Vanlexis rules

This is the full reference. If you just want to start, read how to play, which fits in two minutes.

The idea of the game

Vanlexis is a board word game for two to four players. You build words from the tiles in your rack, like in a crossword game. The twist is that every match has a theme, and a word that fits it is worth far more. Whoever scores the most wins.

Three ideas hold the whole game together:

• No power carries over between matches. What you earn by playing is cosmetic and about ranking, never an advantage. Someone who has played for ages does not start ahead.
• No point is unexplained. Affinity shows up in bands, and the breakdown of every move shows where each point came from.
• The server decides. Your device only shows the match. The server computes the points and validates the words, the same for everyone.

Tiles and hand

• You play with a rack of tiles, refilled automatically and for free at the end of your turn.
• The tile bag is infinite: letters never run out, so counting tiles like in the board game does not help.
• The draw looks at your rack. It avoids piling up too many repeated letters and avoids leaving you without vowels.
• Tiles go from A to Z. There are no tiles with accents or cedillas: the dictionary ignores both. You build ACAO, and the game understands AÇÃO.

Board and bonus squares

The board is square and large, with room for a full table. Some squares multiply your move, and all of them show on the board with their own color and multiplier:

Square	What it does
Letter ×2 and Letter ×3	Multiply the value of one letter.
Word ×2 and Word ×3	Multiply the word that goes through them.

The layout of the squares is fixed and symmetrical. A few board rules:

• A bonus square only counts for the tile placed in this move. An old tile sitting on it does not repeat the bonus.
• The first move of the match must cover the center square, which is just the starting point and has no bonus.
• Every new tile must connect to what is already on the board. There are no islands.

Your turn

Each turn has four phases, in this order:

Phase	What happens
1. Income	You earn coins. Income rises a little when you scored well on your previous turn.
2. Market (optional)	You see the cards for sale and buy whatever fits your pocket, or nothing.
3. Action (mandatory)	You pick one: play a word, swap up to 3 tiles, or pass. Passing earns a consolation coin.
4. Refill	Your rack goes back to full size, for free.

The turn has a time limit, set by the table. If it runs out, you pass on your own: whatever you had built and not yet played goes back to your rack. Purchases and instant cards you already used still count.

Theme and affinity

The match draws a theme, visible from the first turn to everyone. Every theme has a word list in three layers, prepared in advance and reviewed by a person. The word you play lands in one of four affinity bands:

Band	The word is…
Frio (cold)	Not on the theme’s list.
Morno (warm)	In the distant layer of the list.
Quente (hot)	In the related layer.
Escaldante (scorching)	In the core of the theme.

A few affinity rules:

• We show bands, never a closeness number. Each band has a fixed weight, and the same word in the same theme always lands in the same band.
• Plurals, feminine forms and diminutives count as the base word: BOLAS and BOLINHA count as BOLA.
• The game shows you the band before you confirm, so you plan instead of gambling.
• Consecutive moves with high affinity build a chain and earn a bonus. The chain breaks when you pass or play a Frio word.
• Words that share a root with one already played in the chain do not renew it. Without that rule, AMAR, AMARA and AMARAS would be free points.

Scoring

The calculation has a fixed order:

1. Letters. Each letter is worth its value, multiplied by the letter square and by letter cards.
2. Word. The sum of the letters is multiplied by the word square and by word cards.
3. Length. The longest word of the move earns a bonus that grows with its length. Only the longest counts: crossing three short words does not earn more than writing one long word.
4. Affinity and chain. The weight of the band and the chain bonus multiply the result.

Multipliers of the same kind add up, they do not multiply. Two Palavra Triplicada give ×5, and a Dobrada with a Triplicada gives ×4. That is what stops a match from ending in a single turn.

After each move, the screen shows the whole calculation, letter by letter, so you can see where every point came from. A wildcard tile is worth zero.

Power Cards

Cards sit in a small row that works as the shop and the inventory at once: a free slot shows a card for sale, and the card you bought takes the slot. One tap buys, one tap uses. On each of your turns, free slots bring new cards, with no forced refresh. You can sell a card on your turn to open space, and that does not end the turn.

Cards that go into the move (wildcards, Letra Dobrada, Palavra Dobrada, Palavra Triplicada and Prisma) are only spent if the word is accepted. And no card takes away points someone already scored: you can get in an opponent’s way, not wreck what they scored.

The game is in Portuguese for now, so card names stay in Portuguese.

Level 1

Card	Effect
Coringa de Vogal	A tile that becomes any vowel.
Coringa de Consoante	A tile that becomes any consonant.
Letra Dobrada	Doubles the value of one letter in the words of the move, from your rack or already on the board.
Ímã	Draws 3 tiles, and you pick 1.
Reciclar	Swaps up to 3 tiles without spending your action.
Mina	Earns one coin per turn and runs out after paying a few times.
Peça Extra	Your rack grows by one tile, for good, up to a limit.

Level 2

Card	Effect
Coringa Universal	A tile that becomes any letter.
Palavra Dobrada	Doubles the value of the word.
Âncora	Reserves a board square for one round.
Espião	You see an opponent’s rack until the end of the round.
Prisma	Affinity counts double in this move.

Level 3

Card	Effect
Palavra Triplicada	Triples the value of the word.
Segundo Fôlego	You play two words in the same turn.
Ladrão de Tema	Swaps the theme of the match for one of two options only you see. The new theme becomes public as soon as you pick it.
Cadeia de Ouro	Your affinity chain does not break this round.
Tema Pessoal	You get a second theme, yours alone, for a few rounds, and your words score by the better of the two. That extra theme is public too.

Coins

Coins exist only inside the match. You earn every turn and when you score well, and you spend them buying cards. Passing earns one coin. Selling a card gives back a few coins, depending on its level. When the match ends, coins and cards vanish.

End of the game

The match ends when someone reaches the point target or when the round limit is hit, whichever comes first. It also ends early if everyone passes twice in a row.

On a tie, the longest single word wins, then fewer passes, then the shortest total time. Anyone who disconnects and does not come back passes their turns automatically.

Game modes

• Normal. You join a queue of two to four players. If people are missing, bots of a similar level fill the table.
• Customizada (custom). You open a room with a code, invite friends and set the turn time, the number of rounds, the power cards (on or off) and the theme. With no theme and no cards, it is the way to play the classic game. With no opponents at all, it is solo.

See how to play with friends and the Vanlexis overview.