No cartoon mascots, no coins to collect, no timers nagging you to come back, no ads and no account to create. Just a real board, real tiles, and a real room around you — right down to the pocket watch, quietly ticking on the table.
Every picture and video on this site is the game itself — nothing mocked up. A real table, board, rack and tiles, rendered in full 3D.
The board, racks, tiles, dictionary, notebook, pencil, watch and the room they all sit in — every object is rendered with the same uncompromising, photorealistic detail. Even the lettering on the tiles is yours to choose. The most photorealistic version of the game there is.
Its wordlists are founded on everyday conversation, so the game plays like a human, not a dictionary. One simple rule keeps it fair: if a word isn't in the dictionary, you can't play it — no challenges, no bluffing, no arguments, so skill decides the winner. A missing word takes a couple of clicks to add. Choose from around 30 lists in many languages, including the official competition lists CSW24 (English), FISE22 (Spanish) and ODS9 (French), and the older English SOWPODS. A children's list is also under way.
Every computer player has three sliders. Easy – Hard sets how deeply it examines the possible plays. Short – Long sets whether it favours short words or long ones. Open – Closed sets how it treats the board: a closed player uses the tiles already down tightly and leaves the next player little to work with. The best game usually comes with all three in the middle — and every player can be set differently.
This isn't English with a different dictionary. Every language has its own tile set — how many of each letter there are changes from one language to the next — and Letter Rack 3D follows it faithfully, right down to the text printed on the bonus squares. Choose Spanish or French and the board feels as if it was made for that language.
Letter Rack 3D lives on your own computer. There is no account to create, no sign-in and no online opponents — just a calm game, like one on a real table. One licence can be installed on several devices within a household.
Reshape the board and move the bonus squares wherever you like — or remove them entirely. A board with no bonus squares at all calls for very different strategic play. A new world of word skills, built from the same board you already know.
Ten original piano scores come built in to play as you think — and you're free to add your own.
Beyond the game itself, the dictionary doubles as a toolkit for anyone who loves word-tile puzzles.
Solve the kind of word-tile puzzles found daily in newspapers, or find the best possible play from any rack in-game — a genuine tool, not just a hint button.
Create your own newspaper-style puzzles from any board position, and print or share them as PDFs — a feature no rival offers.
A real game is a pleasant way to practise a language, and the rules put you in control of the words. Classroom or club? Please get in touch about a multi-seat licence.
Spanish and French come with their own tile sets and bonus-square text, among around 30 word lists in many languages — a natural way to practise vocabulary and spelling in a language you're learning, while playing a real game.
A word that isn't in the dictionary can't be played, so the list you choose decides exactly which words count. A children's list is under way, and it takes a couple of clicks to add any word that's missing.
Create newspaper-style puzzles from any board position and print them as PDFs — handy as worksheets or handouts.
Have a specialist word list of your own — a regional dialect, a niche vocabulary, a classroom set? I can process user-supplied wordlists into a working lexicon. Get in touch.
Play the full game in 5-minute sessions, as often as you like — the perfect way to see how it looks and runs on your own setup before buying.
[ Download free trial for Windows ]
Native install. Download and run — Windows has always included OpenGL, and it runs on most PCs, though not all. Dedicated graphics hardware makes it smoother.
Primary platformPlay on your Android phone or tablet! My simple setup guide gets the full PC version running beautifully on mobile screens, and smoothly even on a low-spec phone. Try the free trial today and see how gorgeous it looks on your device before you buy.
Via Winlator 11.2+
Even as its designer, I was taken aback by how beautiful and detailed the 3D world looks on a phone. On this low-spec Galaxy A16 it runs smoothly at the screen's full resolution. Winlator can also render above the display's resolution and scale it down; push that far enough and the game slows down gently rather than stuttering.
Four short videos — the full game, the Puzzle Solution tool, a look behind the curtain at the debug view and new boards for old (Samsung Galaxy Tab A8).
Three decades of word-game and puzzle titles. Available on request.
The original word-tile game — 7 dictionaries, board designer, puzzle creation, up to 125 AI skill levels.
"Gives a new dimension to word games" — a variant word-tile game with its own puzzle and anagram tools.
A companion puzzle tool for Scrabble® games — create, solve, and print puzzles across 7 dictionaries.
Solve and create puzzles in the style of Channel 4's Countdown, across 7 dictionaries, ready to print.
9-letter anagram puzzles with 1–4 key letters for adjustable difficulty — create, solve, and print.
Get in touch below for details on any of these titles.
Four years of building a real three-dimensional world around a word-tile game — the engine, the mathematics, and why nothing was borrowed from a library. A short behind-the-scenes read, with the debug graphics that were never meant to be seen.
Read "Behind Letter Rack 3D" — PDF
How Letter Rack 3D finds the best word — and knows when not to show it to you. The same engine that plays against you can also play for you — or just for the newspaper.
Two parts: the game itself plays in complete 5-minute sessions, as many times as you like. The Letter Rack Solution — the puzzle solver, creator and printer built into the dictionary — has no time limit at all and stays free forever, whether you buy or not. No sign-up, no nag screens.
Yes, via Winlator — easy to follow, step-by-step instructions are provided, and the free trial lets you see it running on your own device first.
Because I wanted to play a game of strategy, not a vocabulary contest. CSW24 runs to around 290,000 words — most people know perhaps 40,000, and use around 5,000 day to day. Playing on the full competition list is a real, specific experience, and one reserved for the purist. So alongside the competition lists, I've created a few cut-down word lists closer to everyday vocabulary, for a game that's about tactics and genuine word skill.
There has always been a debate about which words should be left out of a list, so none of these is the last word — the lists can be revised, and it's up to you. If a word you know isn't recognised, open the dictionary at the selection page, where the word is waiting, and click Add. It's added to the dictionary you've selected, and that's it.
Both, which is what makes it a proper game. Skill, strategy and vocabulary decide who wins, but much of the game is the luck of the draw — and part of the skill is knowing when to pass and hope for better letters next time. The better player has the edge, yet no game is ever a foregone conclusion.
One licence covers the devices in your household — a desktop, a laptop and an Android phone, say — including a replacement if you change your PC. Your registration key is issued in your own name, so it isn't for sharing outside the household. If you're a school, club or classroom, please get in touch for a multi-seat licence.
Your key is generated and emailed personally by me — typically within 24–48 hours. This is a small operation, not an automated storefront.
Letter Rack 3D runs on most Windows PCs, but not all. It uses OpenGL, which Windows has always included, but where there is no dedicated graphics hardware the system emulates much of the rendering in software — and on some low-budget PCs that emulation isn't up to the job. There are no miracle solutions to hardware limits, so the free trial is the best way to find out before you buy.
If it struggles, searching for the same problem with other 3D games turns up plenty of ideas to try. A graphics driver update is the usual suggestion, though Windows updates include those anyway, so keeping Windows up to date covers it.
On Android, run it via Winlator 11.2+ — the trial is the easiest way to see it running well on your own device.
Questions, problems, or feedback are always welcome. Please include your operating system and, for Android, your device model — it genuinely helps.
support@softspotsoftware.comI aim to respond within 2 business days.
I strongly encourage you to try the free version first. It isn't a crippled demo — it's the real thing:
Because you can fully evaluate the real software before paying, purchases do not carry an automatic right to a refund. Please make sure you're confident before buying, including that it runs well on your PC.
One-time payment. No subscription.
Full licence for Letter Rack 3D. Runs natively on Windows, and on Android via Winlator (see setup guide). One licence covers the devices in your household, including a replacement if you change your PC; it isn't for sharing outside the household. Schools, clubs and classrooms: please get in touch for a multi-seat licence. Your registration key is typically issued within 24–48 hours after purchase — please enter your real full name (matching your PayPal account) when asked, as this will be used to generate your unique registration key.
Your name and email are used only to generate and send your licence — never shared or sold.
