Use the arrow keys to move between letters. Press Enter or Space on the first letter of a word, then again on the last letter. Press Escape to cancel.
A few of the words
- WHIST
- Hoyle's 1742 guide to whist was the book that made his reputation, a crisp set of rules for a game that drawing-room players had argued over for years.Find this word in the grid to read its note.
- TRUMPS
- A trump card outranks every other suit for that hand; the word itself traces back through French to 'triomphe,' an older trick-taking game.Find this word in the grid to read its note.
- HOYLE
- Edmond Hoyle died on August 29, 1769, at roughly 97 years of age, one of the longest-lived writers of the 18th century.Find this word in the grid to read its note.
- SHUFFLE
- A thorough shuffle was considered a mark of an honest dealer; Hoyle's guides specified fair dealing practices alongside the rules of play.Find this word in the grid to read its note.
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Edmond Hoyle word search
Edmond Hoyle: The Man Who Wrote the Rules of Card Games: a free large-print word search
Free large-print word search: find the suits, hands, and parlor-game terms that Hoyle's rules made famous across centuries of play.
About Edmond Hoyle: The Man Who Wrote the Rules of Card Games
On August 29, 1769, Edmond Hoyle died in London, closing a life that had quietly transformed the way ordinary people played games together. His short treatise on whist, first published in 1742, was so clear and authoritative that publishers kept printing it long after his death, and his name became a byword for fair play itself. To act "according to Hoyle" meant you were following the accepted rules, a phrase that slipped well beyond the card table and into everyday speech.
How to play
- 1Find a word.Tap its first letter, then tap along to its last. The trail fills in and finishes itself when it spells a word. Or press the first letter and drag.
- 2Words run in straight lines.Across and down, and on the harder difficulties diagonally and backwards.
- 3It marks itself.Each word you find takes on its own soft colour on the grid and is crossed off the list.
- 4Choose a difficulty.Relaxed, Classic or Challenging set those directions and how much the word list helps, never the grid size. Tap the A buttons at the top to enlarge the letters, or pinch the grid.
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