Sidewords Tips, Cheats and Strategies

Sidewords is a compelling word game from Milkbag Games. Part logic puzzle, part word game, it has you creating words from specific letters, providing you can place them within a relevant grid. Letters can’t overlap meaning things can get tricky.

Gamezebo’s  Sidwords Tips, Cheats and Strategies has some handy advice on how best to become great at Sidewords. While practice is going to make perfect here, there are still plenty of things you can do to get ahead of the curve.

Knowing the Basics

• Getting the hang of Sidewords is sort of simple and sort of tricky. It’s all down to the mindset.
• Creating words is easy – tap on the letters in the order in which the word is spelled. Then hit the arrow key to commit to it.
• If you want to remove the word, just tap on it within the grid and it’ll vanish.
• The trick is to not isolate any letters too much. You want to be planning around your next step.
• For instance, consider creating a line of letters by going vertically down the grid with a number of different words. It’s a good use of space.
• Sometimes though, you can also create a big word with all the letters, covering the entire grid by itself.
• It’s all down to adaptation. Created an awesome word but you can’t form anything with the remaining letters? It’s time to go back to the drawing board, clearing the space and starting over.
• It’s kind of annoying at times, and a little one step forward, one step back-ish, but remember – it’s using up the letters that counts, not the quality of the words.

Getting Ahead

• Look for patterns. For instance, many words can be spelt in a similar fashion such as late, slate, and mate. Recognising patterns or ways in which you can tweak things can make all the difference here.
• Don’t be afraid to create little words that slot into the side, opening up a gap for something much bigger elsewhere. Nothing has to be symmetrical, so you have plenty of opportunity here to tweak and adapt.

Truly Stumped?

• Don’t be afraid to consult a dictionary or anagram solving website. Ok, it’s cheating and where’s the fun in that? Actually, sometimes it can be quite fun.
• Remember though – unlike with other word games, consulting a dictionary won’t immediately help you with Sidewords.
• You still need to know where to place the words so you can fill the grid. Checking a dictionary site is useful for giving you some ideas on how best to tackle things though, in a similar way that having an expansive vocabulary is helpful.

Don’t Forget Quads!

• Quads is a bonus game included with Sidewords. It feels like it’s just a random freebie but it’s the kind of thing that’s worth paying for on its own.
• Playing like Threes! but with letters, you have to create words from letters, by sliding things around.
• It’s tempting to make a ton of three letter words but it’s actually quite pointless. You only earn points for forming four letter words (or quads).
• Focus on only creating three letter words when you’re out of options and you need to free up some room on the grid.
• Always look towards your opportunities to form a four letter word. It’s pretty easy to do with the tricky bit being sliding stuff around so you can form the word.

Jennifer Allen

Jennifer is a UK-based freelance writer. Her work has featured at multiple outlets, including Gamasutra, 148apps, Paste, TechRadar, Wareable, and MyM magazine. In her spare time, she tries to teach her guinea pigs tricks, and enjoys losing hours to Netflix.