Word Pop Fiesta

Goal

Meet the level objective by tracing accepted words before the move budget ends.

How do I connect and submit letters?

Make a dictionary word of at least three letters using neighboring tiles in any of eight directions. No jumping or reusing a tile. Drag and release to submit. Tapping neighboring tiles submits on the third or later release, so drag for longer words. Keyboard: Enter or Space starts/submits, arrows extend, Q/E/Z/C move diagonally and Escape cancels. Backtrack one tile to shorten a path.

Which words count?

The bundled dictionary decides acceptance. A nonword, invalid path or canceled selection spends no move and earns no points. You may repeat an accepted word whenever its letters are available; accepted words appear in the history.

How do points and new specials work?

A word earns (length − 2)² × 50: three letters score 50, four score 200, five score 450 and twelve score 5,000. Obstacle damage can add points. Even word lengths 4–10 make a horizontal stripe; odd lengths 5–11 make a vertical stripe. Length 12 or more makes a letter bomb. It appears at the last selected letter and can fall during refill. Creation adds no separate bonus. Hint searches stop at ten letters; longer dictionary words entered by the player remain valid.

How do specials activate?

Include a special in a valid word. Horizontal and vertical stripes clear their row or column. A letter bomb clears tiles matching the word’s first selected letter, even if the bomb is later in the path. Cleared squares count once. A special hit only by another blast is removed without firing: blasts do not chain recursively. Extra cleared letters do not increase the word’s length or score.

What does a level require?

Six objectives ask for score, letters, blocks, cages, ingredients or bombs, together with a required star count. Each level defines thresholds and may need one, two or three stars. A non-score objective also needs its star requirement. Levels end immediately when their requirements are met. Only letters directly selected in the word count toward letter collection; blast-cleared letters do not.

How do blocks and cages clear?

A cleared square removes one block layer for 100 points; a two-layer block needs two clears regardless of word length. Caged letters remain selectable. Cage damage equals the selected word’s length, and breaking a cage awards 100 points.

How do other obstacles behave?

Solid obstacles have one or two hit points. Orthogonally adjacent cleared squares each remove one hit point and award 100 points; diagonals alone do not damage them. Surviving growing obstacles have a 20% chance after an accepted turn to spread into an available adjacent slot, including diagonals. Missing squares and permanent blockers cannot be selected or jumped across and remain unavailable after refill.

How do I collect ingredients?

Clear letters underneath an ingredient so it falls to the lowest available slot in its column and exits. Ingredients cannot supply letters. Levels can require different ingredient kinds and quantities; replacement tokens can spawn until the targets are met.

What is a countdown bomb?

A countdown bomb supplies a letter and is different from the special letter-clearing bomb. Clear it before its turn counter reaches zero. Only accepted words advance surviving countdowns. An expired bomb loses an unfinished level even if moves remain. Clearing required bombs and meeting the star requirement wins.

What happens when letters fall?

Refill brings in letters from the level’s letter pool; it does not automatically submit words. When no playable word is found, the engine shuffles automatically. Manual Shuffle outside Challenge preserves score, budget, objective progress, specials, ingredients and bombs with their remaining timers. Normal Hint finds a local dictionary path without submitting it.

How do time and moves end a level?

Move levels spend one move per accepted word; zero moves with an unmet objective loses. Completing the objective on the last move wins. Timed levels spend seconds instead; normal Pause stops the clock. Reaching zero seconds before completing the objective loses; meeting it with time remaining wins. Tutorial background time is frozen and any time exercise advances only its prepared clock.

What changes with difficulty?

Relaxed multiplies the base move/time budget by 2.75 and rounds down; Standard doubles it; Challenge uses the original budget and disables normal Hint and manual Shuffle. For a base of ten, these are 27, 20 and 10 moves. Word acceptance, objectives and scoring remain the same. Lesson Hint stays available.

How do normal wins and saves work?

Wins add 100 points for each of up to eight leftover moves; timed wins add 300. Final stars use the boosted score. A win unlocks the next of 100 levels. Best results are kept by difficulty along with words, and a saved board can resume. There is no Undo; Restart replaces the current board. Practice leaves campaign records and saved games unchanged.