Each player maintains a hand of seven from a set of sixty letter tiles of a unique color. The gameboard is a 21x21 grid which has been divided into five different playing areas of various shapes and sizes. The smallest playing area is only five squares! Many three-space areas are marked with each player's color. A player's score is based on the length of the word (not on which letters are used) and playing words on one's own color scores double. A player may score for a word by playing a letter on top of another on any of the ten Catchword squares. Catchword is also spelled across the gameboard diagonally. Each letter of this word may not be played until the letter has been covered by one of the players. Words on the gameboard do not have to intersect. Players may play a tile face down to continue playing across a row or down a column.