Sproutword The Word Strategy Game | Review & Giveaway

AD | Sproutword The Word Strategy Game | Review & Giveaway

I’ve always enjoyed playing games with my family — growing up playing with my sisters and parents and now with my own children and husband too. I was recently contacted about a new word strategy game that looked really interesting — fun and challenging but also eco-friendly.

Sproutword, the word strategy game, is a completely plastic free game with wooden letter tiles made in small batches in a workshop in Devon, then packed in Dorset. The tiles are made from sustainable wood and the inks are UV cured which means they are more energy efficient and less harmful than standard solvent based inks. The colours of the tiles are gorgeous too and inspired by nature — Western Sunset Pink, Salcombe Sand Yellow, Chalk Meadow Green and Dorset Sky Blue.

The box is made of cardboard and there are cotton fabric bags to store the letters in. It’s a small business run by Ian and Dan who created the game. All copies come with a personalised and numbered certificate.

The game itself is aimed at people aged 11+ but younger children can enjoy it too. Sproutword is a bit like Scrabble or Bananagrams but with the added strategy of Chess! Let’s have a look at the game more closely.

How to play Sproutword?

The object of the game is to have more of your colour letters in the longest word than the other players. The longest word in play is called the Sproutword and the player who controls this word — has the most of their colour in this word — at the end of the game is the winner. Sometimes, the Sproutword is not the longest word as the word can be neutralised if several players have the same amount of letters so no one controls it. Then you look for the next longest word that someone controls.

To play Sproutword, you need 2-4 players. To get started, choose a colour. Each player gets one fabric bag with letters in their colour. You randomly take a bunch of letters out of your own bag — 8 letters each if you are two players, 7 if you are three players and 6 if you are four players. Put your tiles face up so everyone can see each other’s letters.

The first player plays a word using anyone’s letters. Replenish your tiles after your turn, back to the original quantity. The next player puts down a new word using anyone’s letters, linked to the existing one or changes the word, and so on. If you choose to change a word, it needs to be at least as long as the original word and not displace any other words. You can only swap colours if you’re already changing a word or playing a new one. If you remove any letters when changing a word, these go back into their colour bag.

One of the things that makes this game so special is that you can use the tiles of other players. If someone uses some of your tiles, you’re not allowed to replenish yours until after your turn. This aspect means you can be very strategic when playing and help yourself or sabotage for other players by choosing certain tiles.

The game ends when any player runs out of letters in their bag and that’s when you need to find the Sproutword which will tell you who the winner is.

What do we think?

I love our new game! I love the eco-friendly aspect and how well-made it is but also the game itself. It’s fun and exciting and challenging too. My husband and I have played the game with our 6-year-old daughter who reads and writes a lot and she could play it well but I think she’s a bit too young for the strategy aspect of the game. We agreed that the game is best played among us adults for now until the kids are a bit bigger. I’m looking forward to playing it with my father-in-law too as he’s really into words.

The game is so straightforward and easy to learn even though it’s very unique. It’s so quick and easy to get started playing and as you play it a few times, you learn more about the strategy and how you can try and be the winner of the game, controlling the Sproutword.

Sproutword is brilliant game that I would highly recommend to other people who enjoy playing games with friends and family.

Buy yours here or enter my giveaway below for a chance to win a game!

Giveaway!

For a chance to win this game, enter my giveaway through the Rafflecopter below. I have one game to give away. The giveaway is open to UK entrants over the age of 18 years only. The giveaway will end on the 22nd of June 2020. Terms & Conditions apply.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

This game was sent to us for this review and I have been compensated for my time.