How points work, said once and shown
The How points work sheet says each game's rule in one line; tapping a game plays it on a small board, with the points it earns.
Context
The 3.25.1 sheet (D-014) said each rule in a sentence, and the sentences carried sums and shorthand: "3 letters 1 pt, 4 letters 2, then letters − 2", "3 pts a letter, +10 if it reaches the goal", "6 letters is 18 · 9 of 9 is 37", "Hints and skips are free". Ru: "copy needs to be cleaned up in how points work, it needs to be simple to understand."
Options
Each was mocked on the real game with sample data and shown before the next.
| Option | What it is | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Plain sentences | One rule and one example a game, no sums or shorthand: "Longer words score more. A 3-letter word is 1 point. A 6-letter word is 4." | Shorter and clear; still read. Not chosen |
| Shown | Each game plays its scoring on a small board, one after another, with the points it earns; the rules only as screen-reader text | Ru: "what if we do show don't tell motion vids for each but simple so they watch and don't read"; then "this is good, I like this". Then: "we need to also be clear though how points work, they need to infer how it works with the visual" |
| Said once and shown, in turn | The same, with each game's rule as one visible line under its name, the games playing one after another on a loop | Ru: "have it where you click on it to play each section so user chooses what they want to see" |
| A play mark on each board | A square play badge in the board's middle, then a veil of --ground with a play triangle, like a video still | The badge read as one more tile. Ru, on the veil: "absolutely not, it should be a simple tap, not a video icon... it needs to be intuitive to tap; a video looks cheap" |
| Said once, shown on a tap | The rule lines; "Tap a game to see it play." under the title; a tapped game plays, and dips like a leaderboard card | Chosen |
Offered and not taken: all three games playing at once, a loop of about 6 seconds but busier.
Decision
The sheet opens on "Every point adds to your month." Each row is a 3×3 board (the help deck's HelpBoard tiles, 30px) beside the game's name, its rule in one line, and the word with its points:
| Game | The line | What plays |
|---|---|---|
| Daily board | "3 letters is 1 point, +1 a letter." | one word growing: TAG +1, GATHER +4, GATHERED +6 |
| Longest word | "3 points a letter, +10 for the board's longest." | GARDENS, the longest word on its board, fills seven slots while its points climb to +21; then the lock opens in --earned, +10 |
| Trivia | "5 points a right answer." | two demo questions, "Frozen water?" and "Opposite of hot?", answered on their boards, +5 each; neither is in the bank |
The line under the title says "Tap a game to see it play." Nothing moves until a game is tapped. Each board starts empty (3.25.3: it first showed how it ends; Ru: "it should start empty, not on the end state"); tapping anywhere on a game's row plays it from the start, and then it shows how it ended; another tap plays it again. The row dips as it's pressed, as a leaderboard card does (scale 0.99, brightness 0.97, 90ms). One game plays at a time: tapping another sends the first back to empty. Each board is a button named "See the Daily board example play" (and so on), so the keyboard reaches it; the rules are read as text and the demo is hidden from screen readers. With reduced motion nothing plays, and the line under the title says "Every point adds to your month." instead. The sheet ends with "Rooms and solo games don't count." The rules and points are computed from partyScore, TOPWORD_PTS_PER_LETTER, UNLOCK_BONUS and TRIVIA_PTS. "Points count once, when you finish" and "Hints and skips are free" are no longer in the sheet.
Evidence
Measured in Chromium against the real build, with the database stubbed:
| The sheet | 518px tall at 390×844 and 390×664, 494px at 320×568; no scrolling and no sideways overflow at any of them |
| The boards | 98px wide at 390, 86px under 360px; the word's pill 32px tall, Longest word's slots 17px |
| A play | Daily board 9.2 s, Longest word 4.8 s, Trivia 6.4 s, each from its tap |
| The play buttons | the boards: 98×98px at 390 wide, 86×86px under 360px; Enter on a focused board plays it |
| Before a tap, and with reduced motion | every row shows its last frame: GATHERED +6, GARDENS +21 +10 with the lock open, COLD +5 |
| Screen readers | the three names and rules as text, the boards hidden; the sheet closes on Esc |
| GARDENS | the longest word on its board in the everyday dictionary (7 letters, ahead of DRAGNET and GARDEN) |
Consequences
- The sheet teaches with the game's own pieces: the tiles, the green pill and Longest word's slots and lock, with the rule said once beside them.
- Nothing moves until a player asks; each game's result is readable before it plays.
- The game no longer tells players that hints cost no points: the 3.25.1 sheet was the only place that said it. The rule itself is unchanged, and skips still only break ties.
- The sheet's demo words and questions are fixed in the code, and a change to the dictionary could make GARDENS no longer the longest word on its board.