Ghost

About Ghost

Ghost is the classic parlour word game of nerve and vocabulary, played against the Fiddler: a fragment grows one letter at a time, every letter must keep a real word possible, and whoever completes a word of four letters or more loses the round. The house judges every bluff against its own book of 74,947 words. First to three rounds takes the duel. Play solo or live at the open tables, free in your browser, no ads, no sign-up.

How to play

Take turns adding one letter to the end of the fragment. Complete a word of four or more letters and you lose the round on the spot — the house sees it, no call needed. If you think the fragment has stopped being the beginning of any real word, challenge instead of playing: if no word in the book begins with it, the player who wrote the last letter loses the round; if one does, the house shows it and the challenge costs you the round. Rounds alternate their opening player; first to three round wins takes the match. There are no draws.

Controls

• Tap a letter, or typeAdd it to the fragment
• Challenge (or Enter)Call the fragment out

Tips

Count the parity: you want the words a fragment can become to end on your opponent’s letter, not yours. Steer into long words when the short ones fall badly, and remember every real word of four or more letters counts — including the odd ones. When a fragment looks impossible, make sure it truly is before you call it: the book is deep, and a failed challenge costs the same as a spelt word.