Goal
Finish with the highest final score after score, coins, and leftover hand tiles are all counted.
Player Guide
Play AlfaPower with confidence
AlfaPower is a word strategy game where every turn is a choice between scoring now, managing your hand, and buying the right power-up for the board in front of you.
At a glance
- 1–2 players
- Bot and Multiplayer modes
- 7 tiles in hand
- Coins buy power-ups
1. Getting started
AlfaPower offers several ways to play: instant public matchmaking, private lobbies with a friend, and bot matches against an AI opponent.
Quick Play
Quick Play is the fastest way to start a multiplayer game. One button, casual mode with a 7-day move deadline on a standard board. AlfaPower looks for a waiting public match with the same setup.
- If a matching public lobby already exists, you join it as the second player.
- If not, AlfaPower creates a new public lobby and waits for an opponent.
- If nobody joins after a short wait, the host can challenge a local bot on Rookie, Wordsmith, or Alfa difficulty instead.
- Public lobbies use fixed settings and are not editable by the host.
Private Match
Private Match creates a private lobby. The host shares a room code and can choose between Standard mode (fixed settings) or Custom mode (full control over board, timer, items, and rules).
- The guest joins with the room code or a friend invite link.
- Only the host can change settings.
- Changing a setting resets both players to not ready.
Bot Play
Bot Match is available directly from the Play tab. It pits you against an AI opponent at three difficulty levels and runs entirely on your device. See Play modes for full details.
Timer modes
AlfaPower supports two timer modes, available in all play modes:
- Competitive: Per-turn seconds timer. If the timer expires, your turn counts as a pass. Three consecutive timeouts result in forfeit.
- Casual: Move deadline in hours (e.g. 12h, 1 day, 2 days, 7 days). If the deadline expires, you lose immediately. Great for playing at your own pace across hours or days.
Standard preset
Quick Play and Standard private matches use the same fixed settings: casual mode with a 7-day move deadline on a 15×15 board with all items enabled, including the Alfa Power Tile feature.
If Quick Play falls back to a bot, the match keeps those standard settings, but gameplay continues locally on your device. The bot follows the same rules as a multiplayer game.
Quick Play matchmaking is dictionary-specific. A Quick Play English lobby does not mix with a Quick Play Swedish lobby.
2. Play modes
AlfaPower has two play modes. The core rules — placement, scoring, items, and power-ups — work the same in both modes. The differences are about who you play against, where the game runs, and which social features are available.
Bot Match
Play against an AI opponent. The bot draws tiles, places words, buys power-ups, and scores just like a human player.
- Three difficulty levels: Rookie (easier), Wordsmith (balanced, default), Alfa (hardest)
- Higher difficulty means smarter word choices and longer think time
- Follows the same rules as multiplayer (4 consecutive passes to end; when the bag is empty, the last player with tiles keeps playing until they finish or choose End Game)
- Runs entirely on your device after the match starts
- Available from the Play tab or as a Quick Play fallback when no human opponent joins
- Endgame shows a game summary with best word, longest word, total score, words played, and turns played
- No chat, no rematch
Multiplayer
Two human players in real time. The server handles all scoring, validation, and game state.
- Quick Play (public matchmaking) or Private Match (room code)
- Competitive (per-turn timer) or Casual (move deadline) timer modes
- In-game chat
- Rematch proposals after the game
- Friend invites and push notifications
- Reconnection support if you disconnect
Comparison
| Feature | Bot | Multiplayer |
|---|---|---|
| Opponent | AI (3 levels) | Human |
| Runs on | Your device | Server |
| Chat | No | Yes |
| Rematch | No | Yes |
| Reconnection | N/A | Yes |
| Passes to end game | 4 | 4 |
| Statistics | Yes | Yes |
Want to change the board size, timer, items, economy, or rules? See the Custom Games guide →
3. Turn flow
A live turn stays with the active player until they place a word, pass, or run out of time. Buying items can happen at any time (even during the opponent's turn in multiplayer), while using items is part of the active turn.
In bot matches, the bot takes its turn automatically after yours.
- Buy power-ups. Open the Shop button to buy powers. Purchased powers appear in the power slot row above your hand tiles. You can buy during either player's turn, up to the slot limit (default 7).
- Use power-ups. Tap a filled power slot to activate it. Swap enters swap mode; other powers enter board placement mode where the next board tap places the power.
- Swap if needed. Using Swap changes selected tiles without ending your turn.
- Place a word or pass. A successful placement ends the turn after scoring. Passing ends it immediately. Drafted powers are applied only when you place at least one tile.
- Resolve the turn. You draw replacement tiles (if you met the Alfa trigger, you draw one fewer tile and automatically receive a blank Alfa Power Tile instead). Usually the turn passes to the opponent. If the bag is empty and only one player still has tiles, that player keeps taking turns until they finish or choose End Game.
| Action | Ends the turn? | Important note |
|---|---|---|
| Buy an item | No | Available on either player's turn. You can keep playing after the purchase. |
| Use an item | No | Items are consumed only when used successfully. |
| Swap | No | You can still place or pass afterward, except during the final forced-finish sequence. |
| Place a word | Yes | The turn ends after validation, scoring, coin gain, and tile refill. |
| Pass | Yes | You gain the pass bonus instead of score-based coins. Drafted powers are discarded unless you place tiles. |
| Timeout | Yes | A timeout acts like an automatic pass and also increases your timeout streak, except during forced finish where it ends the game immediately. |
4. Placement rules
Every successful placement must follow the board rules below. These rules are the same in all play modes.
- Place at least one tile from your hand.
- All newly placed tiles must sit in one row or one column with no gaps inside the full word run.
- You cannot place on an occupied square or a square claimed by your opponent.
- You may place on your own claimed square.
- The first word of the match must cross the center starting square.
- Later words must connect to the existing board orthogonally.
- Every full word created by the move must be valid in the match dictionary.
- Single-tile placements are allowed only when they still create a valid word of at least two letters.
- One-letter runs do not count as completed words.
- Alfa Power Tiles ignore alignment rules and, by default, adjacency rules too. They can be placed on any valid square, including occupied squares (replacing the existing tile), but not on opponent-claimed squares or other Alfa Power squares. Cell bonuses (DL, TL, DW, TW) are consumable: the Alfa Power Tile benefits from unused bonuses but not from bonuses already consumed by a previous tile. Normal tiles placed in the same turn as an Alfa Power Tile also skip the adjacency requirement.
Blank tiles
Blank tiles must be assigned a letter when placed. They count as that letter for word creation, but they are still worth 0 points unless Fortify adds bonus value to them.
If a move is invalid
Invalid placements are rejected. If any created word is not accepted, the move does not score and you must try again before your turn ends. Each failed attempt costs 1 point and 1 coin. Penalties accumulate, can push score or coins below zero, and are shown in the last play summary when your turn ends.
5. Scoring and coins
AlfaPower scores the main word and every cross-word created by a placement, then adds them together into one turn score.
Scoring order
| Step | What happens |
|---|---|
| 1. Base value | Each tile starts with its face value. Fortify adds its bonus before anything else. |
| 2. Letter bonuses | Double-letter and triple-letter affect only newly placed tiles. |
| 3. Word bonuses | Double-word, triple-word, and the opening center star apply only if a new tile lands there this turn. |
| 4. Total turn score | All created words are scored separately and then added together. |
Coins from scoring
In standard games, a scored turn gives 1 coin per tile in every word formed (tiles in crosswords count once per word). Custom games can switch to percentage mode: base coins + 10% of your turn score, rounded down. Unspent coins carry over between turns.
Coins from passing
A voluntary pass gives the default 3-coin pass bonus. It does not give score-based coin income because no word was played.
What blanks do at the finish
Blank tiles are worth 0 penalty points if they are still in your hand at the end of the game. Fortify helps blanks only while they are on the board, not in your leftover-hand penalty.
Alfa Power Tile multiplier
An Alfa Power Tile gives its cell a 2× word multiplier on the turn it is placed, like DW and TW bonuses. If the cell has an unused bonus (DL, TL, DW, TW), the Alfa Power Tile benefits from it too — both multiply together. For example, placing an Alfa Power Tile on an empty TW square gives TW ×3 × alfa ×2 = ×6 total. If the cell’s bonus was already used by a previous tile, only the Alfa Power multiplier applies.
Alfa Power Tiles in your hand at the finish
Alfa Power Tiles are blank (0 points), so they incur no leftover-hand penalty at the end of the game — just like regular blank tiles.
6. Items and power-ups
Items are bought with coins and stored until used successfully. Any player can buy items at any time, but only the active player can use them. Using an item does not end the turn by itself.
Base items
3c
Swap
Exchange selected hand tiles with fresh draws from the bag, then continue your turn.
2c base
Fortify
Add +1 value to any board tile, even an opponent tile. Fortify does not stack — each tile can only be fortified once.
2c
Claim
Claim an empty square for yourself so your opponent cannot place there until the claim is cleared or replaced.
4c base
Blast
Strip a cell back to its base form — removes any tile and bonus, but the cell stays playable.
When fewer than 10 tiles remain in the bag, Blast costs 2 extra coins by default.
Bonus-placement items
These items permanently add new bonus spaces to empty normal squares.
| Item | Cost | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Place DL | 4c | Turns an empty normal square into a permanent double-letter space. |
| Place TL | 6c | Turns an empty normal square into a permanent triple-letter space. |
| Place DW | 8c | Turns an empty normal square into a permanent double-word space. |
| Place TW | 10c | Turns an empty normal square into a permanent triple-word space. |
Important targeting and duration rules
- Claim can be placed only on empty squares with no bonus upgrade (type "empty"), that are not dead or already claimed.
- Bonus-placement items require an empty normal square. They can target an unclaimed square or a square claimed by the same player, in which case the new DL/TL/DW/TW bonus replaces the claim.
- Blast resets the target square to its base form, clearing any tile, bonus, claim, or fortification. The cell remains playable.
- Drafted powers commit only together with a tile placement. Passing does not apply them.
Alfa Power Tiles are fully immune to all items. They cannot be targeted by Fortify, Blast, Claim, or any bonus-placement item. By default, they can also be placed freely without needing to connect to existing tiles on the board.
7. Timers and rejoining
AlfaPower has two timer modes with different consequences when time runs out. Timer settings apply to all play modes.
Competitive mode
Per-turn seconds timer. If your clock runs out, the game usually treats it as an automatic pass.
- Three consecutive timeouts result in forfeit
- If you are the only player with tiles left at the end, a timeout ends the game immediately instead
- Only a placed word or voluntary pass clears the streak
Casual mode
Move deadline in hours. Standard games use a 7-day deadline. Take your time across hours or days.
- If the deadline expires, you lose immediately
- Timer is hidden when more than 24 hours remain
Leaving and coming back
Reconnection applies to multiplayer only. Bot matches run entirely on your device — if you leave mid-game, your progress is saved locally and restored when you return.
- Your opponent is notified if you disconnect during a live multiplayer game.
- In competitive timed matches, your turn timer pauses while a player is away.
- If you reconnect in time, you return to the current board state and remaining turn time.
- If you do not return in time, the match is abandoned.
Multiplayer reconnect windows
| Match type | Reconnect window | If you do not return |
|---|---|---|
| Competitive timed | 5 minutes | The match is abandoned after the reconnect window expires. |
| Casual | Up to 24 hours (capped by deadline) | The match is abandoned after the reconnect window expires. |
8. Endgame and rematch
The match ends as soon as one of the end conditions below is met.
How a match can end
- The tile bag is empty and both players have emptied their hands.
- If the bag is empty and only one player still has tiles, that player keeps the turn and may only place tiles or choose End Game until the match is finished.
- Consecutive passes: 4 consecutive passes end the game in both bot and multiplayer matches.
- A player resigns. The opponent wins immediately.
- In competitive mode, one player reaches 3 consecutive timeouts and forfeits.
- In casual mode, a player's move deadline expires — the opponent wins immediately.
- In multiplayer, a disconnected player does not return before the reconnect window expires, so the match is abandoned.
Final score
- Start with the score you earned from played words.
- Add your endgame coin bonus: in standard games, each coin becomes 2 extra points.
- Subtract the face value of the tiles still in your hand.
- Blank tiles in hand are worth 0 penalty points.
If the final totals are tied in a multiplayer or bot match, the first player in the match wins the tiebreak.
After the match
In multiplayer, players can propose a rematch from the end screen. A rematch starts only when both players accept. If one player leaves, the rematch option is no longer available for the remaining player.
In bot matches, the end screen shows a game summary with your best word, longest word, total score, words played, and turns played. Rematch is not available — start a new game from the Play tab instead.
9. Common questions
What are the bot difficulty levels?
Rookie makes simpler moves quickly. Wordsmith (default) is balanced. Alfa is the hardest — it finds stronger words and takes longer to think.
Can I play offline?
Bot matches run entirely on your device after starting, so they keep working even if your connection drops. Multiplayer requires a live connection to the server.
Does Quick Play ever match me with a bot?
Only if you choose it. If no human joins your Quick Play lobby, you can opt to challenge a bot at Rookie, Wordsmith, or Alfa difficulty instead of continuing to wait.
Can I swap and still place a word?
Yes. Swap is a hand-management action inside your turn, not your full turn action.
Does swapping count like a pass?
No. Swapping resets the consecutive-pass counter. Only actual passes and timeouts count toward the consecutive-passes threshold.
Can I fortify an opponent tile?
Yes. Fortify can target any eligible tile on the board, not only your own tiles.
Is a Claim permanent?
Mostly. A claimed square keeps blocking your opponent until a tile is placed there, a Blast resets it, or you replace your own claim with a later bonus-placement power such as TW.
What happens if I run out of time after only buying items?
In competitive mode, the game records an automatic pass and adds to your timeout streak. In casual mode, the deadline expiry means you lose immediately.
What happens if every word is not valid?
The full placement is rejected. Every word created by the move must be accepted in the active dictionary.
What if both players keep passing?
4 consecutive passes end the game in both bot and multiplayer matches. Resigning is separate — you can resign at any time.
What is an Alfa Power Tile?
Placing 5 or more tiles from your hand in a single turn automatically grants a blank Alfa Power Tile in your next draw (you draw one fewer regular tile). The blank Alfa Power Tile can be assigned any letter, placed anywhere on the board (including disconnected from other tiles), replaces existing tiles, gives a word multiplier on its cell, and is immune to all items.
Is the Alfa Power Tile automatic?
Yes. When you meet the trigger (default: place 5 or more tiles), the blank Alfa Power Tile is automatically added to your hand with your replacement draw. No selection or confirmation is needed.