Anagrams Rules

Milton Bradley

I am indebted to Marty Schuster for the loan of this item.

Milton Bradley published a game whose box reads

ANAGRAMS
AND LETTERS
ON WOOD

THE
ORIGINAL GAME
OF WORDS AND
SENTENCES

MADE IN USA
NO. 4719

COPYRIGHT BY
MILTON BRADLEY CO.
SPRINGFIELD MASS.

Here are its rules:

4719
* ANAGRAMS *
GAME OF ANAGRAMS

This Game, which can be played by any number of persons, from two to six, consists in the formation of words by the use of small cardboard tablets, each having on one side a single letter. These tablets are drawn from a box at random by the players in turn, one at a time, and combined into words on the table in front of each player. The words when formed may be caputred by other players, according to the following rules, and the player who first succeeds in securing a given number of words wins the game.

Rules of the Game

  1. The tablets must be so placed in the box that the letters cannot be seen until drawn out.

  2. To commence the game each player draws a letter from the box. The player having the letter nearest the beginning of the alphabet plays first by placing his letter in the center of the table to form a pool, and immediately draws another letter from the box.

  3. The next player to the left now follows suit by placing his letter in the pool and drawing again.

  4. The next or third player now takes his turn, and if the letter which he holds will form a word in combination with the two letters in the pool, he may take them from the pool and combining the three form the word upon the table immediately in front of him. But words of less than three letters are not allowed in the game.

  5. In like manner each one plays in turn, and if the letter to be played will unite with the letters of a word before another player to make a new words, such word may be captured and the player capturing it may place the newly-formed word on the table before him. For example, suppose that a player has the word "cut" before him. An opponent holding "E" may capture it in his turn and form "cute." Again it may be captured with "R", the player forming "cruet" for himself. Again, suppose "N" is in the pool, a player holding "O" may capture "cruet" and combining the letters, with "N" and "O", make "trounce."

  6. Each player must draw a letter immediately after making his play, and retain it in his hand until his next turn.

  7. All the letters in the pool may be used by any player in turn to combine with his own words or with the words of any other player, and he may combine two or more words of other players, or he may combine one of his own words with one or more belonging to the others, or may combine two of his own, if he so desires for greater security. But no word can be captured unless some letter is added, even though the letters are transposed to form a new word.