The goal: Get from the tee word to the hole word in as few strokes as possible, using the fanciest, most closely related words you can.
Each stroke: Type a word related to the previous one and press Hit. Your word is scored on two things:
- Fanciness (0-100): How rare, long, or unusual your word is. Common words score low; obscure words score high.
- Relation (0-100): How closely your word connects to the previous word. Direct synonyms score highest; loose associations score much lower.
Stroke value: Each stroke starts worth 1. Your fanciness and relation scores adjust it with a doubled weighting — a brilliant word can reduce a stroke to zero or even negative, while a terrible one can cost up to 3 strokes. A hole always costs at least 1 stroke total.
Aiming: Type your word, then press Aim for the Hole (or Aim for the Lay Up). Your word must relate to both the previous word and the target. The relation score is the average of both connections.
Shanks & slices: If your aim shot has too weak an average connection (below 20), you'll shank into the rough — costing a full stroke and landing on a random word you now have to play from.
Lay up holes: Par 5 holes have a lay up word — an intermediate checkpoint you must reach before aiming for the hole.
Whiffs: If your word isn't real, is too simple, has no connection, or was already used on the hole — it's a whiff. Whiffs always cost a penalty stroke.
Hole score: All weighted stroke values are summed and rounded to the nearest whole number. Like golf, lower is better.
The art: Balance speed and style. Fewer strokes is good, but fancy, well-connected words dramatically reduce each stroke's cost. A sesquipedalian shortcut beats a pedestrian slog every time.