MORPH'EM
RULES
How to play MORPH'EM
MORPH'EM is a word tournament where you are competing with the whole internet to be the best word searcher in every game. Every player is competing on the same board, in real time, to get the highest score. Will you be the MORPH'EM champion?
Object
Be the player that finishes with the highest score in a 3 minutes game of word search by finding as many high scoring words as you can. Score points by creating words from a cube made of 24 letters. Search for the BONUS-WORDS to improve your score. The more BONUS-WORDS you find, the bigger the bonus.
Playing the game
At the beginning of each round, you will be presented with the BONUS-WORDS list:
The list contains 6 words, with only 3 being visible. You have 10 seconds to memorize the words. You can also touch the hidden words to reveal them for some credits.
After ten seconds, the lettered cube appears, with 4 letters on each face. All 26 letters of the alphabet - without accentuated characters - are used in this game.
Each letter is assigned a point value ranging from 1 to 10.
In English:
- 1 point: A, E, I, L, N, O, R, S, T, U.
- 2 points: D, G.
- 3 points: B, C, M, P.
- 4 points: F, H, V, W, Y.
- 5 points: K.
- 8 points: J, X.
- 10 points: Q, Z.
Start searching the board for words in the puzzle. A word consists of any connected sequence of letters, in any of the 8 possible directions (up, down, left, right and diagonals). Each tile can be used only once for a single word. You can use regular characters instead of accented ones (i.e. CLICHE for Cliché). As in many word games you can make every common nouns and verbs - conjugated or not - you can find in common dictionaries. You can't make proper names.
To add a word to your word list, touch the first tile of the word and proceed to drag your finger across the board touching each connected tile, one at a time, spelling out a word. As you pass over each tile it will highlight and you will see the word you are building shown above the game board. When you have completed a word, lift your finger off the last tile. The tiles will then turn green (a correct word), yellow (an already found word), or red (not a legal word). If the word is correct and have not been found before, you earn the sum of each letter's point value. Creating longer words and using higher value tiles will result in higher scores. Your score update automatically
A multiplier is applied to every 6 letters words or longer:
- 6 or 7 letters: x1.5
- 8 or 9 letters: x2
- 10 letters: x2.5
- 11 or 12 letters: x3
Keep collecting words as fast as you can until the clock runs out.
Bonus Words
BONUS-WORDS are special words that you have to memorize and then find in the given cube. The more BONUS-WORDS you find, the larger the bonus you'll receive at the end of the round.
The bonus received is:
- 1/6 words: 20 points
- 2/6 words: 40 points
- 3/6 words: 60 points
- 4/6 words: 100 points
- 5/6 words: 150 points
- 6/6 words: 200 points
Some of the BONUS-WORDS are hidden. To reveal them, you must use the UNLOCKER power. To use that power, you must possess 5 Credits (¢). You can use the UNLOCKER in three ways:
- When the BONUS-WORDS list is first shown: simply touch one of the hidden words.
- During the game: press the UNLOCKER button in the power bar to reveal the next BONUS-WORD in the list.
- After using the EYE power, touch a hidden word just like in the pre-game phase.
You will find more informations about your various powers and how to use them in the corresponding section of these rules.
Rotating the cube
Contrary to most other word games, MORPH'EM is played in 3D. The lettered cube can be rotated to allow you to find words on the various letters combinations allowed by the third dimension. As you can only see three faces of the cube at one time, you effectively have 8 different "grids" of 12 letters where you can find words.
You have two ways to rotate the cube:
- Free rotation:
By touching the exterior of the cube and dragging your finger on the screen, you can freely rotate the view to explore the various faces of the cube. As you release your finger, the view will snap to the nearest arrangement of three faces. This mode is useful when you want to have an overview of the cube. - Automatic rotation:
In the lower portion of the game screen, you'll find 4 buttons with arrows on them. Pressing those buttons will automatically rotate the cube to the next valid view of three faces in the direction the arrow is pointing. Useful to quickly change the view.
By rotating the cube, you can fully explore the possibilities it offers. Mastering the cube manipulation is key to obtaining a good score in MORPH'EM.
Making words
Words may be collected by placing your finger on any letter that starts a word and then dragging to each adjacent letter until you’ve completed the word.
For examples of legal plays, consider the following sample cube:
First, consider the legal word D-I-E-T. You would put your finger on the D, followed by dragging through the I, E, and T, and then lifting your finger. D-I-E-T is a short word and worth 5 points.
Next, let’s find the word M-U-L-T-I-S-I-D-E-D, which is worth 35 points:
You cannot reuse any tiles in a single word. All plays must be made in one continuous gesture by touching only adjacent tiles.
For fun, try finding these words in the puzzle above:
L-U-T-E
(4 points)D-I-S-S-I-M-U-L-A-T-E-D
(48 points)I-S-S-U-E-D
(10 points)T-E-D-I-U-M
(13 points)
When making a word, if you think you made an error, you can backtrack to the previous letter while still dragging your finger to erase the erroneous letter. You can then continue your word from here.
Time remaining
Although each round of MORPH'EM lasts 4:00, the actual word search portion is three minutes. The remaining time is dedicated to showing your individual results following by the rankings for the top players that participated in a given game, plus the ranking of players around your score.
Sometimes, you will notice that when you start you first game in a session, you will start with less than three minutes. What happened? MORPH'EM is an always on, 24/7, game where every player gets the same board at the same time world-wide. Because of this, it is possible to enter a game that’s already in progress. When you do, you will only have the remaining time to play that round, including the BONUS-WORDS display (10s you can skip). Don’t fret about getting a low score in that first round. You didn’t get the full three minutes.
Tiles and Words
MORPH'EM has 26 tiles, one for each letter of the alphabet.
Words must be at least three letters long. One and two letter words are not acceptable.
If you can find the word on the cube—and it’s a real word—you will receive points for it.
If you think we are missing words, please let us know and we will consider inclusion of the word. Please give us feedback and be sure to tell us the word, the meaning, and how you learned about it. We love getting constructive feedback.
Powers
In MORPH'EM, a clever usage of your powers is the key to a good score. There are three powers, each with its own effect.
The Eye: 1 credit
The EYE lets you display the BONUS-WORDS list at will. It is useful if you forgot what the BONUS-WORDS were, or if you quickly want to unlock more of them. Simply press the button with this icon in your power bar
The UNLOCKER: 5 credits
The UNLOCKER allows you to reveal the hidden BONUS-WORDS. It can be used in three ways:
- When we first show you the BONUS-WORDS list: simply touch one of the hidden words.
- During the game: press the UNLOCKER button in the power bar to reveal the next BONUS-WORD in the list.
- After using the EYE power, touch a hidden word just like in the pre-game phase.
The Snake: 3 credits
The SNAKE is a strange beast: after activating it by touching the icon in your power bar, press and hold one letter on the cube to display the longest word starting from that letter. The snake will only display words that you can make in this particular view of the cube. The snake only shows you the longest word: after releasing your finger, you still have to make the word like a regular word to obtain the corresponding points. A well placed SNAKE can grant you a lot of points for minimal effort.
Scoring
Your final score consists of the sum of your individual word scores during play. Each word is scored in two parts: the value of the individual tiles used and a word length multiplier. When you collect a word, the game adds up the value of each tile. Then, that score is multiplied by a word length bonus as follows:
- Words with 6 or 7 tiles are worth one-and-a-half more
- Words with 8 or 9 tiles are worth double
- Words with 10 tiles are worth three-and-a-half more
- Words with 11 or 12 tiles are triple
On top of the total of all the words you made during the round, we add the bonus obtained from the BONUS-WORDS at the end of the round to calculate your total score.
Individual results and leader board
At the end of each round there are about 30 seconds of time before the next round begins. During this time, we show you your individual results, followed by the top players’ results for that round.
In the individual results, we show you all of the words you found and all of the words you didn’t, along with the scores for words you didn’t find and a percentage representing the rate at which they were found by all the players. Use your time between games to look for and learn new words to make yourself even better for the next round!
Credits (¢)
In MORPH'EM, you win credits (¢) when you play. For every 50 points you score in a round, you win one credit. You can also win credits by obtaining the game trophies.
Credits have several uses: first and foremost, they are your currency to use your powers:
- EYE power: 1 credit
- UNLOCKER power: 5 credits
- SNAKE power: 3 credits
A good credits management is key to scoring points and dominating the rankings.
Your credits can also be used to purchase customization items from the shop. You can purchase various skins for the game and flags to customize the way your name appears in the rankings.
Gameplay tips
- For highest scores, look for words with high value tiles and long words first, but never forget the BONUS-WORDS: they really are worth a lot of points.
- Every tile on the cube is possible to use in at least one word.
- Singular and plural versions, as well as different tenses, prefixes, and suffixes of the same word each count as independent words, so rack up word variants, when possible (e.g., JUMP, JUMPS, and JUMPED are each considered unique).
- Heteronyms–words spelled the same but with different meanings or pronunciations (e.g., BASS the fish vs. BASS the instrument)–are only counted once.
- Every game board has at least 45 common English words and as many as 200 total words, included rare, obscure, or slang words.
- A well placed snake can net you a lot of points: if you feel that you can make a long word from the view of the cube, don't hesitate to use the snake.
Game modes
MORPH'EM offers you the possibility the play in real time with people from all around the world. This is the COMPETITION mode, and is the real meat of the game. But the game also offers you the possibility the play alone in TRAINING mode. In that mode, the game is generally the same. You play with one of the 20 cubes proposed and you can try to improve you score on each of them. The major difference with Competition mode is that you can't win credits. You're free to use your powers at will as they cost you nothing.
Cheating
Cheating in MORPH'EM is pretty easy with the help of a word game puzzle solver. Please don’t cheat. It’s neither interesting nor fun to have cheaters around. If we find cheaters that are abusing the game, we reserve the option to take corrective action. Please enjoy the game and play honestly. Thanks.
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