Crosshatch: The Word Battle

A word game you can finish. Most word games make you pick between two bad options. The big ones run huge boards over a week, one move at a time, buried in ads and upsells. The quick ones are over in three minutes and you play them alone. Crosshatch is the third thing: a real word duel against a real person, on a board small enough to fill up, with a hard limit on how long it can last. Nine squares by nine. Six tiles in your hand. Eight turns each — and then it ends and somebody has won. Play a turn while the kettle boils. Your opponent plays theirs whenever they pick up their phone. Nobody has to be there at the same time, and nobody is stuck in a game that never finishes. HOW IT PLAYS • Build words across and down, crossing them over each other like a crossword • Coloured squares multiply a letter or the whole word — and each one pays only once, to whoever reaches it first • Use all six tiles in one turn for a bonus • The seal below the board shows what your word is worth before you play it, and tells you plainly why it won't go if it won't NEVER PLAYED A WORD GAME BEFORE There is a proper guide built in — four short parts, with real boards, a worked example that adds a score up letter by letter, and an answer to the question everybody actually has, which is why the game won't accept the word they just tried. MORE THAN ONE WAY TO PLAY • Quick Play — we find you an opponent • Invite a friend with a link. They tap it and you are playing. They need no account and need never have opened the app • Practice against four strengths, from Beginner to Expert. Nothing at stake, nobody waiting on you • Today's board — one board a day, the same tiles for every player in the world, one attempt, and a table at the end WORKS WHEN YOUR SIGNAL DOESN'T The dictionary lives on your phone, so checking a word never needs a connection. Today's board runs entirely offline. A turn you take with no signal waits and sends itself when you are back. STUCK? Help will find you a word you can actually play from the tiles in your hand, in exchange for watching an advertisement. It is always your choice and it never blocks a turn. FAIR BY DESIGN • One fixed dictionary, the same for everyone, that never changes mid-game • Nothing to buy that affects play. No wagers, no entry fees, no pay-to-win • No chat and no free text anywhere, which is also why there is nothing to report or moderate • Ads stay off the board. Never beside your rack, never between a move and its result, and never after a loss Play as a guest in one tap, or sign in with Google to keep your rating and your best words across devices. You can link a Google account later without losing anything, and you can delete your account from inside the app.