Not-a-Q is a four letter word game played like patience/solitaire. There are two separate decks of letters divided into consonants and vowels.

A four letter word is created from a starting selection of four consonants and four vowels. The aim is to use all the letters by changing ONE letter in the current word to make a NEW word (a bit like a word ladder).

Enjoy the challenge and learn some new words!

How to play:

The vowel and consonant decks are randomly shuffled at the start of each game.

There are 45 consonants: B2, C2, D3, F2, G2, H2, J1, K2, L3, M3, N3, P2, R3, S4, T3, V2, W2, X1, Y2, Z1.

There are 39 vowels: A10, E8, I8, O8, U5.

There is Not-a-Q!

From the initial 8 letters look for a 4 letter word. Drag each letter in turn to the empty boxes to form a word. If the word is valid a green OK message will be displayed and four more letters will then appear.

To continue, drag another letter to place over one of the existing letters to create a new word. The main rule is to make a different word each time i.e. playing the same letter over an existing letter is not allowed. A message after each move will say if that word is acceptable, you may even see a definition! 

Continue forming new words this way until all the letters have been used up.  Counters on the screen indicate how many vowels and consonants remain to be used.

Words Not Allowed:

Proper names i.e. those requiring a capital letter. Words with a hyphen or apostrophe. Foreign words, abbreviations and slang, unless in general use and appearing in English dictionaries.

The word list is based on the Shorter Oxford English dictionary. It includes a number of slang, colloquial, abbreviations and swear words, but not all! Some words judged offensive or derogatory have been excluded.

If you are not sure of a potential word try it, you might be surprised!

Tips:

You are likely to use consonants more readily than vowels. Aim to keep usage fairly even. Keep an eye on the countdown of remaining letters.

You are allowed to ‘oscillate’ letters e.g. LIVE could be changed to LOVE then back again to LIVE. This can be useful for balancing the use of vowels or tricky consonants.

If you get stuck press restart and try again!