Rush Hour Boggle FAQ
Quick answers about how Rush Hour Boggle works — the dictionary, rejected words, combos, freezes, lives, and saved scores.
What is Rush Hour Boggle?
A real-time arcade word game built into Arctovec Games. A five-row grid of letter tiles rides a conveyor belt toward a cliff; you drag through adjacent tiles to spell words, chain combos for multipliers, and try to survive as the belt speeds up. Three lives, one high score.
Which dictionary does the game use?
The shared Arctovec Games word list — about 82,000 common English words derived from the SCOWL project, the same list our other word games use. It excludes proper nouns, abbreviations, and hyphenated words.
Why was my word rejected?
Three common reasons: it is shorter than three letters, the trace broke adjacency (each letter must touch the previous one, diagonals included), or it simply is not in the word list. Very obscure words, names, and slang are the usual culprits. An invalid submission costs no life — but it does reset your combo.
How does the Qu tile work?
Q always appears as "Qu", like in classic Boggle. It adds both letters to your word — Qu-I-Z spells QUIZ — is worth 10 points, and counts as two letters toward the length bonus.
How do combos work?
Each valid word extends a streak worth +0.5 on the multiplier, capped at x8. You have 5 seconds after each valid word to land the next one, shown by the draining bar at the top. If the timer runs out the multiplier returns to x1; if you submit an invalid word it resets instantly.
What triggers the freeze power-up?
Any valid word containing J, Qu, X, or Z freezes the conveyor for 5 seconds. Scoring another rare-letter word while frozen restarts the timer rather than stacking.
How do I lose lives?
When a column falls off the cliff on the left with none of its five tiles ever used in a valid word. Used tiles turn green and mark their column safe. You start with three lives, and there is no way to earn them back — the run ends when the third one goes.
Is my high score saved?
Yes, in your browser via localStorage. There is no account, server, or leaderboard in this version — clearing site data clears your best score.
Can I play on mobile?
Yes. Tracing works with one finger exactly like the mouse, and the page prevents the board from scrolling while you drag. A larger screen makes long traces easier, but phones are fully playable.
Why does the game pause when I switch tabs?
The belt never moves while you cannot see it — the game pauses on tab switches and window blur, and resumes when you come back. No lives can be lost in the background.