How to play Phrase Lines

Find every phrase hidden in the board. A phrase is written on the board as a path: start at its first letter, step to a touching letter, and keep going until the last letter. Steps go up, down, left or right, never diagonally, and the paths of different phrases never cross.

The spaces are left out. GOOD LUCK is the eight letters G-O-O-D-L-U-C-K in a row of connected cells, bending wherever the board needs it to.

When you have found every phrase, every letter on the board is coloured and the board is solved.

Bold letters on a pale blue tile are the first and last letters of the phrases: two bold letters for every phrase. A board with eight bold letters hides four phrases; ten bold letters, five. The FOUND row above the board shows one dot per phrase and fills in as you find them.

A bold letter is an end, but it does not tell you which phrase it belongs to or which end it is. A phrase reads either way: from its first bold letter to its last, or backwards from the last to the first.

Put your finger (or the mouse) on a letter and drag through its neighbours. The line follows you, cell by cell. Drag back onto your own line to cut it back to that cell and go another way.

The moment the letters under your line spell a phrase and the line runs from one of that phrase's bold letters to the other, the phrase lights up in its own colour, its name appears above the board, and a dot in the FOUND row takes that colour. Nothing is given away while you draw: the line stays black until a phrase is complete.

Spelling a phrase is not enough on its own. If the same letters could be read onto a different matching letter, only the path between the two bold ends counts.

Lift your finger before a phrase is complete and the line stays on the board as a black line for about three seconds, then fades away. In that time you can touch it to pick it up again (it cuts back to the cell you touch and carries on from there), or draw a second line and let go on the black line to join the two.

Draw a new line somewhere else and let go, or tap any other letter, and the old black line is dropped. Completing any phrase drops it too. There is never more than one black line.

Once a phrase lights up it is locked: you cannot draw through its letters or pick it up again. Found phrases are walls, and that is useful: the letters that are left can only belong to the phrases that are left. Restart clears the board and starts the same puzzle over.

A small board, 5×5, with four phrases hidden in it. Bold letters sit on the pale blue tiles.

• GOOD LUCK starts at the bold G in the top-left corner, runs along the top row to the L, then turns down through U and C to the bold K.
• BE KIND starts at the bold B, runs right along the second row (B, E, K, I), then down through N to the bold D.
• OH NO is the little hook in the middle: from the bold O on the fourth row, left to H, up to N, right to the other bold O. Two bold letters that are both O: the path tells them apart.
• HAVE FUN reads from the bold H in the bottom-right corner leftwards along the bottom row to F, then up through U to the bold N. Read it from the N instead and you get the same path backwards: both directions count.

Notice the corners. A corner letter has only two neighbours, so a phrase that starts there has nowhere to go but along the edges. That is the first tip below.

Start in a corner

A corner cell has two neighbours and an edge cell has three, so a path through them is nearly forced. A bold letter in a corner is the easiest phrase on the board.

Read the bold letters as pairs

Every phrase begins and ends on a bold letter. Look at the eight or ten bold letters and ask which pairs could be the first and last letter of a common phrase. A bold T and a bold E could be TIME WILL TELL... or TAKE CARE. A phrase can be read in either direction, so try each pair both ways.

Say the letters out loud

The spaces are gone, so a phrase looks like one long word. Reading a run of letters aloud, G-O-O-D-L, often makes the phrase pop out before your eyes do.

Count what is left

Every letter belongs to a phrase and the paths never cross. Once a phrase locks, the board splits into regions, and the letters in a cut-off region must spell a whole phrase on their own. The last phrase is free: whatever letters remain, that is it.

Watch for dead ends

If your line leaves a single letter boxed in with no way to reach it later, the line is wrong, even if it is spelling something. Back up and route the path so no letter gets stranded.

Use the black line

Not sure about the next step? Let go. The line waits three seconds, and you can pick it up where you touch it. Drawing is cheap; there is no move counter and no penalty for a wrong line.

Think common

The phrases are everyday sayings, not quotations or trivia: things people actually say. If a path spells something nobody says, it is probably two phrases crossing in your head rather than one on the board.

The home page is today's board, one new puzzle every day at local midnight, numbered from Daily #1. Solve it and the win card shows your streak (consecutive days solved), your best streak and how many dailies you have solved; the Stats button in the header opens the same numbers any time, with your last seven days. Miss a day and the streak starts over; the best streak is kept.

Play again clears the board so you can solve it a second time. Stats and streaks live in your browser only: no account, no sign-up, nothing to sync.

Not a once-a-day person? Free play has 50 more boards, the easiest first. Step through them with the arrows, pick a random unsolved one with Shuffle, or let Next game carry you on. The win card shows how many of the 50 you have solved.

Share copies a short, spoiler-free result: the daily's number, one coloured circle per phrase in the order you found them, and your streak. Nothing in it gives away a phrase, so it is safe to send to someone who has not played yet.

Is Phrase Lines free?

Yes, completely free in the browser. No account, no install, no ads, no tracking.

What do the bold letters mean?

Each phrase's first and last letter are bold, on a pale blue tile. Two bold letters per phrase; a phrase only completes between its own two bold ends.

Can a path go diagonally or cross another?

No. Steps are up, down, left or right, and the paths of different phrases never cross. Every letter belongs to exactly one phrase.

Why can't I draw through a phrase I already found?

Found phrases are locked until Restart. Use them as walls: the remaining letters can only belong to the remaining phrases.

What kind of phrases are they?

Everyday sayings: things people actually say, from GOOD LUCK to a stitch in time. Never obscure quotations. The challenge is the board, not the vocabulary.

Can I replay a daily?

Yes. Play again clears the board and you can solve it once more. Your streak counts the day either way.

Where are my stats kept?

In your browser's local storage on this device. Nothing leaves your device except two anonymous counters, visits and games finished, that the About card shows.

Phone or desktop?

Both, in any modern browser. On a phone you drag with a finger; on a desktop you drag with the mouse. You can add it to your home screen and it opens like an app.

Who makes Phrase Lines?

SociallyCS (Socially Conscious Software), the indie studio behind Word Turf, Word Ridge and Letter Flick. Crafted by Jeff Bridgham.