Wondering how to play Word Age: The Grand Expedition?
Then you’re in the right place! Use this guide to learn more about the game and boost your skill.
How to Play
Maple is a Red Panda and an archaeologist who travels the world in search of historical artifacts. These artifacts need to be pieced together letter by letter - and that’s where you come in!
As letters fall into the screen, tap them one by one to form words. Then, press the green button to send the word (aka artifact) to Maple’s museum.
If you mis-clicked a letter, you can tap the red “X” next to the green button to discard the word you’ve been working on.
Make and Submit Words
You’ll get points for every word you submit. Each level has a score you’ll need to beat to win.
When you earn points you’ll see the two bars on either side of the screen will fill with a little more green. These progress bars and the numbers above the play area tell you how close you are to reaching that level’s goal score.
Reach a Goal Score
When you beat a level, you’ll unlock the next one. Points you earn for beating any level will transfer into coins that can be spent on collectibles and rewards in the shop.
Progress Through Levels
The Four Game Modes
The Grand Expedition is our classic mode. Here, you can use the map to select the level you want to play.
As you beat levels, you’ll unlock more that increase in difficulty and present new environmental challenges.
The Grand Expedition
Solo Expedition takes you through a complete series of every level in the game. The levels increase in difficulty as you go, and you’ll earn coins after completing each one.
Every time you start a new level, you’ll choose a boon and and a bane.
Boons offer helpful adjustments to the game such as increasing the points you get from words and making helpful blocks more common.
Banes make the game more difficult. They’ll include options like making letters fall faster or reducing the level’s time limit.
Remember that the boons and banes you choose will stack and stay active for the remainder of your solo expedition run, so choose carefully!
Solo Expedition
This mode is perfect if you want a quick challenge and a big reward. You have one chance every day to beat a randomly selected level. As the week goes on, the levels get harder and the reward for winning increases.
This mode also offers a daily chance to watch a 30-second ad in exchange for one free gem. This helps you collect a few extra gems if you just need a couple more to buy something in the shop.
Daily Expedition
Once you’ve beaten every level in The Grand Expedition, you’ll unlock Deep Expedition.
In this mode, you’ll progress through a series of extra hard (and increasingly difficult) levels. This level series never ends, so go as long as you can and see how far you can get!
Deep Expedition
Select an option from the mode select screen to choose which mode you want to play.
Explore The Map
Each biome on the map has casual, normal, and hard modes.
But that’s not all - each mode also offers special environmental challenges.
The Ancient Ruins
You’ll begin your expedition in the ancient ruins.
Here, you’ll encounter iron blocks and chaos blocks. Watch out for earthquakes here. They make it much more difficult to select blocks.
Special challenges
Wall mode: Letters fall in waves with a break in between. Use the break to form as many words as possible before the next wave arrives.
Faultline mode: Lots of earthquakes happen here, so focus when you’re making words or you might mis-tap letters.
Wordplay mode: You get 45 seconds and a single set of letters with which to make as many high-scoring words as you can.
The Jungle
All the levels in the jungle are timed. Reach the goal score before time runs out!
Here, you’ll encounter rot blocks and nullifier blocks. The powerlines in the jungle are a little worn out. You’ll experience occasional blackouts where all letters become too dark to see.
Special challenges
Flooded mode: The game screen floods, and letters fall slowly through the water. Letters will eventually dissolve into the water without providing any points, so use them before they’re gone.
Waterline mode: Letters fall quickly when there are few on-screen and slowly where there are many on-screen.
Lightless mode: Blackouts happen almost back-to-back. It helps to memorize what letters are where when you’re able to see them.
In the tundra, you’ll encounter avalanches. These leave behind avalanche blocks.
The Tundra
Far more hazardous is the crusher: a rising tide of lava that reduces the space where letters can collect. The lava will recede whenever you submit a word.
Icy blocks and shield blocks appear often in the tundra as well.
Special challenges
Blizzard mode: Every block freezes as soon as it falls.
Reverse crusher mode: The lava only rises when you submit a word, so choose carefully.
Stay cool mode: Normal letters can’t reduce the crusher, but avalanche blocks can.
The Desert
Anything goes in the desert. If you like chaos, this biome is for you.
Every type of hazardous block can appear in the desert. You’ll see the crusher, blackouts, earthquakes, and timed challenges. It’s the toughest biome in the game, and the last one you’ll unlock.
Special challenges
Winds of chaos mode: Every weather hazard happens here: earthquakes, blackouts, and avalanches.
Maximalism mode: No standard blocks appear in this mode - only helpful and hazardous blocks. You won’t find timers or crushers here.
Active chaos mode: Every time you submit a word, all letters randomize.
Helpful and Hazardous Letter Blocks
Falling letters appear on a variety of blocks. Some help you, but some make things more difficult.
Helpful Blocks
If you fail a level while an angel block is on the board, the angel block will activate. It will clear all letters off the board so you can keep playing.
Angel Block
Bonus blocks give you a lot of extra points! You won’t see them often, but make sure you use them whenever they appear.
Bonus Block
Using an electric block in a word will recharge your character’s powerup ability, such as Maple’s sweep.
Electric Block
When you use this block in a word, it will explode and destroy a few surrounding letters. It’s a great way to clear out a crowded board.
Explosive Block
The fire block will light all letters that touch it fire. All the lit letters will provide a few extra points, but only if you use them before they extinguish.
Fire Block
When a linked block appears it will attach itself to another letter on the board. Using one of the attached letters in a word will remove the other letter.
Linked Block
You’ll get a few extra points for using a marked block in a word. Then, the mark will pass to another letter, which will also provide extra points.
Marked Block
When you use a sweep block in a word, it will destroy letters on either side of it in a straight line.
Sweep Block
The chaos block will randomize the letters on blocks next to it when it’s used in a word.
Chaos Block
Hazardous Blocks
Any letter that touches an icy block will freeze. Frozen letters will turn blue and can’t be used until they’re thawed. To thaw a frozen letter, tap it twice.
Icy Block
Iron blocks must be used in two separate words. On it’s second use, an iron block will be destroyed.
Iron Block
Now and then, the nullifier block will remove the properties of both helpful and hazardous blocks. Nullified blocks will turn pink.
Nullifier Block
Rot blocks infect all letters that touch them. A rotted letter will have a black and pink border. Using a rot block or rotted letter in a word causes the whole word to be worth zero points.
Rot Block
When an avalanche falls, it will render some letters useless. Eventually, these letters will disappear from the board, so you’ll just have to wait.
Avalanche Block
Shield blocks link to another letter on the board and shield it. Shielded letters can’t be used until the shield block itself has been used.
Shield Block
Character Abilities
Every character in Word Age has a powerup ability you can activate for a helpful boost! To activate an ability, tap the character when they’re surrounded by sparkles at the corner of the screen.
Maple the Red Panda
When Maple’s ability is activated, she uses a brush to sweep away two rows of letters at the bottom of the screen.
Collectibles and Rewards
You earn points for every word you make!
When you finish a level, those points become coins you can spend on collectibles and rewards.
You can use your coins to unlock blocks that will help you earn more points, clear letters off the board, and keep the game going when you are about to lose.
Visit the shop to see the full selection of unlockable blocks.
Shop for helpful blocks
In the Hall of Explorers, you’ll find large blocks of stone. Use your coins to carve them little by little into statues of all the characters! You’ll find a statue to carve for every costume available in the game.
Once a statue is carved, you can continue using coins to gild it, making it shiny and gold! When you’ve gilded a statue you’ll automatically unlock a golden version of the costume the statue is wearing.
Carve a Statue
With gems, you can purchase pets, costumes, backgrounds, and extra lives. Gems cost money, but you can trade your coins in for a few extra gems in the shop.
Trade Coins for Gems
