How to Play

You play with the letters that appear one at a time to the right of the Next button. You play in the left hand grid and your automated opponent, Lex the Lexicologist, plays in the right hand grid. The aim is to see who can score the most points by making three- and four-letter words (with the QU combination treated as a single letter).

Click with the mouse in a vacant square in your game grid to place the current letter.

You will see immediately if you have scored anything. You can try out different locations by clicking in other vacant squares.

When you are happy with your move, press the Next button to lock in the current letter and get a new letter.

Continue placing letters on the board until all the squares are filled. (The last letter will be placed for you, since it will have only one possible location.)

Once the game is finished, pressing the Next button will clear the board and start a new game.

Games and Series

Games are grouped into series of five. The scores for the current series are displayed in the top right corner of the screen. (A draw counts as half a game for each player.)

If you leave the Ozlip site during a game or series, the state of play will be saved in a "cookie" on your computer, so you can resume where you left off next time you come to play the game. (This only works if your browser software allows cookies and JavaScript.)

Restart game or series You can start a new series whenever you like. Click on the RESTART bar to open this control. You can also abandon a game half way through and continue with the current series, but you will have to forfeit 5 points unless it is the first game of the series.

Skill Levels

Lex has three skill levels for playing against you: basic, intermediate and advanced. Click on the SKILL LEVEL bar to open this control. The levels don't affect how hard the letters are - just how well Lex uses them. If you change the level, a new series will start.

Possible Word List

Once you have put at least one letter into a row or column on the playing grid, you can request a list of all the four-letter words that can now be made there by clicking on the button at the start of the row or column . The list of words will be displayed on the Message Board.

The Message Board

There is a message board at the bottom of the screen. Here you will see -

Brief playing instructions at the start of play

A note when the last of a particular letter has been used, or the last vowel for the game (see Letter Frequencies)

Short definitions of any Australian words used in the game

Words that can be made in a selected position on the board

A message if you get a high score (details shown on the high score display)

A summary at the end of each series of five games

Looking Up Words

You can look up the meaning of any scoring word played by you or Lex. Open the WORD LOOK-UP control at the bottom right of the screen, and you can select any of the words currently on the board. Word selection for look-up Click the Look up button and a dictionary Web page will open up for the word selected.

(This feature uses "JavaScript". If JavaScript is not enabled in your browser software, the WORD LOOK-UP control will not be visible. However, you can navigate directly to any dictionary website in a browser window to look up words as you play.)

If the word you are looking up is classed by Ozlip as an Australian word, the entry from the Ozlip Dictionary will be shown. For all other words, you will see the OneLook® Dictionary Search site. (OneLook is not connected with the Ozlip game site in any way, but it is one of the most useful dictionary websites around.)

If you want to look up a word that has not been recognised by Ozlip, just press the Look up button without selecting any word. Then you will be able to look up whatever you like at the OneLook site. If you think you have found a word that should be allowed in the game, please let me know.

Saving the Game

If you want to leave the Ozlip web site in the middle of a series, you can press this button to save the state of the game and series in a "cookie" on your computer. Then you can take up where you left off the next time you visit the site. This feature uses "JavaScript". If JavaScript is not enabled in your browser software, the Save button will not be visible on the game screen.

Sound Effects

This button controls whether sound effects are played during the game. If sound effects are on, you will hear a tone every time you get a score, and if you go onto the high score table, a snippet from Click Go the Shears will be played. The sound effects don't seem to work on all computers - if they are working, you will hear a tone when you turn sound on using this button.

Help

This button at the top left of the screen opens up these Help pages. This feature uses "JavaScript". If JavaScript is not enabled in your browser software, the Help button will not be visible on the game screen. However, you can also go to the Help pages from the navigation area to the left of the screen at the main Ozlip website (which you possibly already know if you are reading this!)