Scoring and Letter Values
When you play a word in GeoWords, you earn points equal to the sum of the individual letter values. The same amount is also earned as coins.
Letter Values
Letter values are based on rarity in English — common letters are worth less, rare letters are worth more:
| Value | Letters |
|---|---|
| 1 | A, E, I, L, N, O, R, S, T, U |
| 2 | D, G |
| 3 | B, C, M, P |
| 4 | F, H, V, W, Y |
| 5 | K |
| 8 | J, X |
| 10 | Q, Z |
Word Score
A word's score is the sum of its letter values. For example:
- BATH = B(3) + A(1) + T(1) + H(4) = 9 points
- QUIZ = Q(10) + U(1) + I(1) + Z(10) = 22 points
- SUNBATHING = S(1) + U(1) + N(1) + B(3) + A(1) + T(1) + H(4) + I(1) + N(1) + G(2) = 16 points
Longer words naturally score higher because they include more letters.
The Bezel as Value Display
Rather than printing numbers on tiles (like Scrabble), GeoWords communicates letter value through the bezel — the chamfered ring around each cell. Bezel color, intensity, and texture encode value information:
- Higher-value letters have more prominent bezels
- The bezel color system creates a visual language that players learn over time
- This approach eliminates visual clutter while maintaining information density
Word Properties (Future)
The scoring system is designed to support Word Properties — detectable patterns in letter sequences that carry bonus scoring potential:
| Property | Example | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Rare digraphs | "aa", "qe" | Unusual two-letter combinations |
| Triple vowel (VVV) | "eau" in beauty | Three consecutive vowels |
| Double-double | "aabb" patterns | Repeated letter pairs |
| Long word bonus | 10+ letters | Exceptional word length |
Word properties will connect to a repeat-property multiplier system: playing the same property multiple times creates escalating rewards, adding a strategic meta-game beyond vocabulary.
Dictionary
GeoWords uses the SOWPODS dictionary — the combined international Scrabble word list containing 267,751 words. The minimum word length is 3 letters.
A word is valid if and only if it appears in the dictionary when the selected letters are read in selection order.