Spell-Or-Starve

Neopet v2 is so lonely he's kidnapped you and forced you to play his new word game! After 3 days, you are on the verge of starvation and have no choice but to play along in order to escape!

How to Play

To earn points, you must spell out words (recognised in the Neopets dictionary) using only blocks touching one another; they can be joined consecutively vertically, horizontally, and diagonally. The longer the word, the more points you earn—and when you earn enough points, Neopet v2 will let you into the next level!

Tiles

Here is a complete list of the various tiles you will come across during the game and what each of them does.

Selected tile in a word not found in the dictionary

Active tile in a word found in the dictionary

The letter on this tile changes every few seconds

Doubles (levels 1-3) or triples (levels 4-5) the points of any word it's used in

Can be used as ANY letter

Cannot be used, does not move with rotations

Levels and Difficulties

Spell-Or-Starve has five levels, each with an increasing number of points required to clear. You have five minutes on each level to reach that point threshold; if you run out of time, it is game over. There is also a bonus for clearing all five levels.

There are three difficulties in Spell-Or-Starve, with the only difference between them being the size of the board and the points needed to advance each level.

Each of these difficulties also offers a Zen Mode, where there is no time limit, all words are worth 1 point, and you can advance through as many levels as you like. You actually can submit a score from Zen Mode, although your score resets every time you start a new level, so it is essentially impossible to get a High Score.

Creating Words

Here is a sample of gameplay; in it you can see how tiles will change colour repeatedly as the game searches its database of words to see what you are trying to submit. In addition to being able to link letters that are adjacent to the previous tile (as done here) you can also link ones that are immediately diagonal.

The game will only accept words that appear in the Neopian Dictionary, which does have some quirks:

• Some words that do not exist in an English dictionary are allowed if they are Neopets-related, but not all Neopets words are allowed. For example, SLORG is a valid word, but NOAK is not.
• Some fairly common English words are not valid, such as UNIT, GEEK, and PHONE.
• Not every plural is allowed. For example, ARK is a valid word, but ARKS is not.
• In general, proper nouns (names of people and places) are not allowed, but there are some exceptions for some Neopian proper nouns, such as GORS or THADE. Even some real proper nouns are allowed; for example, SUKARNO (a longtime former president of Indonesia) is a valid word!

Scoring

Points are awarded the same for each difficulty. The longer the word, the more points! You cannot submit words longer than 8 letters.

• 1 letter: 1 point
• 2 letters: 2 points
• 3 letters: 3 points
• 4 letters: 8 points
• 5 letters: 15 points
• 6 letters: 18 points
• 7 letters: 28 points
• 8 letters: 40 points

If you manage to use a double point tile, your points for that word are double the above.

Strategy and Quick Tips

• Type the code channyhungry during gameplay to add 30 seconds to the clock. Once per game.
• Don't hesitate to rotate the board if you're struggling to find words.
• You only get one double/triple point tile per level. To maximize your score, try to use it on a 7 or 8 letter word each level.
• Try to refrain from using too many one-letter words. Both one-letter words (A and I) are vowels. If you're not careful, you might run out of vowels to form longer words with.
• Four-letter words are your best bet. Not only do you minimize the number of vowels used, you also earn an extra 5 points as opposed to the measly 3 points that you would get if you formed a three-letter word.
• If you can find five-letter words or longer, go ahead and use them! They're just a little elusive at times.
• There is no special bonus for using all of the letters in a level, so there's no need to plan for that. Maximize your points based on the letters you've got.