Letterhorn / Strategy
Letterhorn strategy guide
A climb is a race between two things running out: your words and your tiles. These tips help you get more height out of both.
Length beats everything
Because a word scores its points times its length, length counts twice. A five-letter word made of 1-point letters climbs 25 m, while a three-letter word with the same letters climbs 9 m. Adding a single letter to a word adds that letter's points and also multiplies everything else by one more.
Plurals and endings are free height
If you can see RAIN, look for RAINS, RAINED or TRAINS. Endings like S, ED, ER and ING are often sitting next to a word you've already found.
Spend high-value letters in long words
ZEE is worth 36 m. ZINGER, with the same Z, is worth 96 m. Don't rush to clear the expensive tiles; look for the longest word you can build around them.
Watch your vowels
A board clogged with consonants is how most climbs end early. When you can, favour words that use up awkward consonants and leave vowels on the board for later.
Think about what falls
When tiles vanish, the ones above them drop. Taking a word from the bottom rows reshuffles more of the board than taking one from the top. If you have a good word set up near the top, play underneath it carefully.
Don't fear the Q
A lone Q with no U is a dead tile. QAT, QAID, QOPH, FAQIR and TRANQ are all accepted, along with the usual QU words.
Know when to turn back
On mountains nobody can summit, the board ranks the highest climb. Once the board is nearly empty, keep playing short words rather than giving up: every meter counts.