01 / 01 · Design principle
“The right word isn’t the winning word. It’s the one you didn’t know you were looking for.”
Wordsquared
Design brief · 2023–2024
← All case studies + UI/UX & Software · 2023–2024 · experiments.withgoogle.com/word
Client · Wordsquared Team Word Game Companion Tool · Global · 2023–2024
Every rack, every crossword, in the same beat.
Build a word-game companion that returns results in milliseconds, respects the reader’s time, and treats every search as a chance to learn a word rather than borrow one. The tool for people who read the dictionary for fun — not the app that helps you cheat at Scrabble.
Format
MMO crossword
World’s first massively-multiplayer online crossword game
Origin
48-hour prototype
A viral weekend build that had to become a live product
Concurrent players
Thousands
Real-time turn resolution across a shared infinite board
Recognition
Google Chrome Experiment
Later selected and featured
Scope
What we were hired to build.
Wordsquared (originally Scrabb.ly) was the world’s first massively-multiplayer online crossword game — a Scrabble-style tile game played on a shared, effectively infinite board with real-time multiplayer. We contributed to the interaction design and web experience of the game, its onboarding, and its cross-platform authentication.
How we planned
Understand the rules in thirty seconds.
The scope was unusual: a 48-hour prototype that had gone viral and needed to become a live product. We planned around two constraints — first-time users had to understand the rules in under thirty seconds, and returning players needed the map to feel familiar even as it grew. Discovery leaned heavily on watching real players fumble the first tile.
How we delivered
Browser-native interface for an infinite tile grid.
A browser-native interface for an infinite tile grid, real-time turn resolution against thousands of concurrent players, cross-platform login via Google, Twitter, Facebook, Yahoo and OpenID, and a spectator mode for the geographies where the leaderboards were most active. Later selected as a Google Chrome Experiment.
What we learnt
The interface is the game.
Games are systems where the interface is the game. Every UI decision was a rules decision.
The right word isn’t the winning word. It’s the one you didn’t know you were looking for.
How the client improved
Global press. Devoted community. Chrome Experiment.
Wordsquared reached global press coverage, a Google Chrome Experiments feature, and a devoted competitive community — validating an experimental format the founders had originally built as a weekend competition entry.
Stack · in receipts
The engagement, in one page.
Client
Wordsquared Team
Originally Scrabb.ly — a Scrabble-style tile game
Auth
Google · Twitter · Facebook · Yahoo · OpenID
Cross-platform login — the era demanded all of it
Palette
Cream Tile + Scrabble Gold
Board-side visual system
Typography
DM Sans + Instrument Serif
Speed with a hint of the library
Cream Tile + Scrabble Gold. DM Sans + Instrument Serif. Cross-platform login across Google, Twitter, Facebook, Yahoo and OpenID. Real-time turn resolution against thousands of concurrent players on a browser-native infinite tile grid. Featured by Google Chrome Experiments.
Next case
Manuscripts.ai — the manuscript editor that can prove it’s yours.
An author-first AI writing surface with a provenance ledger that logs every AI-accepted edit — exportable as proof of authorship. Built with Gemini 2.5 Pro, TipTap and Harper.js WASM.
Have something worth building?
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Send a paragraph about what you’re building to hello@creative-mantra.com. We reply within 24 hours with next steps and, for qualified scopes, a fee letter within four working days.