Player Guide

The complete rules

Alfa Kraft is a word game with a shop: place tiles, earn coins, buy powers.

Goal

Finish with the highest final score after score, coins, and leftover tiles in your hand are all counted.

At a glance

  • 1–2 players
  • 15×15 board, 7 tiles
  • Bot and Multiplayer modes
  • 1 coin per tile you place
  • Coins buy powers

1. Getting started

Matches start from New Game on the Play tab. Pick a dictionary and a format — Casual or Blitz — at the top, then choose an opponent. You can have up to 20 games running at once.

Challenge a friend

Send a match invite straight to an accepted friend. Guests can add friends, send challenges and appear on leaderboards too. Find each other by name or player code. Link a sign-in method to keep access to your friends and progress if you lose your guest session.

Random opponent

One button, one match. Alfa Kraft queues you against another player in your selected dictionary and format.

  • You are paired as soon as someone else is queued the same way.

Bot Match

Four difficulty levels, running entirely on your device. Step the level with the arrows, then Start Match. See Play modes for details.

Join Match

Someone shared a room code with you? Enter it under Join Match to take the open seat.

2. Play modes

Play against a bot, challenge another player, or solve the Daily Challenge. Placement and powers follow the same core rules; the daily puzzle has its own turn limit and final score.

Bot Match

The bot draws tiles, places words, buys powers, and scores just like a human player.

  • Four difficulty levels: Easy, Medium, Hard, Expert
  • Higher difficulty means smarter word choices and longer think time
  • Follows the same rules as multiplayer (3 consecutive passes to end; the game ends the moment the tile reserve is empty and either player empties their hand)
  • Runs entirely on your device

Multiplayer

Two human players in real time. The server handles all scoring, validation, and game state.

  • Challenge a friend, Random opponent (matchmaking), or Join Match by room code
  • Two formats — pick on the New Game screen:
    • Casual: play at your own pace. You lose if your 7 day move deadline expires.
    • Blitz: 120s per turn. You auto-pass if your timer runs out. Limited to one Blitz match at a time.
  • Rematch proposals after the game
  • Friend invites

Daily Challenge

Everyone choosing the same word list receives the same populated 11×11 board, seven starting tiles, refill order, and coin budget. Starting bonus squares vary between puzzles, including boards with none; starting words are always present. Words are checked against the same current word list as regular games, including in older puzzles.

  • Three turns to reach Bronze, Silver, or Gold, with the full shop available
  • New puzzles use the same scoring, powers and rewards as Casual and Blitz, including placement and combo bonuses and Golden Tiles. Older archive puzzles keep the rules they were published with
  • A word, pass, or powers-only play uses one turn, including a play with only Alfa Morf; shopping and Swap do not. In older archive puzzles, Alfa Morf changes a tile in your hand without using a turn, and the oldest use a turn for Swap
  • New puzzles have twelve tiles in the tile reserve, separate from the board and hand. Tap the reserve to see the remaining count and which letters are left. An empty reserve does not shorten your three turns
  • In new puzzles, Swap draws the next tiles in order and puts the shuffled returned tiles at the back. Gold targets are based on solutions using familiar words
  • Your score is word points plus placement and combo bonuses: leftover coins give no points, and tiles left in hand incur no deduction. Previously saved scores stay unchanged
  • Unlimited retries; your best completed score is saved. Dice always rolls the same value in a puzzle, shown before you start, so retrying never buys you a better roll
  • A new puzzle opens at midnight Stockholm time. Leaderboards never close: every completed attempt counts, older puzzles included, so you can always go back and beat the high score
  • Revisit your last completed attempt and personal best from each day’s score page or the result screen. View the finished board and browse its turn history
  • Compare scores globally or with friends. Daily results do not affect your rating

Daily Challenges are generated automatically from valid words in our dictionaries. Starting boards and words formed during play may contain offensive or inappropriate language; inclusion does not imply endorsement by Abakus Studio.

3. Turn flow

A live turn stays with the active player until they place a word, pass, or run out of time. Buying powers can happen at any time, while using powers is part of the active turn.

In bot matches, the bot takes its turn automatically after yours.

Tap the last-play strip to open play history. Use the slider or arrows to see the board after each turn and its score details. Your pending word appears separately as a preview. History fills the screen on phones and closes when a new turn is revealed.

  1. Buy powers. Open the Shop button to buy powers. Purchased powers appear in the power bar above your hand. You can buy during either player's turn, up to the slot limit.
  2. Use powers. Tap Swap to enter swap mode. Drag every other power onto the board, Alfa Morf included. Alfa Power and Golden Tiles in your power bar are dragged onto the board like letters.
  3. Swap if needed. Using Swap changes selected tiles without ending your turn.
  4. Rearrange your rack. Drag tiles to reorder them, or tap Shuffle to randomize the order.
  5. Place a word or pass. A successful placement ends the turn after scoring. Passing ends it immediately.
  6. Resolve the turn. You draw replacement tiles. Placing 6 or more tiles earns an Alfa Power Tile, and forming 4 or more words earns a Golden Tile. Both go to your power bar, and a reward with no free slot is lost. If your hand and the reserve are both empty, the match ends immediately without these rewards, and any tiles left in the other hand count against that player. Otherwise, the turn passes to the opponent.
Action Ends the turn? Important note
Buy a power No Available on either player's turn. You can keep playing after the purchase.
Use a power No Powers are consumed only when used successfully.
Swap No You can still place or pass afterward. Unavailable once the reserve is empty.
Place a word Yes The turn ends after validation, scoring, coin gain, and tile refill.
Play only powers Yes Pressing Play with powers on the board but no tiles applies them and ends your turn. This counts as a play, not a pass — it does not count toward the consecutive-pass game end.
Pass Yes No coins — and 3 passes in a row end the game. A Pass discards any drafted powers still on the board.
Deadline expires Yes If your 7-day move deadline runs out before you place a word or pass, you lose immediately.

4. Placement rules

  • 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.
  • 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 and adjacency rules. They can be placed on any empty valid square, but not on occupied squares or other Alfa Power squares. Cell bonuses (2× Letter, 3× Letter, 2× Word, 3× Word) 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.
  • Golden Tiles follow the same placement rules as letters from your hand.

Alfa Power and Golden Tiles as wildcards

Alfa Power Tiles and Golden Tiles must be assigned a letter when placed, and they count as that letter for word creation. An Alfa Power Tile is worth 0 points; a Golden Tile scores that letter’s normal value.

If a move is invalid

If any created word is not accepted, the move does not score and you must try again before your turn ends. It costs you nothing — no points and no coins. You are warned before it happens: while you arrange your tiles the game checks every word you would form and outlines any it does not recognise in red. You can still play it if you disagree — the word list has the final say, and it will tell you which word it rejected.

5. Scoring and coins

Alfa Kraft scores the main word and every cross-word created by a placement, then adds them together into one turn score. Big plays earn a placement bonus and a word combo bonus on top.

Scoring order

Step What happens
1. Base value Each tile starts with its face value. Charge and Dice add their 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. Their factors multiply when more than one applies (2× Word and 3× Word → ×6).
4. Total turn score All created words are scored separately and added together, then any placement and combo bonus is added.

Placement bonus

Place 6 or more tiles in one turn for bonus points. Every tile you place counts, including Alfa Power and Golden Tiles. Only the highest row you reach pays.

Tiles placed Bonus
6+25
7+50
8+75
9+100
10+150
11+200
12+250
13++300

Word combos

Form 4 or more words in one turn, counting the main word and every cross-word, for a combo bonus. Only the highest row you reach pays.

Words formed Bonus
4+20
5+40
6+80
7+150
8+200
9+250
10++300

Your hand holds 7 letters, so a play of 8 or more tiles also needs Alfa Power or Golden Tiles from your power bar.

Coins from scoring

You start with 3 coins. A scored turn gives 1 coin per tile in every word formed (tiles in crosswords count once per word). Unspent coins carry over between turns.

Passing earns nothing

3 passes in a row end the game.

Golden Tile

Form 4 or more words in one turn to earn a Golden Tile for your power bar. It is a wildcard: choose its letter when you place it, and it scores that letter’s normal value. Unlike an Alfa Power Tile, it follows the normal placement rules and adds no word multiplier.

Alfa Power Tile multiplier

An Alfa Power Tile’s gem shows the size of the play that earned it: a Pentagon for 6 tiles, a Hexagon for 7, or a Septagon for 8 or more. It gives its cell a word multiplier on the turn it is placed — none for a Pentagon (wildcard placement only), ×2 for a Hexagon, ×3 for a Septagon. If the cell has an unused bonus (2× Letter, 3× Letter, 2× Word, 3× Word), the Alfa Power Tile benefits from it too — their factors multiply. For example, a Hexagon placed on an empty 3× Word square gives 3× Word (3) × alfa (2) = ×6 total. If the cell’s bonus was already used by a previous tile, only the Alfa Power multiplier applies.

Power bar tiles at the finish

Alfa Power Tiles and Golden Tiles still in your power bar when the match ends cost nothing. Only the ordinary letters left in your hand count against you.

6. Powers

Powers are bought with coins and stored in your inventory until used successfully. Any player can buy powers at any time, but only the active player can use them. Using a power does not end the turn by itself. You can hold up to 7 powers at once, and earned Alfa Power and Golden Tiles share those slots.

Your opponent’s coin count stays still during your turn. Their next move reveal shows the net change from buying and selling before their tiles move.

Each power is either Tap (activate from the power slot) or Drag (drag from the power slot onto a board cell).

Prices are fixed: every purchase of a power costs the price shown below.

Drag an unused power onto the sell area that appears at the top-right of the board, then release to sell it, even during your opponent’s turn. You get its full price back, no matter how long you have held it. Alfa Power and Golden Tiles can’t be sold.

Tap a staged tile’s faded slot in your hand to recall it together with any Charge and Dice placed on it.

Shop powers

5c Tap

Swap

Exchange selected tiles from your hand with fresh draws from the reserve, then continue your turn. Unavailable once the reserve is empty.

1c Drag

Charge

Add +1 value to any board tile. A tile can be charged up to 5 times — the battery meter along its top lights one segment per charge.

6c Drag

Rubber

Wipes a cell — removes any tile, bonus, or charge.

10c Drag

Alfa Morf

Drag onto a tile on the board, including one you are placing this turn, and choose a new letter for it. Every word through that tile must still be valid. A morf tile scores zero base points, like a blank, and flickers back to its original letter now and then. Cannot target Alfa Power or Golden Tiles.

5c Drag

Dice

Add a 1–6 roll to any board tile. The roll happens when you press Play, so the value is unknown until then. Each tile can have Dice only once.

Important targeting and duration rules

  • The cell a Rubber wipes is out of play for the rest of that turn.
  • On the first turn, Rubber can't target the center starting square — the opening word has to land there first.
  • Drafted powers commit when you press Play — usually alongside a tile placement, but you can also commit powers on their own (see “Play only powers” above), which ends the turn and counts as a play, not a pass. Passing instead discards any drafted powers without applying them.

Alfa Power Tiles and Golden Tiles are fully immune to all powers. They cannot be targeted by Charge, Dice, Rubber, or Alfa Morf. Alfa Power Tiles can also be placed freely without needing to connect to existing tiles on the board.

7. Turn deadline and rejoining

Casual

Each turn runs on a 7-day deadline. Take hours or days to think — as soon as you place a word or pass, the opponent's 7-day clock starts.

  • If the deadline expires, you lose immediately.
  • The timer stays hidden while more than 24 hours remain, and appears once you are inside the last day.
  • Your game list follows the same rule: a card shows its countdown (for example, 05:12:44) only inside the last 24 hours.

Blitz

Blitz is the fast format. Each turn runs on a 120-second per-turn timer.

  • If your turn timer runs out, the game auto-passes for you and the turn moves to your opponent.
  • If you're away when your turn auto-passes (app closed or backgrounded), you get an inactivity strike. Three strikes and you forfeit the match — come back and play a turn to wipe your strikes.
  • Limited to one active Blitz match at a time.
  • Because both players have to be present, a Blitz invite expires after 10 minutes.

A Blitz match against a friend starts live: both players press Ready in the lobby, then a 3-second countdown runs before the first turn. If either player leaves or un-readies during it, the countdown stops and both ready flags clear.

Leaving and coming back

Bot matches run entirely on your device — if you close the app mid-game, your progress is saved locally and restored when you return.

In a Casual multiplayer match, you can leave and come back as often as you like while your move deadline is still running. The match ends only if the deadline expires or a player resigns. In a Blitz match, the per-turn timer keeps ticking while you're away — if you're absent when your turn ends, you collect an inactivity strike, and three strikes is a loss.

8. Endgame and rematch

How a match can end

  • The tile reserve is empty and either player empties their hand — the match ends immediately, and any tiles left in the other player’s hand are subtracted from their score. The finishing play still scores its placement and combo bonuses, but earns no Alfa Power Tile or Golden Tile.
  • Consecutive passes: 3 consecutive passes end the game in both bot and multiplayer matches, with the winner decided by final score. The pass confirmation warns you as the count climbs: at two, your opponent can end the match on their turn; the third pass ends it.
  • A player resigns. The opponent wins immediately.
  • A player's 7-day move deadline expires — the opponent wins immediately.

Final score

  • Start with the score you earned from played words.
  • Add your endgame coin bonus: each coin becomes 1 extra point.
  • Subtract the face value of the ordinary letters still in your hand.
  • Alfa Power Tiles and Golden Tiles left in your power bar cost nothing.

If the final totals are tied, the match is a draw — there is no tiebreak.

Who plays first

In a multiplayer match, the challenged player (the one who accepted the invite or joined an open lobby) plays the first turn — you can act right away when you open a new game. On a rematch, the starting player alternates: whoever didn't start the previous game plays first in the next one. In a bot match, you (the human) always play first.

After the match

In multiplayer, either player can propose a rematch from the end screen. The offer waits for the other player — they don't have to be online, and closing the app doesn't withdraw it. You can cancel your own offer from the same screen, and an offer nobody answers expires after seven days.

The other player either accepts, which starts the new match right away, or declines. Declining is final for that match — the rematch cannot be offered again afterwards, though nothing stops either of you starting a fresh game.

Every match ends on a summary card — best word, longest word, words played, turns played, coins, and tiles placed — shown side by side for both players. Bot matches have no rematch, but the end screen offers Play again to start another match against the same bot with the same settings.

From the end screen you can also choose Explore Board to dismiss the result and pan around the finished board.

9. Rank

Your rank is a number that reflects your skill in a given dictionary. Every dictionary tracks its own separate rank — English, Swedish, Swedish (strict), Danish, and Norwegian. Everyone starts at 1200 and climbs (or falls) from there.

After every standard PvP match, your rank adjusts based on the result. Wins raise it, losses lower it, and bigger upsets move you faster. Bot matches do not affect your rank — bot opponents show their own rank so you can pick a difficulty that matches your level.

10. Common questions

What are the bot difficulty levels?

Easy plays short, everyday words and only the simplest powers. Medium knows more words and plays longer ones. Hard picks close to its best move and uses most powers. Expert is the toughest — it plays the full dictionary and every power, and will skip a turn to set up a big one.

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 Random opponent ever match me with a bot?

No. Matchmaking only ever pairs you with another player. Bot matches are their own launcher on the New Game screen.

Can I swap and still place a word?

Yes. Swap is a hand-management action inside your turn, not your full turn action. It needs tiles in the reserve, so it is unavailable once the reserve runs out.

Does swapping count like a pass?

No. Swapping resets the consecutive-pass counter. Only actual passes count toward the consecutive-passes threshold.

Can I charge an opponent tile?

Yes. Charge can target any eligible tile on the board, not only your own tiles.

What happens if my move deadline runs out?

You lose immediately. Buying or dragging powers to the board does not extend the deadline — only placing a word or passing ends the turn and starts the opponent's 7-day clock.

What happens if my word is invalid?

The placement is rejected and you keep your turn, at no cost — you lose no points and no coins. A word the game does not recognise is outlined in red while you are still arranging your tiles, so you can rearrange and try again, or pass.

What if both players keep passing?

3 consecutive passes end the game in both bot and multiplayer matches, with the winner decided by final score. Resigning is separate — you can resign at any time.

What is an Alfa Power Tile?

Placing 6 or more tiles in a single turn earns a blank Alfa Power Tile for your power bar, unless the play empties your hand with the reserve empty and ends the match. It can be assigned any letter, placed on any empty square (including disconnected from other tiles), and is immune to all powers. Its gem shows the size of the play that earned it: a Pentagon (6 tiles) is wildcard placement only, a Hexagon (7) also multiplies the whole word ×2, and a Septagon (8 or more) multiplies it ×3.

Is the Alfa Power Tile automatic?

Yes. When you place 6 or more tiles in one turn, the Alfa Power Tile goes straight into a free slot in your power bar. No selection or confirmation is needed. If your power bar is full, the tile is lost. If the play empties your hand with the reserve empty, the match ends without an Alfa reward.