WordGravity – physics word game with letter balls

WordGravity is a fast word game built on real physics. Letter balls drop into a square container, where they roll, bump into each other and pile up. Your job is to spell words by dragging across letters that touch, before the container fills up.

Each round lasts two minutes. There is no daily puzzle: every game starts with fresh random letters, so you can play as often as you like.

How to play

1. The game starts with 16 letter balls, and a new one drops in from the top roughly every three and a half seconds.
2. Press on a letter and drag to its close neighbours to spell a word of at least two letters. Drag back onto the previous letter to undo your last pick.
3. The colour of the word preview tells you where you stand: green means a valid word, amber means it can still become a word, red means it is a dead end. Let go on a valid word and its balls disappear. One new ball drops in after a short word, two after a word of four or more letters.
4. The Rotate button turns the container 90 degrees, so the balls tumble towards the new floor. You can rotate as often as you want.
5. The Shuffle button scatters every ball across the board. You can use it once per game.
6. The round ends when the two minutes run out, or when the container overflows: at least three settled balls stuck near the top, or too many balls on the board, for four seconds in a row.

Tips

• Short words count too. When space is tight, a quick two-letter word buys you room.
• Work the gold (2X) and purple (3X) balls into longer words, since the multiplier applies to the whole word.
• If letters are jammed in the wrong place, rotate: the new layout often puts fresh neighbours side by side.

Strategy

• The container is roomy in the first few seconds, so that is the time to hunt for words of five letters or more, which score double. Later, as balls pile up, speed matters more than length.
• Multiplier balls are your biggest point source: a five-letter word with a purple ball is worth 300 points, ten times a plain three-letter word. If good letters sit around a multiplier, build your word through it.
• Rotation is not only an escape. Each turn reshuffles the pile and can bring together letters that were far apart. When you are stuck, rotate once and read the board again.

A worked example

Say the bottom of the container holds C, A, T and S side by side. You press on C and drag through A, T and S. The preview turns green on CAT and again on CATS, you let go, and the four balls vanish: 4 × 10 = 40 points. If the S was a gold 2X ball, the word is worth 80, and since it has four letters, two new balls drop in.

History of the game

WordGravity blends two classic ideas. One is the falling-block game, best known through Tetris, created by Alexey Pajitnov in 1984, where the goal is to keep the playfield from filling up. The other is the Boggle-style word search, where words are traced through neighbouring letters. Here, though, the letters roll and bounce under real 2D physics, and you decide which way gravity pulls.

Frequently asked questions

How is the score calculated?

Each letter is worth 10 points. A gold ball doubles the word, a purple ball triples it, and both together give 6X. Words of five or more letters are then doubled again.

Does rotating cost anything?

No. Rotate is unlimited. Only Shuffle is limited to once per game.

Where can I see my past scores?

On the Best Scores tab at the end of a round. Your top 20 results are stored in your browser on this device, and you can share your score.