Spill and Spell (1956)

About this game

Spill and Spell was originally published by Phillips. Parker Bros. also published this game. It is a word dice game where players make words to score points. Scoring is determined by squaring the number of letters in the words spelled (e.g. making a 3 letter word and a 4 letter word would net 25 (9+16)) and subtracting the square of unused letters. The 2003 Endless Games edition includes 22 letter cubes and is scored differently, assigning a point value to each letter based upon the length of the word it is part of, with crossed words scoring the shared letter twice, possibly with two different values.

Does it fit your group?

• Group size. Works with 1 to 10. It has a designed solo mode.
• Rules load. At 1.3/5 this is a light game — explain it in a few minutes, good for a table that has not played much.
• Age. The publisher suggests 8 and up. That rates the rules rather than the artwork, so judge the box yourself for younger players.