Letter Boxed Rules Explained: How to Play, Scoring, and Par

Letter Boxed is the daily word puzzle from The New York Times built around a square of twelve letters. The rules are short, but a few of them trip up new players, and the scoring isn't what most people assume. Here is the whole game, explained plainly — what the board is, exactly what counts as a legal move, how you "win," and what par really means.

What is Letter Boxed?

It's a once-a-day word game: a single new puzzle appears each day, the same board for everyone, and the goal is to use all twelve letters by spelling a chain of connected words. Unlike a crossword, there are no clues — the challenge is purely about finding words that fit the board's geometry and link together. One puzzle per day, no timer, and the same twelve letters for every player worldwide.

The board: twelve letters on four sides

The square has three letters on each of its four sides, twelve letters total, and they're all different. The arrangement is the entire puzzle: which letters sit together on a side determines what words you can and can't spell, because of the one rule that defines the game.

The rules, in full

• Use consecutive letters from different sides. You can never play two letters from the same side back to back. Letters on the same edge are off-limits to each other; every move has to cross to a different side.
• Words are at least three letters long.Two-letter words don't count.
• Each new word starts with the previous word's last letter. Your words form a chain — the last letter of one word becomes the first letter of the next.
• Letters can be reused. A single letter can appear in as many words as you like, and more than once within a word — you just have to touch all twelve at least once by the end.
• Real words only.Entries must be in the puzzle's dictionary. Proper nouns, hyphenated words, and abbreviations are not accepted.

The diagram shows the rule that matters most. On the left, every hop crosses to a new side, so the word is legal. On the right, two letters sit on the same side and are played back to back — illegal, no matter how good the word looks. Internalizing this one constraint is most of what separates a frustrating board from a solvable one. For exactly which entries the dictionary accepts and why a word might be rejected, see our guide to what words are allowed in Letter Boxed.

How you win, and what "par" means

You win by using all twelve letters across your chain of words — that's the only requirement to finish. There's no points-per-word score like Scrabble. Instead, the game sets a par: a target number of words for that day's board, usually around four or five. Finishing in par or fewer words is the goal serious players chase, and finishing in just two words is the celebrated best case. Par is deliberately generous, so simply solving the board at all is an achievement on a hard day — beating par is the stretch goal.

Common points of confusion

• "Is it the same puzzle for everyone?" Yes — one shared board per day, the same twelve letters worldwide. More on the daily cycle, replays, and the archive in our guide to the daily puzzle.
• "Can I reuse a letter?" Absolutely. Reusing letters across words (and within a word) is normal and often necessary.
• "Why was my word rejected?"Usually it's a proper noun, an abbreviation, or simply not in the dictionary — not a bug.
• "Do shorter chains score better?"Fewer words is the whole sport. A two-word solution beats a five-word one even though both "win."

Ready to play?

Now that the rules make sense, the next step is strategy. Start with the best words to open with, learn how to chase a two-word solution, or read the seven core solving strategies for the full playbook. When you just want help on today's board, the day's progressive hints walk you through it one step at a time.