Letterbolt scoring and combos, explained
Two players can find the same words in the same rack and finish thousands of points apart. The difference is almost always the combo. This guide sets out exactly how Letterbolt scores, with the real numbers the game uses, and what that means for how you should play a 90-second race.
Points for a word
A word's base value depends only on its length. Letters have no individual values, so a Z is worth the same as an E.
| Word length | Base points |
|---|---|
| 3 letters | 100 |
| 4 letters | 200 |
| 5 letters | 400 |
| 6 letters | 700 |
| 7 letters | 1,100 |
The values grow faster than the length. A five-letter word is worth four three-letter words; a seven-letter word is worth eleven. Words must be at least three letters long, and every rack has six or seven letters, so seven letters is the longest word you will play.
The combo
Submit a valid word within five seconds of your last valid word and your combo goes up by one. The combo multiplies the word's base points:
| Combo | Multiplier |
|---|---|
| 1 (first word, or after a break) | 1.0× |
| 2 | 1.2× |
| 3 | 1.5× |
| 4 | 2.0× |
| 5 | 2.5× |
| 6 and above | 3.0× |
The multiplier tops out at triple points from the sixth word in a chain, and stays there for as long as you keep the rhythm. The five seconds are measured between accepted words, and a word submitted at exactly five seconds still counts.
What breaks a combo, and what does not
This is the part most players never learn, and it changes how boldly you can play.
- A word that is not in the dictionary resets the combo. The game says "Not in the word vault".
- A word that uses letters you do not have resets the combo. The game says "Those letters aren't available".
- Letting five seconds pass resets it. Your next word scores at 1.0× and starts a new chain.
- Repeating a word you have already found does not break it. You score nothing for the repeat, but the chain survives.
- Submitting fewer than three letters does not break it either.
So guessing costs you more than it seems: a wrong word does not only score zero, it throws away the multiplier you have built. If you are unsure whether something is a word, it is usually better to play a sure three-letter word first and keep the chain alive.
The pangram bonus
A pangram is a word that uses every different letter in the rack. It earns a flat 500-point bonus on top of its normal score. The bonus is added after the multiplier, so it is not tripled, but the word itself is. A seven-letter pangram played at full combo scores 1,100 × 3 = 3,300, plus 500: 3,800 points for one word.
Some racks repeat a letter. A pangram only has to use each different letter at least once, so in a rack with two As, a word that uses one A and every other letter still qualifies.
A worked example
Here is how a short burst might score, each word submitted within five seconds of the last:
| Word | Length | Combo | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| BAT | 3 | 1 (1.0×) | 100 |
| TAB | 3 | 2 (1.2×) | 120 |
| BOAT | 4 | 3 (1.5×) | 300 |
| BOATS | 5 | 4 (2.0×) | 800 |
| BOAST | 5 | 5 (2.5×) | 1,000 |
| OATS | 4 | 6 (3.0×) | 600 |
That is 2,920 points from six fairly ordinary words. Play the same six words with a pause between each, and they score 1,400. The rhythm alone more than doubles the score.
What this means for strategy
- Open fast and short. Your first few words carry the lowest multipliers, so spend them on quick, certain three- and four-letter words. Their job is to build the chain.
- Save long words for full combo. A six-letter word is worth 700 at 1.0× and 2,100 at 3.0×. If you spot a long word early, keep it in mind and play it once the multiplier is high, as long as you can keep finding short words in between.
- Never guess in the middle of a chain. One wrong word at 3.0× costs you the next five words' worth of building back up.
- Use families of words. Plurals, reversals and shared stems (BOAT, BOATS, BOAST) let you find the next word in under five seconds because you already have most of it.
- Shuffle when you stall, but quickly. Shuffling does not break the combo, but the clock does.
Daily Rush is scored the same way
Daily Rush uses exactly the same rules and the same 90 seconds, on one rack shared by every player that day. Each word is timestamped on the server as you play it, and the server replays the whole race with the same scoring rules, so the leaderboard reflects what was actually played, combo by combo.
After every race, the results screen shows your best combo and every word you missed. Reading the missed list is the quickest way to learn the patterns that keep chains going.