Guide
How to Play Squares
Squares is a hunt for every hidden word in a 4×4 letter grid. Trace touching letters to spell words of four or more, keep each square to one use per word, and clear the whole list.
Play SquaresThe objective
Find every hidden word in the grid
Every Squares puzzle is a 4×4 grid of sixteen letters. Hidden inside it is a fixed list of common English words, each four letters or longer. Your job is to trace all of them. The word list beside the board shows how many words remain and how long each one is, but never what they are.
Each target word scores one point per letter, so a seven-letter word is worth more than a four. Rarer words you stumble onto — archaic, technical, or obscure terms — are saved as bonus finds: they count toward your word total but do not score and are not required to finish.
There is a fresh puzzle every calendar day, the same for everyone. Open the board to play today’s, or start an unlimited practice puzzle any time.
The grid
Sixteen letters, eight directions
A word is a path of squares where every square touches the next — left, right, up, down, or on any of the four diagonals. No square may be used twice in the same word, though a square can appear in as many different words as you like.
Because diagonals count, a lot of the grid’s words zig-zag rather than run in straight lines. If a word seems to need the same square twice, it is not a legal trace — look for a second copy of that letter elsewhere.
Controls
Swipe, tap, or type
Every method builds the same trace. Pick whichever fits the device in your hand.
Everywhere
Swipe or drag
Press on the first letter and drag across touching squares to build the word. Lifting your finger or mouse submits it. Drag back over the previous square to undo the last letter mid-trace.
Everywhere
Tap or click letters
Tap letters one at a time to build a path, tap the previous letter to step back, and tap the last letter again to submit. Tap anywhere off the grid to clear the trace.
Desktop
Keyboard
Type the word and the path draws itself along the grid, correcting as more letters arrive. Enter submits, Backspace deletes the last letter, Escape clears the trace. Hints, mute, and a new practice puzzle are on-screen buttons.
The loop
Four steps you repeat all puzzle
Read the grid, trace a word, submit, repeat — until the list is clear.
- 1
Read the grid
Every puzzle is a 4×4 grid of sixteen letters. Hidden inside it is a fixed list of common words, each four letters or longer. The word list on the side of the board shows how many words are left and how long each one is, but not what they are.
- 2
Trace a word
Start on any letter and drag through touching squares — left, right, up, down, or diagonally — to spell a word. On a phone, swipe across the squares; on a desktop you can also click letter by letter or just type the word on the keyboard.
- 3
One square per word
A square can be used only once in a single word, though the same square can appear in many different words. Lift your finger, press Enter, or click the last letter again to submit. Too short, not a word, or already found and the trace clears.
- 4
Find them all
Each target word scores one point per letter, so longer words are worth more. Rarer words you stumble onto are saved as bonus finds — they do not score, but they count. The puzzle is complete when every target word is found.
Rules & scoring
Every rule that decides a word
The objective
Find every word on the puzzle’s target list. The list is made of common English words of four letters or more that can be traced somewhere in the grid. Finding all of them completes the puzzle.
Connecting letters
A word is a path of squares where each square touches the next one, including on the diagonal. No square may be reused within the same word. The same letter can appear twice in a word only if it sits on two different squares.
Valid words
Words must be at least four letters. Hyphenated words, proper nouns, abbreviations, and offensive terms are not on any list. Plurals, verb forms, and common variants are all fair game.
Scoring
Each target word is worth one point per letter — a four-letter word scores 4, a seven-letter word scores 7. Bonus words (rare, archaic, or technical terms not on the target list) are tracked separately and score nothing.
Hints
Each puzzle gives you three hints. A hint lights up the first square of an unfound word and the square you move to next, pointing you at the start of the word without spelling it out.
The daily puzzle
One puzzle is generated for every calendar day and is the same for everyone. Your progress on it is saved on your device, so you can leave and come back. Practice puzzles are unlimited and do not affect your streak.
Common mistakes
Why the last words stay hidden
Only reading straight lines
Squares connects on the diagonal too. Players who scan only rows and columns miss a large share of the grid’s words. Trace a few deliberate zig-zag paths on every puzzle.
Reusing a square
A path cannot cross itself. If a word seems to need the same square twice, it is not a legal trace — look for a second copy of that letter elsewhere on the grid.
Ignoring the length hints
The word list shows the length of every missing word. Leaving those unread means guessing blind; reading them turns "find any word" into "find a 6-letter word starting near here".
Spending hints early
Three hints go quickly if you use them on the first tricky word. Push through the easy finds first; the hints are far more valuable when only long or obscure words remain.
- Sweep every square as a starting point — a word you cannot see often becomes obvious once you begin from the right letter.
- Once you have a word, test its neighbours: add S for a plural, ED or ING for a verb, or RE and UN on the front.
- Short common endings unlock long words: -TION, -MENT, -NESS, -ABLE, -OUS. Look for the letters that build them.
- The word list tells you how many letters each missing word has. If a 7-letter word is left, look for stems you can extend.
- Diagonals are easy to miss. Deliberately look for words that zig-zag rather than only running in straight lines.
- Double letters need two adjacent squares with the same letter — spot those pairs early and the words that use them follow.
- Save hints for the end. The first square and direction of a short word is usually enough to crack the last few.
Where you can play
Same puzzle on phone and desktop
squaresgame.app runs in any modern browser with no app to install. Progress stays on the device you played on.
Desktop browsers
Chrome, Edge, Firefox, and Safari all run the game with no plugin. Drag across letters with the mouse, click them one by one, or just type the word — the path draws itself. Keyboard shortcuts cover hints, mute, and a new practice puzzle.
Phones and tablets
The layout is touch-first. Swipe across the squares to trace a word and lift to submit. The grid, the word list, and the controls all fit on one portrait screen, and a new practice puzzle starts instantly.
Progress on this device
Today’s daily progress, your current and longest streak, puzzles completed, best time, and total words found live in local browser storage. They stay until you reset them or clear site data, and they do not sync between devices.
Still stuck on a rule? Read the Squares FAQ or jump in and play.
Play Squares free