Cost:about $30.00 From: Professional Marketing Group Inc., 912 Rainier Ave. S., Seattle WA, 98144 Players: 2-4 Playing Time: 30-60 minutes Type of game: Word Complexity: 4 Skill level: 5 Chance Level: 7 Overall: 9 Reviewed by: Peter Sarrett, Issue 1.1, June 1992
I've only seen one store selling WordHound, and that's a shame because it's easily one of the most entertaining word games-- indeed, one of the most entertaining games of any type-- I've come across in a long while. Incredibly simple rules combine with fast action and a dash of mayhem for a fun, frenzied game of strategy and luck. The object is to form a word or words which fit the given category from the letters on your rack. During your turn, you draw letters one at a time from the letter bag until you draw one you want to keep. Letters you don't want are placed face up on the letter board where they may be taken by other players-- usually in a blitzkrieg of grabbing hands and sharp fingernails. The first player to make an answer using all the letters on his rack wins the round. The winner scores two points per letter. Other players score one point per letter in their partial answer if every letter on their rack is used in the partial answer. Players score zero points if there are any unused letters on their rack when the round ends. The player with the highest score after six rounds wins the game. The categories supplied with the game are well chosen, and each category card has a list of possible answers on the back. To keep everyone honest, we adopted the house rule that if you touch a letter, you've got to take it-- even if you don't want it. This helps to prevent people from grabbing letters willy-nilly. Because the very play of the game is so much fun, we also tend to frown upon short words which end the round prematurely-- but that's just us. WordHound moves quickly. Players have to keep on their toes to avoid having letters plucked from the edge of their grasp. Not for the faint of heart, WordHound has been the cause of more than a few scratches and gauges from particularly heated struggles for a tile. Hey-- when you need an E, woe betide anyone who gets in your way. My one gripe with this game is the relatively poor quality of the letter tiles. The ink on them smudges far too easily, and as a result many of my tiles are blurred. If you buy this game-- and I strongly encourage you to do so-- you might want to consider shellacking the tiles before your first match. If you use your set as much as I've used mine, it'll be worth the effort.