Coil

Coil is a word-chain game whose rule tightens each round: your first word must share at least one letter with the starting word, the next two, the one after that three, and so on. The keyboard serves as a map, with three key states that constantly show where you are in the chain. Beneath the input boxes, four bonuses wait to be unlocked, shown with their unlocking condition. The help summarizes the aim of the system: how far can you wind the coil.

1. Read the starting word displayed at the top of the screen; its letters are highlighted on the keyboard.
2. Type a word into the boxes, at least three letters, and watch the row: it turns green when the word is playable.
3. Repeat, knowing that each round requires one more shared letter than the previous with the word just played.
4. Use the keyboard as a dashboard: dark keys for letters you still need to place, green for those already placed in the current word, underlined for those never used in the chain.

Coil's idea is disarmingly simple: one more shared letter each round. At first it's trivial, then the count climbs and each word becomes a coverage puzzle, and you find yourself choosing a less pretty word because it leaves a letter available for the next. The three-state keyboard is the real success, because it displays the current debt instead of leaving it in your head. And since Free play counts toward the same series as the daily game, you can practice without feeling like you're cheating.

Feedback is immediate and encoded in color: the row turns green as soon as the word is acceptable, without needing to submit to know. The keyboard keeps the chain's ledger with its three key states, making visible at all times the debt of letters you carry from one round to the next. The help also notes that each round has its own countdown, generous at the start and slightly extended each round.

Daily

Everyone starts their chain from the same word of the day.

Free play

You choose your starting word. Same rules, and both modes feed the same series.

• Keep a spare letter: the help says it plainly, a chain without margin eventually chokes as the number of shared letters required rises.
• Repeats count only once. BANANA counts as B, A and N, that is three letters, not six: counting distinct letters before submitting avoids unpleasant surprises.
• The displayed boxes are a minimum, not a fixed length, and a longer word earns more.
• Hunt the underlined keys, those never used in the chain: the help frames them as the route toward the eleven-letter goal, and what comes after.
• The four bonuses are shown from the start with their unlocking condition, from replay to the joker card, which lets you know what to expect when chaining games.