How to Play Word on the Street

Can you think of something worn in hot weather? Then you can play this game. In this tug of war of letters, teams think of words that describe designated categories and move the letters across the street and on to their side of the game board. It’s a great word game for those who don’t like word games!

Overview

In the box you’ll find the instructions, 17 letter tiles, 216 category cards, divider card, card tray, timer, and game board. 

Letter Tiles

Lettered plastic tiles used on the gameboard.

Category cards

Answers from these cards are what teams use to move their letter tiles and win the game. These two sided cards are divided by difficulty. The green side is regular and the blue side is more challenging. 

Divider Card

Before playing your first time, place the divider card at the back of the card tray. 

Card Tray

The card tray holds the category cards.

Timer

A 30 second timer.

Gameboard

A large flat board – the street – on which the letter tiles are played. 

Game setup

Before beginning the game, choose which side you’ll be using and turn the cards to that color.

 Place the game board in the middle so at least one person from each team can move the letters. Place each letter block on the corresponding letter on the board. Both the timer and the category tray should be in reach of both teams.

Divide the players into two teams. It’s ok if one team has more players than the other. Decide which team starts first.

Game play

Simultaneously, team A, the team on the street, places the top category card face up on the table and reads the card aloud while team B begins the timer. 

Team A brainstorms a word to fit the category. When they have agreed on a word, they say it aloud, then spell it. One player from team A begins to move each letter tile one space for each letter in the word toward their side of the board. As soon as the first tile has been moved, the word cannot be changed. 

When a letter tile has been moved off the board, that team has captured that tile. 

When the timer is up, team A must stop immediately even if not all tiles have been moved. Their turn is over, and the category card is moved to the back of the card tray. 

Team B is now the team on the street. They pick a category card and read aloud while team A turns the timer. When a word is chosen and spelled, a player from team B moves tiles toward their side of the board, even if it’s on team A’s side of the center road.  All tiles are in play for both teams until completely moved off the board.

Captured tiles stay next to the board for easy counting.   

Both teams are allowed to offer suggestions to the other team. 

Allowable Words

• English words only.
• Words must be a single word.
• Capitalized words are allowed. 
• Compound words are allowed because they are a single word. 
• Proper words are acceptable, such as names or places as long as it’s a single word.
• Single and plural forms of the word are acceptable, as long as the selected word fits the category. An example: if the category is “an ice cream topping”, sprinkles are allowed because sprinkles are considered one topping.  But caramels aren’t allowed because it is generally written as caramel when listed as an ice cream topping.   
• Present & past tense forms of words are allowed as long as the selected word fits the category listed on the card. For example: for the category “something a player did today”, yawned would be appropriate, but if the category is “something a cat does”, yawned could not be used, but yawns could. 
• Hyphenated words are only allowed when it’s part of a name. Think Newton-John or Day-Lewis. 

Challenging Words and/or Spelling

All players work together to ensure the selection is a single word and spelled correctly. 

The opposing team may challenge any word that they think has been made in error or a mistake in spelling. They may raise the challenge AFTER the word has been chosen, letters moved, and no more time remains on the timer.. 

If the word or spelling has been deemed incorrect, the tiles must be moved back to their space before the turn, and that team’s turn is over. 

But if the word and spelling are correct, the team who raised the challenge loses their next turn. 

 If a compound word  is challenged and found to be two words, or is not allowed because of a hyphen, all letter tiles are moved back to their previous positions.

Word Selection

If a word is challenged, the team who chose the word must explain why they think the word fits the category listed on the card. If the majority of the players accept the explanation, the letter tiles stay where they are. If the majority oppose, the letter tiles are moved back to their previous positions, and the team who chose the word restarts their turn with a new category. 

Winning the Game

The first team to move 8 letters on their side off the board, wins!