Have you been looking for a card game to play with the family? Something that’s educational? Something that’s fun? What if you could have both? That’s where Alphabet Royal comes in. Alphabet Royal is the new fun card game that is going to take over your family game night.
Card Game Basics - What Is It?
Alphabet Royal is what would happen if you took Scrabble and mixed it with poker. No gambling allowed at this table, though, as the game should only be played with fake money as a point system. After all, this is a family game, and playing for money takes away the point of practicing spelling and playing together.
Players are dealt five cards and have to pay an ante to stay in a round. If you can’t pay the ante you’re out. If you can, you have the same options you would at a poker table: bid, check, raise, fold, or call. After a bidding round, the game’s dealer will flip five cards to be added to a community pool of letters. Using the cards in their hand, and the cards on the table, players have to spell out words to collect points.
The goal of this wordplay game is to use the cards on the table and the cards in your hard to spell the highest point word. If you ever need a refresher on the rules, make sure to check out our online player’s rulebook.
How Can It Help?
Easy. Alphabet Royal forces players to practice their spelling by putting letters together in order. In order to be good at the game, you have to know how words are spelled, as a misspelled word kicks you out of the round. Practicing your spelling often will help you win more rounds. With 10 letters to potentially play any round of the game, there are a number of words that could be used, and the bigger the word, the more likely you’ll win.
This makes Alphabet Royal a great practice game for kids who need a little extra help practicing their spelling, without having to sit down and write out a word a hundred times. It also helps promote critical thinking, because not only does the word need to be spelled correctly, but it also needs to be found in a jumble of letters. The simple rule set lets the game be picked up easily, but the depth and variation of the words that could be played means it will always be a challenge.
Variant Rule Sets
We already have some variant rules you can use in our online player’s rulebook, but here are a few others you could throw into the game to make sure younger players feel like they have a fair chance:
- Play on teams, with one kid and one adult
- Add vocabulary words from school as jackpot words to combine play with homework
- Start with smaller letter words to help younger players
- This helps younger players who don’t have as big vocabularies feel like they have a chance to win and also helps them process working with the critical thinking element of sorting letters into words.
Alphabet Royal is easy to learn, and hard to master. It’s great for a family game night, or for a battle of wits between adult players. Order your copy of this fun card game, and everybody wins.