Mastering Letter Boxed: Tips, Strategies, and Fun Challenges

Letterboxed is a game popular on the New York Times website. The game revolves around a simple idea of finding sequences of words that use all the letters in the box. For example, in the image above, the word questionable uses all of the available letters except for h. So for my next word I would need to find one that starts with the letter E since my first word ends in E and also has the letter H in it.

However, the trick is that each letter of the word must be on an opposite wall of the previous letter. So, if a word starts with E, the next letter in the word cannot be Q or N since they are on the same wall as E. This rule applies for every letter and for every side of the box.

Now that you know how to play, let's look at some simple tricks to help you master the game.

Why Do People Love Letterboxd?

The main appeal of the game is that, similar to Wordle, it is a fun game that allows you to expand your vocabulary. You are given rules and must try to find words that abide by those rules to solve the game. The more words you know, the better you will be, so it encourages people to learn new vocabulary.

Likewise, the difficulty of the game brings people back. Every day you are given a new puzzle, and for most people, even finding a solution can be tricky. Even as a native speaker, I remember being unable to find a solution. Only after a few days was I able to find a four-word answer to solve the puzzle.

Overall, it offers a unique challenge that vocabulary enthusiasts enjoy.

Strategies to Improve Your Game.

If you want to improve your letterboxed solving skills, you have come to the right place. This website was designed to help users grow their skills and become better solvers.

1). The best strategy is to start learning the vocabulary for the letterboxed game each day. On the front page of this website, there is a hints button. Click it, and it will show you all of the possible words for that day's letterboxed game. Learning this vocabulary can allow you to have better solutions to the next day's puzzle.

2). Review solutions for each day's puzzle. In addition to learning the vocabulary, the next step is to find words that connect with other words. On the front page we also offer two-word and three-word solutions to see. Reviewing these every day can help you see what words connect with the end of another word and also cover a variety of letters.

3). Start by using only a few hints for each day. For example, on the hints page, you can see the letter a hint starts with and the letter it ends with. So limit yourself to initially only using one or two hints for each day. Reveal the hint and see if you are able to finish the rest of the puzzle. This is better for beginners and will help you if you are stuck.

Fun Challenges to Try.

Despite the initial perception, some people can start to find the game a little easy. Needless to say, I am not one of those people. However, here are some fun challenges my friends and I discovered to make the game a little more entertaining. Solving some of these will make you a true professional at the game.

1). Include a theme for the puzzle. For this challenge, each word must follow a theme. So, for example, animals or food. This will greatly limit the amount of words you can use and is a good way to learn new vocabulary in a set area.

2). Limit the solution to non-repeating letters. This is a significant challenge and is known as a perfect solution. Without repeating letters, you can get stuck and need to restart the letter box game. Very few of these solutions like this exist, so it’s hard to even find one.

3). Limit the number of words. This technique allows you to improve your vocabulary. While solving a puzzle with seven or eight words is not very difficult. Solving with three or four can be much harder. So a fun challenge is to try to solve it with no more than four words. Then as you get better, you can improve to three or even two. One-word solutions to letter boxes do exist but not always.

Other Word Games You’ll Love.

If the daily letterboxed game is not enough for you, I also compiled a list of other word games you will love. These games share a similar idea of finding words that fit a set of rules and are fun ways to help you expand your vocabulary.

1). NYT Spelling Bee. The NYT spelling bee game is a classic word game that millions love. It was one of the first that I started to play and still enjoy. The premise is that they are given six letters and 1 special letter. You need to spell the longest possible words to score the most points. Each word can only be made up of seven letters, and one of them must be the special letter.

2). NYT Wordle. Wordle is a more recent game that took the world by storm in 2022. It grew so fast for its simplicity and shareability. People all over would post their score and compare who solved it in fewer tries. The game focuses on finding the correct five-letter word in five tries. After each try, you get information like if the letter is in the solution, it will be yellow. If the letter is in the solution and in the correct position, it will be green. So this gives you hints for the word as you go along. While only limited to five-letter words.

3). Spell Check. Spell check is a more recent game but follows the traditional spelling bee approach. Using text to speech, every day they convert five words as well as their definitions into audio. Then users type out the words and lose points if they misspell the word. Each day has 5 different levels: easy, medium, and hard. This is perfect for people who want to improve their spelling or want to practice for spelling bees.

The End.

I hope this has helped you learn more about the letterboxed game and unique ways to play. I started this website as a way to get people to advance playing this game. On the home page, we have a hints section to see all the possible words for the day. This is useful to expand your vocabulary and advance in the game. If you feel like I missed something, feel free to shoot me an email using the contact at the bottom of the page.

Happy solving.