How to play

Find every hidden word by drawing a line across it. That's the whole game, and it only gets cozier.

BLOOM, traced across the top row

Find a word

1Press on the first letter of a word from the list under the board.
2Keep your finger (or mouse) down and drag in a straight line to its last letter.
3Let go. If it is a word on the list, it gets a coloured capsule and flies up to the garland.
4Find them all to clear the board. A run of quick finds builds a combo.

CAT, across

SUN, down

On a keyboard: Tab to the board, arrow keys to move, Enter on the first letter, then Enter again on the last. Escape cancels.

Which way words run

Words always run in a straight line. Harder boards are bigger and hide words in more directions.

Easy8 × 8 board, 6 wordsLeft to right, and top to bottom.

Medium10 × 10 board, 8 wordsAdds the two downward diagonals.

Hard13 × 13 board, 10 wordsAll eight ways, backwards and upwards included.

KITE, on a diagonal

ROOM, backwards (hard)

Stars, hints and tokens

Faster finishes earn more stars. Three stars if you beat:

easy 45s
medium 75s
hard 120s

Stuck? A hint lights up a letter on the board: the first letter of a word you haven't found, then the next letter, and so on. A hint costs 4 butterfly tokens. Without enough tokens a hint is free, but adds 20s to your time (30s for the next one). Hints recharge for 8 seconds after each use.

You earn tokens for every board you clear: more for harder boards, more stars, no hints, daily streaks, race wins and new butterflies in your album.

Ways to play

Play with a friend

1Open Multiplayer, choose Create room, then Start a new room.
2Send your friend the 6-character room code, or tap Share to send them the link.
3They choose Join room and type the code, on a phone, tablet or computer. Any mix works.
4You pick Race or Together and a difficulty. Your friend taps Ready Up, and you tap Start.

Race: you both get the same board after a countdown. You can see each other's progress live, and whoever finds every word first wins.

Together: one shared board. Every word either of you finds counts for both, and you can chat while you search.

Signed in with Google? Add friends with their friend code to get live requests and a friends leaderboard.

Play with a friend

Install it like an app

NhakoSearch is free and runs in your browser, so there is nothing to download from a store. Add it to your home screen and it opens full screen, like any other app.

iPhone & iPad

Open it in Safari, tap Share, then Add to Home Screen.

Android

Open it in Chrome, tap the ⋮ menu, then Install app (or Add to Home screen).

Computer

In Chrome or Edge, click the install icon at the right end of the address bar. Mac Safari: File, then Add to Dock.

Play as a guest straight away. Sign in with Google to keep your progress across devices.

opening the journal…

Find a word

1Press on the first letter of a word from the list under the board.
2Keep your finger (or mouse) down and drag in a straight line to its last letter.
3Let go. If it is a word on the list, it gets a coloured capsule and flies up to the garland.
4Find them all to clear the board. A run of quick finds builds a combo.

CAT, across

SUN, down

On a keyboard: Tab to the board, arrow keys to move, Enter on the first letter, then Enter again on the last. Escape cancels.

Which way words run

Words always run in a straight line. Harder boards are bigger and hide words in more directions.

Easy8 × 8 board, 6 wordsLeft to right, and top to bottom.

Medium10 × 10 board, 8 wordsAdds the two downward diagonals.

Hard13 × 13 board, 10 wordsAll eight ways, backwards and upwards included.

KITE, on a diagonal

ROOM, backwards (hard)

Stars, hints and tokens

Faster finishes earn more stars. Three stars if you beat:

easy 45s
medium 75s
hard 120s

You earn tokens for every board you clear: more for harder boards, more stars, no hints, daily streaks, race wins and new butterflies in your album.

Play with a friend

1Open Multiplayer, choose Create room, then Start a new room.
2Send your friend the 6-character room code, or tap Share to send them the link.
3They choose Join room and type the code, on a phone, tablet or computer. Any mix works.
4You pick Race or Together and a difficulty. Your friend taps Ready Up, and you tap Start.

Race: you both get the same board after a countdown. You can see each other's progress live, and whoever finds every word first wins.

Together: one shared board. Every word either of you finds counts for both, and you can chat while you search.

Signed in with Google? Add friends with their friend code to get live requests and a friends leaderboard.

Play with a friend

Install it like an app

NhakoSearch is free and runs in your browser, so there is nothing to download from a store. Add it to your home screen and it opens full screen, like any other app.

iPhone & iPad

Open it in Safari, tap Share, then Add to Home Screen.

Android

Open it in Chrome, tap the ⋮ menu, then Install app (or Add to Home screen).

Computer

In Chrome or Edge, click the install icon at the right end of the address bar. Mac Safari: File, then Add to Dock.

Play as a guest straight away. Sign in with Google to keep your progress across devices.