Letter How to play Letter Keep
Letter Keep is a daily word game. You get seven letters, you make as many words as you can, and every word raises a part of a pixel-art castle. At midnight a horde attacks it. Come back the next day to watch the battle and see if your castle held.
The letters
Every day there is a new set of seven letters laid out like stones in a wall. The stone in the middle is gold. Words must follow three rules:
- They have four letters or more.
- They use only the seven letters of the day. You can reuse a letter as many times as you like, so LESS or SPELLS are fine.
- They always include the gold letter. A word without it doesn’t count, even if it’s a real word.
Proper nouns, abbreviations and hyphenated words are not accepted. Each day has between roughly 100 and 200 valid words. Less common words are accepted too and count like any other.
If you type a word that isn’t valid, it stays on screen in red with the reason (too short, missing the gold letter, not in the word list) so you can fix a typo instead of typing it again.
Scoring
| Word | Points |
|---|---|
| 4 letters | 1 point |
| 5 letters or more | 1 point per letter |
| Royal word (uses all 7 letters) | 1 point per letter + 7 bonus |
Building your castle
Each word places part of the castle: first the foundations, then the walls, towers and gate, then the great keep, roofs, banners, torches and, on some days, a moat with a drawbridge. The first words build fastest. The castle changes every day: nine stone materials, nine landscapes from deserts to snowy mountains, and towers that can be round or square.
Defenders
Long words also bring defenders who fight when the attack comes.
| Word | Defender | Maximum |
|---|---|---|
| 6 or 7 letters | Archer or knight (they alternate) | 6 archers, 4 knights |
| 8 letters or more | Catapult | 3 |
| Royal word | Dragon | 2 |
The midnight attack
At midnight, in your own time zone, one of twelve enemy factions attacks: orcs, goblins, skeletons, trolls, a frost horde, a fire legion and more. You see who is coming in the top corner of the screen.
- If you found 80% of the day’s words, your castle is impregnable. Enemies can scratch the stone, but nothing falls and they never get in.
- With less than 80%, the horde keeps coming until it breaks in. The more words you found, the longer you hold and the more enemies you defeat.
Your points for the day are your word points, plus one point per enemy defeated, plus a defense bonus for what is still standing if your castle was impregnable. The next time you open the game you can watch the whole battle or jump straight to the result.
Ranks
As you find words, your castle climbs through nine ranks, based on the share of the day’s words you found:
| Rank | Words found |
|---|---|
| Camp | 0% |
| Palisade | 3% |
| Fort | 8% |
| Tower | 15% |
| Stronghold | 25% |
| Castle | 38% |
| Citadel | 55% |
| Kingdom | 80% |
| Legend | 100% |
Hints and previous days
The hint button shows how many words are left by first letter and length, and how many start with each pair of letters, without giving the words away. You can also see yesterday’s answers.
Missed a day? From the menu you can play any of the last seven days you didn’t finish. It’s practice: it doesn’t change that day’s attack or points.
Tips
- Look for common endings first: -ED, -ING, -ER, -S. One root word often gives three or four more.
- Shuffle the letters when you get stuck. A new arrangement shows new combinations.
- Hunt for the royal word early: it brings a dragon and seven bonus points.
- Use the hint grid to find which first letters still have words left.
- Aim for 80% before midnight. Past that, every word still adds points and finishes the castle.