W.E.L.D.E.R. Rules
How to Play W.E.L.D.E.R.
Welcome to the Word Examination Laboratory! Thanks for joining us in fighting back on the war against words! Swap metal tiles to form words. Once forming a word, the W.E.L.D.E.R. machine will Dynamically Extract the word, and the word will drop into the Word Tube for Reassessment! Tap on the word in the Word Tube to look up the definition and share with friends!
Every word you form scores points, and the more points you score, the more swaps you have to keep forming words! You must form a specific number of words of four or more letters to complete each level. As the game progresses the levels get longer and some challenging tiles will appear. But you will earn different types of special Swaps and Multiplier Tiles to keep afloat. Complete all 30 levels, and show off your W.E.L.D.E.R. Word Master status to your friends on Facebook or Twitter.
Tiles and Scoring
Letter tiles come in four varieties:
Tier 1 tiles are all vowels. They are worth 1 point each.
Tier 2 tiles are commonly used consonants. They are worth 2 points each.
Tier 3 tiles are slightly more difficult to use consonants. They are worth 4 points each.
Tier 4 tiles are rare and challenging letters: J, Q, V, X and Z. They are worth 8 points each.
You can permanently stamp any letter into the Wooden Tiles. Double tap a Wooden Tile to assign a letter. Wooden Tiles are worth no points, and stamping a letter requires a Swap. If you are out of basic Swaps but have special Swaps remaining, the letter assignment will pull from Reverse Swaps first, then Group Swaps, then Jump Swaps.
Hot Tiles are too hot to touch and cannot be swapped. Hot Tiles will cascade down the board when words are formed beneath them. Use a Hot Tile in a word to clear it. Hot Tiles are worth an extra 10 points.
Broken Tiles lock into place where they land and cannot be swapped. Use a Broken Tile in a word to clear it. Broken Tiles are worth an extra 20 points. We recommend you clear these right away!
Toxic Tiles are too toxic to touch and can only be swapped by using the Wrench. They affect the entire board - until the Toxic Tile is cleared no points can be scored, so get rid of them as quickly as possible! Use a Toxic Tile in a word to clear it. They are worth an additional 30 points.
Weld Gigawatt tiles to recharge your Gigawatt meter. These tiles will not fall in from the top like other tiles but will instead appear at random locations on the board. They don’t stick around! They will vanish when a word is formed, so use them in your next word. The more Gigawatt tiles you can use in a single word, the more Gigawatts you will receive. Initially using one Gigawatt tile will get you 2 Gigawatts, using two will get you 10, using three will get you 20 and using four will get you 50 Gigawatts! You can double your Gigawatt tile reward by upgrading your machine on the Gigawatt page, and then double it again. Upgrades are permanent!
Use these Multiplier Tiles in a word to dramatically increase your score. Plain gold tiles are worth 2x, diamond crusted gold tiles are worth 3x, and platinum plated tiles are worth 4x. Combine a couple in a word for serious points!
Bonus points are given for forming a word in a cascade (+5 points per word) and for forming multiple words at the same time (+15 points).
WORD SCORE = TILE TOTAL X WORD LENGTH X MULTIPLIER TILES + BONUSES.
The score for each word is the total value of all the tiles in the word, multiplied by the word length, then multiplied again by the value of all the multiplier tiles in the word. Then the bonuses for cascades, forming of multiple words, and clearing Hot and Broken tiles are added.
Swaps
You begin the game with 25 basic Swaps. As you progress through the game, you earn the ability to swap tiles in fun ways with Reverse Swaps, Group Swaps, and Jump Swaps. The game ends when you have no Swaps of any kind remaining.
iPhone
iPad
Basic Swaps
The score for each word is the total value of all the tiles in the word, multiplied by the word length, then multiplied again by the value of all the multiplier tiles in the word. Then the bonuses for cascades, forming of multiple words, and clearing Hot and Broken tiles are added.
Reverse Swaps
At the beginning of Level 2 you earn Reverse Swaps. Reverse Swaps allow you to select a number of tiles either vertically or horizontally and then reverse the order or those tiles. To perform a Reverse Swap, drag your finger across some tiles to highlight a selection. Then double-tap the highlighted selection to reverse their order.
Use a Reverse Swap when you see a word spelled in backwards, or when you see a portion of a word spelled backwards, or even just to fly a single tile all the way across the board to use in a word.
A Reverse Swap can be performed on as little as two letters, or as many as 8. You will not be able to make a selection across Hot or Broken Tiles.
Group Swaps
At the beginning of Level 3 you earn Group Swaps. Group Swaps allow you to select a group of tiles and move the group one space in any direction. To perform a Group Swap, drag your finger across some tiles to highlight a selection. Then touch and drag the highlighted selection one space in any direction—up, down, left, right, or diagonally. The grouped selection will snap into place at its new position when you release your finger.
Use a Group Swap to pull a word fragment out from the edge of the board, or to save a few Basic Swaps when moving tiles into position, or to displace an entire group of tiles to “fly” a faraway needed tile into position. Sometimes you can only form a longer words with Group Swaps!
A Group Swap can be performed on as little as two letters, or as many as 8. You will not be able to make a selection across Hot or Broken Tiles.
Jump Swaps
At the beginning of Level 4 you earn Jump Swaps. Jump Swaps allow you to swap the location of any two movable tiles on the board, meaning you can “fly” tiles across the entire board to form a word. To perform a Jump Swap, tap on the first tile, and then tap on the second, non-adjacent tile. Of course, you will not be able to perform a Jump Swap on Hot or Broken Tiles.
Apocalypse Swaps
Use the Apocalypse Swap to completely clear the board and give you a whole new set of tiles. Useful for getting you out of a tight spot! You get one free Apocalypse Swap per level, but you can always use it again if you have enough Gigawatts!
iPhone Swap Gauges and Meters
Earning More Swaps
As you score more points, the machine gives you more swaps. Every 250 points you score, the machine gives you five more basic Swaps. Every 500 points you score, the machine gives you one more Reverse, Group, and Jump Swaps (yes, pretty stingy!). The green Swap Refill Meters next to the Swap Meters show you how far along you are to receiving more swaps.
iPad Swap Gauges and Meters
Gigawatts
Use Gigawatts to supercharge your game! Recharge your Gigawatt meter by using Gigawatt tiles in a word, welding eight letter words, following us on Twitter or by purchasing them through the Get Gigawatts page. You can use your Gigawatts to Activate the Wrench, use the Apocalypse Swap more than once per level, on an Instant Swap Refill, to increase your end of level bonuses, or to upgrade your machine to give you more Gigawatts as you play! Read on for more details!
The Wrench
Activate The Wrench to swap otherwise unmovable Hot, Broken or Toxic tiles. Once The Wrench is activated you can use it on five unmovable tiles. You can use any kind of swap you have available - Basic, Reverse, Group or Jump. The first time you activate the Wrench in a game it will use up 250 Gigawatts - this will double every time you activate it in the current game.
Instant Swap Refill
Activate the Instant Swap Refill when you are running low on swaps. You can refill either your Basic Swaps or your Special Swaps by pressing the blue arrows next to the refill meter when it appears. The first time you use Instant Swap Refill in a game it will deplete 200 Gigawatts - this doubles each time you use it in the current game.
Extra Apocalypse Swaps
Activate the Instant Swap Refill when you are running low on swaps. You can refill either your Basic Swaps or your Special Swaps by pressing the blue arrows next to the refill meter when it appears. The first time you use Instant Swap Refill in a game it will deplete 200 Gigawatts - this doubles each time you use it in the current game.
Upgrade Your Earning Power
Spend your Gigawatts wisely! Upgrading your earning power enables you to earn Gigawatts or points much faster during gameplay, and the upgrades are permanent!
There are three ways you can upgrade your earning power:
2X 8 Letter Word Earning
Double the Gigawatts you earn from welding eight letter words! The first upgrade costs 1200 Gigawatts and doubles your reward from 15 Gigawatts to 30 Gigawatts. The second upgrade costs 2000 and will double the amount again to 60 Gigawatts!
2X Gigawatt Tile Earning
Double the amount of Gigawatts you earn from Gigawatt tiles! The first upgrade costs 1500 Gigawatts and you can double up again for another 3000 Gigawatts.
2X End of Level Bonuses
This upgrade doubles the point value of the swaps you have at the end of each level, making it much easier to win valuable extra starting swaps for the next level! The first upgrade costs 750 Gigawatts and you can double them again for the same price!
Additional Features
Undo
Shake your device to undo your last swap. You cannot undo swaps that have resulted in more tiles falling into the board, either by forming a word or using the Wrench to move a Broken Tile. You get three undos on each level.
Word Lookup
Not sure if a word is in the W.E.L.D.E.R. dictionary? Check right from the in-game menu before using your swaps! If the word you are looking for is not included you can submit it for consideration via email or twitter without leaving the app!
Play From Last Level
If you run out of swaps you can choose to either start again from the beginning to try and beat your high score, or continue from the last level you reached to try and get to the end!
Completing the Game
The game is comprised of 30 Levels, each one longer than the last. You complete each level by forming a specific number of words. This number is shown on the start of level screen.
iPad View
As you play, the number of words remaining in the level is shown in a Words countdown meter below the Game Score. Any length of word counts, so don’t try to always form large words. Of course, if you only form low point words, you will not refill your swap meters fast enough to survive!
iPad View
In addition, at the end of every level you receive a Swap Bonus, depending on how well you did on that level. A good Swap Bonus will reward you with extra Swaps on the next level. It is important to end every level with enough Swaps to get Bonus Swaps on the next level, especially later in the game! It’s a big boost!
Each level is longer and more challenging than the previous level. The intensity of Hot and Broken Tiles increases, the number of Tier 4 letters like Q and J increases, and the number of vowels you have to play with decreases. But don’t worry, the Reverse, Group, and Jump Swaps make things easier, and once you reach the later levels you will start to see 3x and 4x Multiplier Tiles to help you score giant words!
Completing the game once does not mean you will easily be able to do it again. Each time you play, the game is different, and you may find that completing it a second time is even more challenging! The game also has 46 Achievements in Game Center, and 5 Leaderboards. Try to score the Biggest Word amongst your friends, try getting through Level 7 without using a Blank Wooden Tiles, or try spelling “Brooklyn” — it's harder than you think!
Enjoy!
W.E.L.D.E.R. Wars
W.E.L.D.E.R. Wars is a turn based game. Moves are made and points scored exactly as in the single player game.
Each player starts with five basic swaps per turn to score as many points as they can, or make life harder for their opponent. The game is 85 words long. When 85 words have been welded the game is over and the player with the highest score is the winner!
W.E.L.D.E.R. Wars uses Game Center to match you up with opponents. You can either play your existing friends (invited from within the Game Center app) or a random opponent.
To start a game:
- From the W.E.L.D.E.R. home screen hit the "2 Player" button.
- Tap "Start New Game". This brings up the Game Center interface with a list of your current games (if any). To add a new game tap the "+" in the upper right corner.
- You will see the new game with yourself as the first player and "Auto-Match" as the second. If you want to play a random opponent you can just tap "Play Now" to get taken to the game! In an Auto-Match game you may join a game in which your opponent has already made the first move. If you invite a friend you will always get to start.
- If you want to change the second slot from "Auto-Match" to a Game Center friend tap "Invite Friend". This will bring up a list. Select the friend you want to play then hit "Next". Type an optional message to them. Hit "Send" and you will be taken back to the game screen. Hit "Play Now" and start playing!
At the start of the turn you can either choose to watch your opponent's moves or just skip straight to the board. Before you start swapping you will get to choose one of three randomly selected powerups (out of five possibilities). The first of these will be free to use. If that one doesn't suit you can pick one other other two at a cost of 60 Gigawatts. Gigawatts can be earned by playing the single player game, winning a two player game, welding a Toxic Tile or in a variety of other ways. Tap the "Shop" button to see a comprehensive list.
The powerups!
Mines
Place two mines on the board at the end of your turn. You can't place a mine on a Hot, Broken or Multiplier tile. If your opponent uses a mined tile in a word you will receive all the points! Your opponent will know that there are mines on the board, but not where they are. Be strategic!
Toxic Power
Your opponent will receive a randomly placed Toxic Tile on the board at the start of their turn. They will not be able to score any points until they have welded it in a word, which can be a mighty inconvenience when you only have 5 swaps to work with, but they will receive 30 points and 30 Gigawatts when they do.
+2 Swaps
Receive an extra two basic swaps for your turn. There are many occasions when an extra two swaps will make all the difference. They will really help if you're going for a longer word!
Special Swap
Receive one special swap to use during your turn. You can use this for a Reverse swap, a Group swap or a Jump swap. You will be able to see the tutorials for how to activate these swaps when you select this powerup. This can be a lifesaver if the board is looking dangerous!
The Wrench
This enables you to swap Hot, Broken and Toxic tiles as if they were normal tiles for the duration of your turn. This can really open up a difficult board
After your first turn you can choose to skip powerups and receive 15 Gigawatts instead. Just tap "Skip" to go into your turn unarmed!
The turn ends when you have run out of swaps. You can end the turn early by tapping the "End Turn" button. You can hold over one swap to your next turn, so if you can't see anything useful to do with your last swap hit "End Turn" and start your next turn with six!
You can chat with your opponent by tapping the C.H.A.T. (Conversational Hiatus Access Terminal) button. If they have sent a chat to you the C.H.A.T. button will be glowing.
And that's it! Enjoy!
The Sandbox
The Sandbox is for practicing your techniques or just to enjoy forming words without any pressure to progress. You have an infinty of all kinds of swaps and there are no levels.
This is where you can really experiment with combining multipliers and ratcheting up that word score. The highest theoretical single word score in W.E.L.D.E.R. is 22,544,384 points! Impossible in the main game, but achievable in Sandbox! How high can you go?
To leave the Sandbox hit Menu, then Home.
Broken Challenge
This is a ten level challenge. Each level starts with a number of Broken tiles on the board. As the game progresses there will be more Broken tiles in more complex configurations.
Complete each level by clearing all the Broken tiles.
In the Broken Challenge you receive and earn Jump Swaps exclusively. No Reverse or Group swapping!
You will only receive points and earn more swaps by welding words containing one or more Broken tiles.
No Broken tiles? No points!
If you fail a level you will have to start again from level 1, so be careful!