science

Werewords

Werewords is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Werewords rather than just read about it. In short: Werewords is a board game for 4 to 10 players designed by Ted Alspach and published by Bézier Games in 2017. Players guess a secret word by asking questions.

Key takeaways

Werewords belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Werewords to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Werewords from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Werewords is a board game for 4 to 10 players designed by Ted Alspach and published by Bézier Games in 2017. Players guess a secret word by asking questions. There are different roles randomly assigned at the start of play. Villagers try to find out the magic word before the time is up while the werewolves are trying to mislead them. The Deluxe edition was released via Kickstarter. The German version of the game, Werwörter was nominated for the 2019 Spiel des Jahres.

Gameplay In Werewords, players receive first their secret roles: villagers or werewolves. Then the players ask questions to the mayor in order to guess the secret word before the time is up. The werewolves try to misguide the other players in their quest for the magic word. If the villagers don't guess the word in time, they can still win by identifying the werewolf. To help the villagers out, one player is the Seer, who knows the word but must not be too obvious when helping them figure it out; if the word is guessed, the werewolf can pull out a win by identifying the Seer. The design and the ambiance of Werewords is taken from the original game Werewolf, edited in an upgraded version by Ted Alspach known as Ultimate Werewolf. A smartphone app is available to provide words.

Release and reception Werewords was initially released in 2017. Then a Deluxe version in 2018 was sold via Kickstarter, with about 2,400 backers contributing almost $100,000 during the campaign. Werewords was nominee and won the 2017 Golden Geek Best Party Game Nominee. The German version of Werewords, Werwörter was nominated for the 2019 Spiel des Jahres.

References

External links Werewords at BoardGameGeek

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Werewords

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Werewords claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Werewords before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Werewords ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Werewords

In research: Werewords appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Werewords in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Werewords is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Board games, Board games introduced in 2017, Multiplayer games, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Werewords outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Werewords in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Werewords means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Werewords out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Werewords in simple terms?

Werewords is a board game for 4 to 10 players designed by Ted Alspach and published by Bézier Games in 2017. Players guess a secret word by asking questions.

Why does Werewords matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Werewords?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Werewords.