Whether you like your eggs scrambled or sunny-side up,Words Over Easy is a new game from Winning Moves Games. It is like Scrabble meets Boggle, where you have to scramble letters to make words. Depending on how well you do, you get accolades for cooking up a list of words for points, making it is a great educational game for the whole family.
Players start by dropping six egg-shaped letter dice into the egg sorter. The chute sorts the eggs and deems if they’re good eggs or rotten eggs — you know, kind of like that big Veruca Salt number in Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory. The letters that land upright on the good side (green tray) are the letters that players must use to spell words; the letters sunny-side-up on the rotten egg side (red tray) cannot be used. For example, if the three good egg letters are L, G, and N and the rotten egg letters are M, B, and U, a player can spell the word “GLEAN,” but not the word “GLAM” because it contains a rotten letter that round and not all of the good letters.
Players then have to come up with as many valid words using all the letters in the green tray as possible in one minute (the included sand timer helps you keep track). If players have the same words on their list as another player, they have to cross it out. If they use the rotten letters, they toss those words, too. Players get a credit for every valid, non-duplicate, legitimate word!
What makes this game exceptional is that there are so many other ways to play. You can play with or without the timer. You can play with just one rotten egg, and the other five being usable good letter eggs — or reverse it for an even greater challenge. Use the included category cards to challenge players to only find words that match the theme — such as only breakfast-themed words. Alternatively, let kids make up their own categories, like favorite video games or Marvel superheroes. Players can even adapt the rules based on kids’ ages, cognitive skills, or available time, such as giving out valuable points for every word they find, even if it is duplicated from another player, or extra points for the amount of good letter eggs used in a word. What is consistent is that kids are working on strategies, executive functioning, spelling, vocabulary, writing, and time management. Plus, they can even work on math skills while keeping score!
Regardless of how your family plays, Words Over Easy is easy to play anywhere. Pack up the pieces and take the game with you to pass the time while doing things such as waiting for appointments (you can even skip the paper and take turns saying words out loud). Alternatively, have the kids play it to keep them occupied during pre-dinner prep. They’ll get some screen-free time that is also educational fun.
So, how do you like your words? Over easy, of course!
