Human Boggle

Choose this exercise

Purpose: Collaborate in small groups under a short time limit to find valid words from a shared physical letter arrangement.

Use it when: Use during a workshop break, warm-up, or energizer when teams need a light cooperative challenge requiring rapid communication.

Skip it when: Skip when participants are uncomfortable with fast-paced English word games, spelling puzzles, or physical room navigation.

Group arrangement: Teams of 3 to 5 people (for odd counts such as 13, form two teams of 4 and one of 5; any spare individual may take a chosen scorekeeper or observer role)

Timing: UWT suggested duration based on a single complete round and debrief from the 3 to 4 minute play rounds in source evidence

Materials and tools

• One deck of 50 to 60 large printed letter cards (A to Z with duplicates for common letters and vowels), plus 5 spare marked vowel cards (A and E)
• One clipboard or writing pad per team
• One pen or pencil per team
• One countdown timer visible to the room

Before participants arrive

1. Shuffle the letter card deck thoroughly.
2. Scatter the letter cards face down across a central table or floor space.
3. Keep spare vowel cards ready at the facilitator table.
4. Set up team stations with a clipboard, paper, and pen around the room with clear walking paths to the center.

Say this to open

We are going to play Human Boggle. Each team will send one person to the center to collect nine random cards and lay them out in a three-by-three grid at your station. Once the timer starts, you will have four minutes to find as many words as you can. Letters must touch horizontally, vertically, or diagonally, and you cannot use the exact same card twice in one word.

How to run it

1. Form teams and set grids 3 minutes

   Divide participants into teams of 3 to 5 people. Each team chooses a collector. On your signal, collectors walk to the center, select nine cards without looking, and return to lay them face up in a 3x3 square grid. Check each grid. If any team has zero vowels (A, E, I, O, U), hand them a spare vowel card (A or E) to swap with any card in their grid.

2. Search for connected words 4 minutes

   Start the four-minute timer. Teams write down as many valid words of three or more letters as they can find. Letters must connect horizontally, vertically, or diagonally in sequence. For example, if C is top-left, A is top-center, and T is center, CAT is valid. A team member records all suggested words on their pad.

3. Score and compare lists 5 minutes

   Call time. Have each team swap word sheets with a neighboring team for peer scoring. Teams read the words aloud and verify paths on the authoring team's grid. Reviewing teams cross out misspelled words or disconnected sequences. The facilitator makes final rulings on disputes. The original team confirms and counts their remaining valid words.

4. Debrief team coordination 3 minutes

   Bring the whole room together. Ask two or three volunteers to share how their team organized the search and recording roles during the countdown.

Debrief questions

• How did your group divide the tasks of spotting words, verifying connections, and writing?
• What changed in your team dynamic as the timer ran down?
• What strategy helped you spot less obvious letter connections across the grid?

Finished output: A written list of verified words found by each team from their 3x3 letter grid.

Remote

In an online meeting, open a shared digital whiteboard. In advance, build 3x3 grids of letter sticky notes in separate breakout frames and cover each with a solid opaque rectangle. Assign participants to breakout rooms of 3 to 5 people with one designated scribe. When breakout rooms open, delete or slide away the cover shapes and start a 4-minute timer. Teams type words on digital sticky notes. Return to the main room to compare counts.

Hybrid

In-person teams build physical grids using cards on their tables while remote participants join via a breakout room using a digital 3x3 letter grid. The remote scribe records words on a shared digital board projected in the room. During scoring, in-person pairs swap sheets while the facilitator projects the remote team list for mutual checking with an in-person squad. All groups debrief together in the main room.

Access and participation choices

• Place card tables at standing height or draw cards from tabletops rather than the floor to remove the need to bend down.
• Team members may choose to spot words, verify spelling, write words, or simply observe without running or recording.
• Participants may pass on reading words aloud during scoring without penalty.

If the session gets stuck

A team draws nine cards with no vowels and struggles to find words.

Promptly swap one consonant card with a prepared spare 'E' or 'A' card as outlined in the setup rules.

One dominant participant dictates all words while other team members sit idle.

Pause briefly and remind teams that passing the pencil after every two words ensures everyone can record their own finds.

Terms used here

• Boggle grid: A three-by-three arrangement of nine letters where words are formed by tracing adjacent letters horizontally, vertically, or diagonally.