added. However, if adding an "s" to hop changes it to shop then the nature of the word changes and the player obtains the full point value. Score for each word is added to make a total score. Any unused tiles are put into the discard pile and the player does not lose any point values by not using those tiles.

Other players may challenge any of the words and if the challenge is correct and the word is not spelled correctly, all the letters played in that turn are removed from the table surface and the total score for that turn is removed. Player keeps the same letter tiles to work with in his/her next turn when they play the LOGOS option. However the player can still discard up to two of the letter tiles and take replacements to allow for the usual eight letter tiles to be used.

4. The LOGOS puzzle is added to only when the player or team throws the dice and lands on the LOGOS category. The spell/define and synonym/antonym category do NOT use letter tiles but use a pen and paper to write down words as required. Once the LOGOS crossword is established by the first player who uses his/her wooden letter tiles, the LOGOS tiles remain on the playing surface and are added to by the other players as their turn comes up.

5. The next player or team throws the dice. If the dice shows the spell/define category the player has the option to earn a double point bonus by spelling the given word AND defining that same word. Card #1 is a cover card (insert card #2 into sleeve and no peeking). The opponent pulls the letter card out of the sleeve to reveal the next word. Cards can be inserted right side up or upside down allowing the card to be pulled down from the bottom of the sleeve as needed. Player is first told if the word is a noun, verb or adjective. The opponent then reads the word aloud. Proper pronunciation is important. The player writes down the word and others may challenge. If the word is unchallenged, the player will add the point values of the letters by referring to the same letter values on the plastic sleeves. If the player wishes to double the point value, he/she has the option to define the word by simply saying the definition aloud. Challenging rules also apply to the definition and if it goes unchallenged the player takes double the point value and adds to his/her score. The risk in opting to take the double point bonus by providing the definition is that if the player is challenged and is shown to be incorrect, then the value for the correct spelling is also lost and the player has no score to add.

6. The next player or team throws the dice. If the dice displays the synonym/antonym category the player must be prepared to provide a synonym or antonym for the word given by the opposing player or team. This category does NOT add to the crossword with letter tiles. The letter tiles are NOT used in this category. Card #1 is a cover card (insert card #2 into sleeve and no peeking). The opponent will remove the card from the sleeve by pulling it up to reveal the next available word. The player must be told first if it is a noun, verb, or adjective and then the word is pronounced aloud by the opponent. Proper pronunciation is important. The player is permitted to see the word because the intent is NOT to spell the word but to provide a synonym or antonym. The player must decide to provide one or the other and is not permitted to provide both. Writing down the chosen word allows the opponents to consider challenging rules. Scores are totaled by referring to plastic sleeves for letter values. There is no option to double the point bonus.

7. The next player or team throws the dice. If the dice displays the Any category, the player can opt to choose any category they wish. Challenging rules apply and score values are totalled and added to individual scores.

8. Players continue until there are 4 letter tiles remaining or LESS. This combines what remains in the draw pile and the letter tile bag.

9 Last player to use available letter tiles can still discard up to two letter tiles. With the three or more remaining letter tiles to use the player adds to the LOGOS crossword puzzle. Any unused tiles from that last play are to be removed by letter value from that player’s score.

10. Player with the highest score wins the game!