If Words Could Kill

Gameplay

Calling all word game lovers! If Words Could Kill is a fast-paced card game all about creating high-scoring words. Think high-stakes Scrabble: a time limit, special effects, and a dark academia vibe. Players duel by creating words worth the most amount of points possible, challenging one another until a higher scoring word simply isn’t possible.

Unpack your box to get started. You’ll find 100 Spell cards, each with a letter worth a certain number of points. 15 1-Crow Shield cards, 10 2-Crow Shield cards, 5 Murder cards, and 1 Wild card make up the rest of the cards. There’s also a Score Tracker and a 45-second hourglass timer.

To set up, deal one of each of the Shield cards and the Murder cards face down in front of each player. Then deal 5 Spell cards to each player—this makes up your hand. The Score Tracker, Wild Card, and Timer should all be within reach of every player, as well as the remaining Spell cards and an area for the discard pile.

Gameplay is simple. The first player starts the timer and has 45 seconds to create a word using the Spell cards in their hand. They can also use the Wild card to serve as any letter. The only rules? Your word must be at least three letters long and can’t be a proper noun, acronym, or abbreviation. Once the first player has created their word or time runs out, score it by adding up the points shown on the Spell cards and update the Score Tracker. Then, they can discard any unwanted cards remaining in their hand and top up with fresh cards from the deck.

Next, they’ll attack another player by flipping the timer over in front of another player. That player then has 45 seconds to create a word worth more points than the number displayed on the Score Tracker. This player can use any Spell cards in their hand, the Spell cards from their attacker’s word, and the Wild card, which does not need to remain the same letter it was used for previously.

If this player successfully creates a word worth more points before time is up, they will update the Score Tracker, discard any unwanted cards and top up their hand before challenging another player. The game continues like this until a player cannot forma. Word that scores higher than the number on the Score Tracker.

The losing player must flip over their 1-Crow Shield card. These cards, like Spell cards, have letters on them, but are worth more points. On their next turn, the player can use their 1-Crow Shield card in addition to the cards in their hand, but must keep in mind that once used, other players can then use it too.

If this player loses again, they must flip over their 2-Crow Shield card. These cards have effects like: “Reset your hand. Gain time.” With this effect, the player can discard any unwanted cards and top up with new cards from the deck, then flip over the timer to gain an extra 45 seconds. The player can resolve their Shield card’s effect at any time during their turn, but after it’s used once, it must be returned to the box.

A third loss means the player must flip over their Murder card, discard any Spell cards and Shield cards that were played or that are remaining in their hand, then reassemble the word used to attack them to attack another player. They can attack any player except the player that attacked them. Once this player has attacked another player with their word, they are eliminated from the game. The last player with their Murder card face down wins!

History

Tee Turtle was founded by Ramy Badie in 2022. What started out as a t-shirt company based in Baltimore has since grown to include plushies (the Moody Reversible Octopus!), games, and accessories.

In 2017, Unstable Unicorns launched via Kickstarter to great success, which paved the way for Unstable Games, which is Tee Turtle’s dedicated game studio. They’ve designed games like Here to Slay, Happy Little Dinosaurs, and Twisted Cryptids in addition to If Words Could Kill which was released in 2026.