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Letter Trail: a 6 by 8 letter board on contour-map paper, with PIRATESHIP drawn as an orange trail line from edge to edge, theme words linked in green, blue and pink, and ISLAND being traced under the "Yo ho ho" signpost

Letter Trail

Word games

By Chloe R · 116 plays

Trace bending words through a 6 by 8 board of letters until every letter is used. Find the trail word that names the theme, earn hints with extra words, and hike 16 trails for postcards.

  • desktop
  • mobile
  • tablet
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About the game

I usually write short story games, so this one is all words. Every trail has a theme and one long word that runs from edge to edge. Some of the themes are a bit silly. Letter Trail is a relaxed themed word hunt. Each board is a 6 by 8 grid of letters with a clue at the top, like "Lay out the blanket". Hidden in it are six to nine theme words, and together they use every letter exactly once. Drag across touching letters to trace a word. Words bend in any direction, diagonals included, and a found word snaps into place as a coloured line. One of them is the trail word: it names the theme and crosses the board from one side to the other, drawn in orange with a flag at each end. Any other word of four or more letters counts as an extra word, and every three extra words earn a hint that outlines the letters of a theme word. Each board is a step on a hiking trail. Finish a step without hints for three boots, and finish all ten steps of a trail to collect its illustrated postcard. There are 16 trails, from Meadow Loop to Summit Way, with 160 boards that grow from gentle straight words to twisting ones. A new daily trail board arrives every day, and playing on days in a row grows your streak. All 216 themes were written by hand with common, family-friendly words, and every board was checked to have exactly one solution.

How to play

Drag across touching letters to spell a word, then let go. Words can bend in any direction, including diagonals. You can also tap the letters one by one and tap the last one again, or type a word and press Enter. Find every theme word to fill the board; the trail word names the theme and touches two opposite sides. Other words of 4 or more letters are extra words: every 3 earn a hint that outlines a theme word. Keyboard: Backspace removes a letter, 1 uses a hint, Escape clears the word or pauses.

Devices
desktop, mobile, tablet
Orientation
any

Content notes

No violence, text chat, ads or purchases. Themes use common, family-friendly words, and the word lists are filtered to leave out offensive, sexual, violent, drug and alcohol words. Gentle sound effects that can be turned off, and motion that can be reduced in settings.

Screenshots

Orchard Lane step 2, "Under the waves": the third extra word, RELIEF, earns a hint, and the hint outlines the letters of a hidden theme word. The field notes list the theme words found and the extra wordsStep complete on Riverside Walk, "Save room for it": three hiking boots for finishing without hints, the time, extra words and hints used, and the steps left to the trail's postcard, with confetti leavesTrail complete: the Pine Woods postcard flips into view, an illustrated card of pine forest and hills earned by finishing all ten steps of the trailThe trail map: sixteen trails from Meadow Loop to Summit Way, each a hiking path of ten steps with boots earned, finished trails with their postcards, the next step glowing and later trails lockedThe daily trail: a new board for everyone each day, a six-day streak with a flame, the week so far marked with ticks, and a Play button for todayA phone in portrait playing Lakeshore Path step 8, "Family tree": FATHER being traced through the letter board, found words linked in colour, and the Hint and extra word buttons below

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