How to improve your Boggle game

Boggle is the perfect word game for children of all ages: from 8 to 80. Its simple rules and short playing times make it not only easy but quick to play. But what about winning? Well, by honing your skills you will soon be the 'Boggle Master'!

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• Boggle
• Reading materials
• Dictionary

1. Read as much as you can. The wider your vocabulary, the more chance you have of finding great words, even among the obscurest of letter combos. From a corn flakes box to a newspaper, the more words you expose yourself to on a regular basis, the greater your chance of winning.
2. Word games and anagram puzzles can improve your Boggle skills. Board games like Scrabble and Upwards are fabulous for word-building. Many word games are available to play for free online, so take advantage of them!
   
   Most newspapers feature one or two word puzzles each day, so try to do them daily. They will test your word knowledge and improve your logic skills.
3. Uncommon letters including Q, J and X always have a way of turning up and leaving even an experienced player a bit frazzled. Combat this by opening a dictionary and familiarising yourself with some uncommon words so you aren't left in a lurch next time.
4. Try to play as much as possible with players of your standard or above. More experienced opponents are worth studying. At the end of rounds, have a look at their word lists, you may find a few words you've never come across before.
5. Successful players use one of two approaches to their play. A focused approach involves working your way through small sections of the board. While it's a thorough approach, you may miss sections of the board if you run out of time. The global approach is examining the board as a whole with your eyes. It's a less thorough approach to the game but it means you run less of a risk of running out of time. You're also more likely to spot words which cut across several sections of the board. Combining these two approaches is the best recipe for success.
6. When studying a Boggle layout, look out for:
   common endings like -ate (date, fate, gate, hate, late, mate, pate, sate, etc.)
   prefixes and suffixes such as -ing, -ed, re-, un- and er.
7. Always double-check long words to ensure you haven't duplicated a letter.
8. Think you have found all of the words? Well, you probably haven't, so play safe and don't stop looking until your time is up!
9. Most importantly, enjoy your game and play as often as possible!