Fogbank Words is our word search, written for the cove. There are twelve packs: float homes, rainforest, tide pools, paddling, flight deck, seabirds, out at sea, coast weather, knots and rope, finding north, dock kitchen and camp and trail. Each holds ten real English words, from three letters up to ten, all friendly enough for the youngest player at the table. A few, like bannock and salal, are a small nod to where we live.
Words can run across, down, up, backwards or along any diagonal. Press on the first letter and drag to the last; a found word is wrapped in a rounded coloured capsule and crossed off the list. A timer runs quietly while you search, and a swift finish earns a time bonus and more stars, though nothing stops you lingering over the hunt.
How to play Fogbank Words
- Choose one of the twelve packs on the start screen, or take today’s Morning fog pack.
- Read the ten words beside the grid so you know exactly what you are hunting for.
- Drag from the first letter of a word to the last, in any of the eight directions.
- Each find gets a coloured capsule in the grid and a line through it on the word list.
- Use up to three hints to flash a first letter, then clear the grid for your stars.
Fogbank Words controls
Getting better at Fogbank Words
- Hunt for rare letters such as K, Q or a double O first; they tend to give a word away.
- Read backwards as well as forwards, because reversed words are the easiest to look past.
- Find the longest words early, since short ones are simpler to spot once capsules fill the grid.
- Each hint adds fifteen seconds to your time, so save them for the final stubborn word.
- When stuck, trace each diagonal in turn; diagonals are where words hide most cleverly.
Twelve packs written along the shoreline
We wrote every list ourselves, and each one sticks to a single theme so that finding one word nudges you toward the next. Once you have spotted heron and puffin, your eyes start looking for the shapes of other birds. Tide pools is a favourite with kids who have poked around a rocky beach, and dock kitchen tends to make the studio hungry.
The Morning fog pack is chosen from the date, so everyone who plays on the same day gets the same pack. It works as a small daily ritual with a coffee, before the inbox, and it is a pleasant thing to compare with a friend. Some of us play it on the ferry, timing ourselves against the crossing.
Why the grid gets smaller in your hand
On a laptop or a wide tablet the grid is 11x11 and holds all ten words. On a narrow phone screen it shrinks to 9x9 and drops the longest words so no more than eight remain, keeping the letters large enough to drag across with a thumb.
We would rather you spend your time spotting than squinting. A crisp, smaller grid on a phone feels far better than a crowded one with tiny letters, and the hunt stays just as satisfying. Wrapping a capsule around a word with one thumb while the bus rattles along is exactly the kind of moment we had in mind, and the 9x9 grid makes it comfortable rather than fiddly.
Questions about Fogbank Words
All eight: left to right, right to left, top to bottom, bottom to top, and along all four diagonals. Backwards and diagonal words are usually the last ones standing.
You get three hints per grid. Each briefly flashes the first letter of a word you still need. Using one adds fifteen seconds to your finishing time, which can trim your time bonus.
One of the twelve packs, picked automatically from today’s date. Everyone who plays on the same day sees the same pack, and it changes again tomorrow.
