How Find the Word Scoring Works

Find the Word uses two scoring layers: gems and leaderboard points.

Gems are the simple score you see during the puzzle. Leaderboard points are the larger score used for ranking completed wins.

Gem score

You start with a maximum of 6 possible gems.

When you solve the word, your gem score is based on how many attempts and hints you used:

gems = max(1, max attempts - attempts + 1 - hints)

In a standard 6-attempt game:

• solving on the first guess is worth 6 gems
• solving on the third guess is worth 4 gems
• each hint reduces the result by 1 gem
• a win always gives at least 1 gem

If you lose, you receive 0 gems.

Leaderboard score

The leaderboard score adds time pressure on top of the attempt and hint system.

The formula is:

score = max(100, (max attempts - attempts + 1) * 1000 - seconds * 5 - hints * 200)

Only won sessions can submit a leaderboard score.

What lowers your score?

• More attempts lower the base score.
• Each second costs 5 points.
• Each hint costs 200 points.

The leaderboard score has a minimum of 100 for a completed win.

Example

If you solve in 3 attempts, take 40 seconds, and use 1 hint:

(6 - 3 + 1) * 1000 - 40 * 5 - 1 * 200 = 3600

Your final leaderboard score would be 3,600, and your gem score would be 3 gems.

Strategy

The main tradeoff is whether a hint saves enough time and guesses to justify the penalty. If a hint prevents several bad guesses, it can still be worth using. If you already have strong letter information, it is usually better to solve directly.

You can play it here: Find the Word.