Game: Big Boggle

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xitoliv — 2008-09-15T21:21:58+00:00

Adapter for playing standard Boggle with a copy of Boggle Deluxe

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xitoliv — 2008-09-15T21:21:14+00:00

box insert and contents for Boggle Deluxe

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grantham — 2008-04-28T02:43:55+00:00

Going over the word list...

Thread: Letter Distribution

LurkingMeeple — 2008-03-17T19:50:28+00:00

In response to an interesting discovery by psymann in his review of (little) Boggle, here's the letter distribution for Big Boggle.

Letters and dice are sorted alphabetically. Read "q" as "Qu". Groupings are merely for readability:

aaafrs
aaeeee
aafirs
adennn
aeeeem

aeegmu
aegmnn
afirsy
bjkqxz
ccenst

ceiilt
ceilpt
ceipst
ddhnot
dhhlor

dhlnor
dhlnor (duplicate)
eiiitt
emottt
ensssu

fiprsy
gorrvw
iprrry
nootuw
ooottu

Challenge Cube (1983 edition, perhaps others)
iklmqu

By Frequency - excluding Challenge Cube
[c]19 e
13 t
12 ar
11 ino
9 s
6 d
5 chl
4 fmpu
3 gy
2 w
1 bjkqvxz
[/c]

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eightbit — 2008-02-13T02:37:08+00:00

Box back

Thread: Re: Took 3 Games to get back into Boggle Master

GameCrossing — 2008-01-11T15:07:53+00:00

"Dandelions?" That is sheer overkill, pure and simple.

It's why I play the game too.

Thread: Took 3 Games to get back into Boggle Master

bnordeng — 2008-01-11T06:12:55+00:00

I've played more games of Boggle Master (Big Boggle) than I can count. This game is a bit about vocabulary, but mostly about knowing how to find words on the board. Because of my experience playing the game, I tend to win. I was trying to get my wife to play a game of Battle Line tonight, but she wanted something lighter so we played a few games of Boggle Master.

The first game was one of those boards where it felt like there were words everywhere (and I'm sure there were), but I just couldn't find them. I won 15-10, but we both felt like we easily could have and should have scored more.

The second game was a little more like what we were used to, but it didn't layout as well for words. We felt like we were able to uncover a good number of them that were there, but it was slim pickings. I won 13-9.

The third game was back to the good old days. I found two 7-letter words (swatted, swindle) and one 8-letter word (swindled). I won 39-9 and the game was quickly put away. I once received a similar reaction to this game when my wife and I were playing and I found the word "dandelions".

It was fun and we will play again.

Thread: Re: Its like boggle.... only bigger!

Stinger of Catan — 2007-11-09T16:39:04+00:00

This game rocks. Still playing it every chance I get, although it's hard to find people who want to be slaughtered over and over! There are some good 4-letter "boggle only" words that keep popping up: CINE, TINE, LEER, REEL, SEER...the list goes on, depending on how loosely you define it. I particularly like STOP, because you can always get POTS and sometimes TOPS and SPOT and POST.

Get those suffixes!

Thread: Re: Where might one obtain this game?

Windopaene — 2007-08-21T02:42:09+00:00

I have several of them. Might not be up in the marketplace, as I'm a bit behind, but if you are interested, send me a message.

Thread: Re: Where might one obtain this game?

rgmnetid — 2007-08-21T02:28:51+00:00

~~I'm pretty sure Target has it.~~ Or you could buy it from me or trade me for it.

Thread: Re: Where might one obtain this game?

Thosw — 2007-08-21T02:17:30+00:00

You might look for Boggle Deluxe, which is Big Boggle re-named.

Thread: Re: Where might one obtain this game?

chrisnd — 2007-08-20T23:57:45+00:00

My FLGS is in Cuyahoga Falls, Oh - the store is called Underhill's Games. I am sure if you were to call him, he could ship you a copy of the game. The last time I was there (sometime last week), I know he had a few copies of them.

They are few and far between, as they have been out of print for a very, very long time, and they aren't something that shows up on Ebay very often.

www.underhillsgames.com

Good luck.

Thread: Re: Where might one obtain this game?

bnordeng — 2007-08-20T23:32:45+00:00

She's right that the game is MUCH better on a 5x5 grid. I'm not sure where you would go to get this game other than e-Bay maybe. One thing to keep in mind is that the 5x5 version that I have is called "Boggle Master." So, maybe ask about and search for "Boggle Master" instead of (or in addition to) "Big Boggle."

Thread: Where might one obtain this game?

bmco — 2007-08-20T22:27:35+00:00

My girlfriend loves Boggle, but played this once and frequently comments on how she wishes the normal Boggle board was 5x5.

Does anyone know where I may be able to buy a copy of this game? I've searched in local game shops to no avail.

Thanks!

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Keng Ho — 2007-08-09T01:11:38+00:00

The challenge cube - the sides show I, K, L, M, Qu and U

Thread: Re: User Review

Spire — 2007-06-05T21:55:38+00:00

edosan wrote:
2) A more recent version had a plastic bar that fit in the box to make the game area either 4x4 or 5x5.
The version that has the plastic bar is called Boggle Deluxe. Although it's out of print, there are currently quite a few new-in-shrinkwrap copies available on eBay; I picked up a copy for $30 (including shipping) just a couple of weeks ago.

As far as I know, the only 5×5 version of Big Boggle that's currently in print is called Super Boggle, and it's marketed only in the UK. Like Boggle Deluxe, it can be played in either a 4×4 or 5×5 configuration, and it features an electronic timer. It can be purchased directly from Hasbro UK or on eBay .

Thread: Re: User Review

Dave — 2007-06-05T07:37:36+00:00

ssmooth wrote:
My rating is 10... because I can never seem to resist this game.

IMBIBED!

Thread: Re: User Review

edosan — 2007-06-05T05:10:09+00:00

ssmooth wrote:

My rating is 10... because I can never seem to resist this game.

Yikes! Remind me to never play with you!

Thread: Re: User Review

ssmooth — 2007-06-05T03:13:34+00:00

GADS
WAKE
SAKE
SAKI
SLAKE
SLAKED
LAKE
SLAW
DIKE
BIKE
BIKED
DIKED
MIKE
MIKED
WIDE
BIDE
SKID
SKIM
SKIMS
DIMS
SOAK
SOAKED
SAID
LAID
WALK
WALKS
FOAL
FOALS
AIDS
DIAL
DIALS
AIMS
BIAS
VIAL
VIALS
ASKED
SKIED
ADIOS
AIDE
ALSO
SOFA
OAKS
FAKE
FAKED
WALKED
VOID
VOIDS
WIGS
KIWI

My rating is 10... because I can never seem to resist this game.

Thread: User Review

edosan — 2007-06-04T20:23:24+00:00

If you've never played Boggle, the gist of it is this: there are a bunch of cubes, and they have different letters on them. Put them in a box and shake them up and let them fall in a grid pattern. It will look something like this:

Now everyone gets to stare at the letters and connect them to make words. You can go any direction but you can't use the same letter square twice in a row. After the timer runs out, everyone compares their lists. The person with the most points (based on unique words on their list -- duplicates cancel each other out) wins. The key is to have both unique words as well as long words, because those will get you a lot of points.

Okay. With that out of the way, let me explain the difference between Boggle and Big Boggle:

Boggle is a 4x4 grid and words must be at least three letters long.
Big Boggle is a 5x5 grid and words must be at least four letters long.

That's pretty much it. There are a few versions of Big Boggle worth noting:

1) Some older versions had a "challenge cube," a cube of a different color with more difficult letters and you could get bonus points for using it in words.

2) A more recent version had a plastic bar that fit in the box to make the game area either 4x4 or 5x5.

If you like word games, Boggle/Big Boggle is a pretty decent one. There's really no limit to players (aside from how many people can see the board easily) and is very transportable. Big Boggle is out of print right now, and I think that's too bad. Fortunately, you can find it at thrift stores from time to time, as well as on ebay. (Prices on ebay used to be really high but have gotten more reasonable lately.)

My rating is 6, which probably seems low but is pretty high for me for a word game. Recommended.

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glum — 2007-02-11T16:17:37+00:00

The illuminated version called Super Boggle

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beezwax — 2007-01-31T04:34:00+00:00

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Starsunsky — 2006-08-12T04:51:56+00:00

The new electronic edition

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skelly9131 — 2006-07-01T08:41:52+00:00

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sjmarlow — 2006-06-05T23:39:37+00:00

Trivia: It is not possible to spell "Board Game Geek" using Big Boggle cubes.

Thread: Re: Its like boggle.... only bigger!

Jpwoo — 2006-04-12T04:32:25+00:00

You're welcome!

Thread: Re: Its like boggle.... only bigger!

earthchick — 2006-02-01T02:27:50+00:00

Thanks for the review. It sounds good. i'm about to get it from someone on www.freecycle.org for FREE. You should check out freecycle. I had to check your review so i could see if it is something i want. I think it is. Thanks

Thread: Its like boggle.... only bigger!

Jpwoo — 2005-06-30T21:31:27+00:00

This is a game that I have seeking for a while now. I have only played it once over at a friends house, because a friend of that friend brought it over. I certainly have been keeping my eyes peeled at thrift stores and garage sales ever since.

Here is the short review: Big boggle is like regular Boggle, only with an extra row of letters, and the rule change that the words you find must be at least 4 letters long rather than three. This is a welcome change to the game that helps favor non-boggle addicts.

Here is the longer review:

If you haven’t played boggle before it is a word game. It consists of a plastic tray partitioned off to hold dice, and a pile of dice with letters on them instead of pips or numbers. You put the dice into the tray and cover it up with a plastic dome and you shake the hell out of the thing making a terrible racket. Then you shake the tray for a bit until the cubes have all fallen into one of the partitioned squares, giving you a grid of letters. In regular boggle the grid is only 4x4, in big boggle the grid has been increased to 5x5.

A competed boggle board might look something like this…

The goal of the game is to create words by connecting the letters vertically horizontally or diagonally, but without using the same letter twice. In regular boggle you may make words as small as three letters long but in big boggle your words must be at least 4 letters long.

So in the above grid you could make: Paid, Vine, Cane, Canes etc…

You cannot make a word like pupa, because it would make you use the P twice.

As per most word games, foreign words and proper nouns are out, so while spelling Venus is certainly cool, it wouldn’t get you any points.

The scoring if I remember correctly is as follows.
4 letter word: 1 point
5 letter word: 2 points
6 letter word: 3 points
7 letter word: 5 points
+2 points per letter after that.

The game is played in three rounds usuall, though you can play however many you want. During the round you write down as many words as you can. The timer I think is for about 2 minutes, though it seems longer. When the timer is done everyone playing compares their word lists, crossing off any duplicated words. So if two players both have, EVEN, written down, nobody gets any points for it. The player with the most points after 3 rounds is the winner and a dork.

The components for the game are very functional. You get a plastic tray with a dice grid inside, a transparent dome that you can put over the top of the tray to shake the dice around inside (making a wonderfully loud noise), 25 white wooden dice with a spread of letters on them. The common letters are more common, only a few q’s and z’s for example. You also get a small sand hourglass timer familiar from many other games, and some pads and wee little pencils. Using your own paper and pencils is recommended. The components I would say are pretty high quality, because the copy I played was over 20 years old and looked just fine.

This game has a small advantage over regular boggle. In regular boggle there are a great many 3 letter words that you can make, and lots of small patterns that you can only learn through playing a lot. An obvious example is LEE and EEL. Now nobody beside a few sailors uses the word lee anymore, but it is a powerful boggle word as there are lots of Es and Ls. There are a great number of ‘boggle only’ three letter words that an experience player will know and destroy a novice with. This is a similar situation with Scrabble and the two letter words. Big boggle lessens this problem somewhat by simply upping the letter count, meaning there will be fewer small weird words to find. I am sure that if played enough there would be a list of weird 4 letter ‘boggle only’ words, but they are harder to come by. This evens things up a little bit for the novice against the expert, though the expert will still win most of the time.

Bigger words are also more fun to make.

If you like regular boggle, it is worth the time to pick up big boggle. If you like word games boggle is a fun enough game to try out and see if you like it. If you dislike word games stay the hell away from this thing. If you like loud noises followed by 2 minute periods of complete silence, followed by people saying, “That isn’t a word, is it?” you should pick this up.

Thread: Session Report

Dreadnaut — 2004-12-10T14:49:22+00:00

I am a decent player at word games. However, Carmella, my wife, has mastered this game to an extent I can never hope to match. Therefore, when this game was suggested, my first requirement was a 15-point handicap per ROUND. I should have realized my impending doom when Carmella readily agreed. This led me to the belief that maybe, maybe, this would gain me enough to be competitive. How I was wrong.

The game lasted a total of 5 rounds. The first 3 rounds were competitive. Thanks to my handicap, I found myself only down by 18 points (a small moral victory). Then a consonant-heavy 4th round allowed me to close the gap to 10 points. Then, disaster, a word-rich 5th round destroyed any chance of victory.

Final: Carmella 138, Tom 117

- Main lesson learned: next game, I will push for a larger handicap.

Thread: Session Report

Jpwoo — 2004-05-03T15:34:32+00:00

John had said that there was going to be a party at his house. This being a Sunday night at 7 I had my doubts but he promised pretty girls. So I said "pretty girls! I like those!" and came over.

When I got there John was sleeping and mike was upstairs listening to music and making a new intro web page. John mentioned pizza a couple of times. Eventually Mandy showed up. She is a nice person generally, and she was wearing a shirt that said I (heart) nerds. Which was pretty cool. But she was crabby and generally being a nay sayer. Another girl Janelle showed up. and she was very cool, and she brought BIG BOGGLE. I had never seen big boggle before and it was quite astounding. Regular boggle has a 4x4 grid of cubes with letters on them. BIG BOGGLE has a 5x5 grid. ohh the excitement. When I lived with amanda she became addicted to boggle, and we played lots. Much of the skill in regular boggle is knowing a gajillion three letter words and the words that come with them. For example, a common one is LEE and EEL if you can make one you cna make the other. LEE is the windward side of a boat I beleive. In big boggle the minimum letter count for a word is 4 letters, this eliminates some of the 'master of three letter words' factor.

We played a bunch of games scoreing each round though we didn't really keep track of who was winning or loseing, It was a very relaxed affair. And while it wasn't a party, and it didn't involve available pretty girls, it was still a fun time. Big boggle comes recomended to any boggle fan. I certainly am going to be searching thrift stores and garage sales for it.

Here is a list of the favorite words that we found tonight, in no particular order.

Panic
Apron
Clone
Ween
Stunt
Trundle
Hoes
Classes
Chess
Queer
Float
Latte
Yeast
Threes