How to play Finito
Two players build one word, one letter at a time. Whoever finishes it — and can back it up — scores.
Your turn
- Add a letter and hit Enter. The letters so far must still lead to a real word.
- Add a letter and hit Finito if you think it completes the word — and nothing longer can be made from it.
- Finito with no letter when your opponent finished a word without noticing. "That's already a word — you missed it."
- Challenge their last letter if you don't believe any word starts with those letters. They have to type one.
Answering a finito
- Concede — they score the word.
- Not a word! — if you're right you score, if not they do. Either way it's doubled.
- Longer word — type a longer word that starts with theirs. Now it's your claim at double points, and they can challenge you back.
Ana plays SET and calls finito. Ben answers SETUP (2×).
If Ana concedes, Ben scores 2 × 3 = 6. If Ana comes back with an even longer word, it's 3×. If Ben thinks her word is made up and he's right, he scores it at 4×.
Scoring
Words score on the Fibonacci sequence. Every challenge adds one more multiple: 2×, 3×, 4×…
Top row: letters. Bottom row: points. Whoever wins a round always scores at least 1.
What counts as a word
Almost anything in a big English word list (about 115,000 words) — obscure words included. Proper names don't count, and neither do -S/-ES forms like CATS or RUNS (otherwise every word ends with S). Custom games can turn -S forms back on.
Modes
- Classic — quick match, first to 100 points, 30s turns, power-ups on. When the queue is quiet you may be matched with a computer opponent so you're never left waiting.
- Ranked — always another person, matched by rating. Most points after 5 words. No power-ups.
- Custom — your rules, your friend. Share the link.
Power-ups
Equip up to three in the shop. Use one per turn — including when you've been challenged to prove a word.
- 💣 Bomb — Blow up any one letter.
- 🔀 Swap — Switch two letters that sit side by side.
- 🪄 Transform ray — Zap a letter into a random new one.
- ⏳ Hourglass — Add 15 seconds to your clock.
- 👀 Peek — See how many words still start with these letters.
Clock
If your clock runs out, you lose the round. Run out twice in a row and you forfeit the game.