Hacking Boggle: Extending Our Collection of Boggle Solvers

We added two new solvers for boggle-style word games this weekend in response to some user feedback. Our original boggle solver was intended to find words in a 4 x 4 letter grid. The two new solvers extend our offerings to include a 5 x 5 boggle solver and a 6 x 6 boggle solver.

The technical side of this project turned out to be fairly straightforward. As discussed in the article we wrote about building a fast boggle solver, we approached the problem as a twist on our existing scrabble solver. We took key elements of the logic behind our scrabble solver (which checks the possible permutations of a rack of letters) and adapted it to check the possible paths through a 4 x 4 matrix. To create the new solvers, we simple expanded the scope of this search to support a larger matrix.

The past several years has seen the launch of a number of new boggle-style games. We’re aware of a 5 x 5 version (Big Boggle) which until recently has been primarily marketed in Europe. In 2012, a 6 x 6 version (Super Big Boggle) was launched. The mobile space has seen Zynga’s launch Scramble with Friends (our original boggle solver was tweaked to serve as a scramble with friends cheat). And there is a new mobile game, Ruzzle, which has been growing rapidly this past year (our current 4×4 solver serves as a ruzzle cheat).

If you are currently using the solvers for other games, please drop us a line and we can look into tweaking them to serve you better!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *