Word Search
About Word Search
Word Search is our own take on the classic. Eight themed packs, a grid of letters, and a list of words hidden inside it. Swipe across a word to claim it. The word lists are large enough that packs stay fresh for a long time.
How to play
Find the words from the list hidden in the grid. Swipe from the first letter to the last to claim one. Early levels hide words left to right and top to bottom, and diagonal and backwards placements arrive as the grids grow.
Rules of Word Search
- There are eight themed packs, and each one runs its own ladder of levels that you work through in order.
- Early levels use a seven by seven grid holding four words, and the grid grows as you go until it reaches eleven by eleven holding eight.
- You claim a word by pressing its first letter and dragging in a straight line to its last, horizontally, vertically or diagonally.
- A word counts from either end, so dragging it backwards works just as well.
- The first levels in a pack only hide words left to right and top to bottom, and diagonal then backwards placements are added as the grid grows.
- A level is finished when every word on its list has been found, and there is no timer anywhere in the game.
- You earn a coin for each word and ten more for finishing a level, and coins buy either a hint at twenty that lights up the first letter of a word, or a reveal at fifty five that solves a whole word.
Controls
- Swipe from a word's first letter to its last
- Release to submit it
- Tap a found word in the list to highlight it on the grid again
What makes it worth playing
- Eight themed packs: Animals, Food, Nature, Ocean, Space, Sports, Music and Travel
- A word bank of over two and a half thousand entries, so grids rarely repeat
- Placements start simple and add diagonals, then backwards words, as you climb a pack
- Each pack has its own colour scheme, so you always know where you are
- Progress saves per pack on your device
- Works offline once it has loaded
Screenshots
Captured from this build on 2026-08-26.
Tips from playing it
- Scan for uncommon letters first. There are usually only a few Qs, Zs, Xs and Js in the grid and they narrow a word down instantly.
- Sweep the diagonals deliberately. Most people find the horizontal and vertical words quickly and then stall, because the eye does not scan diagonally on its own.
- Read the list before you look at the grid. You find words much faster when you know their shape and length.
- Backwards words are the ones people miss. When you are stuck, reread a row right to left.
Notes from building it
The thing that makes or breaks a word search is the size of the word bank behind it, not the grid generator. A pack with sixty words in it starts repeating within a handful of grids, and once a player recognises a grid they stop playing. Ours holds over two and a half thousand words across the eight packs, all sorted by theme, which means the same pack keeps producing grids that feel new for far longer than the player will keep playing it. The other choice was to keep every pack visually distinct, with its own background and accent colour. It sounds cosmetic, but on a phone the grid fills the screen and every pack otherwise looks identical, so the colour is the only thing telling you which one you are in.
More from the studio: why difficulty needs a rhythm and how we test a game.
- Category
- Word
- Plays in
- Your browser, no download
- Orientation
- Portrait
- Players
- One player.
- Difficulty
- Relaxing, with no timer to fight
- Typical session
- 4 to 10 minutes a grid
- Last tested by us
- 2026-08-26
- Studio
- Our own game
