Word Game Club
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Credits and licences

The puzzles, themes, notes, artwork and code are original work by Idistic. The word lists and fonts are other people's work, used under their licences, which are reproduced here.

Our own work

The 60 search themes and their introductions, the 60 editorial notes, the edition selections, the illustrations and the site were written and drawn for Word Game Club by Idistic, the studio of TWINDLE NEDERLAND B.V. The three games run on the same engines as our sister site Puzzle Desk. A machine-readable record of every source and its checksum is at /provenance.json.

Word lists

SCOWL

Answers and most accepted words come from SCOWL (Spell Checker Oriented Word Lists) by Kevin Atkinson and contributors, sizes 10 to 70, American and British English. SCOWL's licence asks that its copyright and permission notices are kept; the complete notice, including the notices of the lists it is built from, follows. Plain text.

The SCOWL copyright and permission notice
The collective work is Copyright 2000-2016 by Kevin Atkinson as well
as any of the copyrights mentioned below:

  Copyright 2000-2016 by Kevin Atkinson

  Permission to use, copy, modify, distribute and sell these word
  lists, the associated scripts, the output created from the scripts,
  and its documentation for any purpose is hereby granted without fee,
  provided that the above copyright notice appears in all copies and
  that both that copyright notice and this permission notice appear in
  supporting documentation. Kevin Atkinson makes no representations
  about the suitability of this array for any purpose. It is provided
  "as is" without express or implied warranty.

Alan Beale <biljir@pobox.com> also deserves special credit as he has,
in addition to providing the 12Dicts package and being a major
contributor to the ENABLE word list, given me an incredible amount of
feedback and created a number of special lists (those found in the
Supplement) in order to help improve the overall quality of SCOWL.

The 10 level includes the 1000 most common English words (according to
the Moby (TM) Words II [MWords] package), a subset of the 1000 most
common words on the Internet (again, according to Moby Words II), and
frequently class 16 from Brian Kelk's "UK English Wordlist
with Frequency Classification".

The MWords package was explicitly placed in the public domain:

    The Moby lexicon project is complete and has
    been place into the public domain. Use, sell,
    rework, excerpt and use in any way on any platform.

    Placing this material on internal or public servers is
    also encouraged. The compiler is not aware of any
    export restrictions so freely distribute world-wide.

    You can verify the public domain status by contacting

    Grady Ward
    3449 Martha Ct.
    Arcata, CA  95521-4884

    grady@netcom.com
    grady@northcoast.com

The "UK English Wordlist With Frequency Classification" is also in the
Public Domain:

  Date: Sat, 08 Jul 2000 20:27:21 +0100
  From: Brian Kelk <Brian.Kelk@cl.cam.ac.uk>

  > I was wondering what the copyright status of your "UK English
  > Wordlist With Frequency Classification" word list as it seems to
  > be lacking any copyright notice.

  There were many many sources in total, but any text marked
  "copyright" was avoided. Locally-written documentation was one
  source. An earlier version of the list resided in a filespace called
  PUBLIC on the University mainframe, because it was considered public
  domain.

  Date: Tue, 11 Jul 2000 19:31:34 +0100

  > So are you saying your word list is also in the public domain?

  That is the intention.

The 20 level includes frequency classes 7-15 from Brian's word list.

The 35 level includes frequency classes 2-6 and words appearing in at
least 11 of 12 dictionaries as indicated in the 12Dicts package.  All
words from the 12Dicts package have had likely inflections added via
my inflection database.

The 12Dicts package and Supplement is in the Public Domain.

The WordNet database, which was used in the creation of the
Inflections database, is under the following copyright:

  This software and database is being provided to you, the LICENSEE,
  by Princeton University under the following license.  By obtaining,
  using and/or copying this software and database, you agree that you
  have read, understood, and will comply with these terms and
  conditions.:

  Permission to use, copy, modify and distribute this software and
  database and its documentation for any purpose and without fee or
  royalty is hereby granted, provided that you agree to comply with
  the following copyright notice and statements, including the
  disclaimer, and that the same appear on ALL copies of the software,
  database and documentation, including modifications that you make
  for internal use or for distribution.

  WordNet 1.6 Copyright 1997 by Princeton University.  All rights
  reserved.

  THIS SOFTWARE AND DATABASE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND PRINCETON
  UNIVERSITY MAKES NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR
  IMPLIED.  BY WAY OF EXAMPLE, BUT NOT LIMITATION, PRINCETON
  UNIVERSITY MAKES NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES OF MERCHANT-
  ABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR THAT THE USE OF THE
  LICENSED SOFTWARE, DATABASE OR DOCUMENTATION WILL NOT INFRINGE ANY
  THIRD PARTY PATENTS, COPYRIGHTS, TRADEMARKS OR OTHER RIGHTS.

  The name of Princeton University or Princeton may not be used in
  advertising or publicity pertaining to distribution of the software
  and/or database.  Title to copyright in this software, database and
  any associated documentation shall at all times remain with
  Princeton University and LICENSEE agrees to preserve same.

The 40 level includes words from Alan's 3esl list found in version 4.0
of his 12dicts package.  Like his other stuff the 3esl list is also in the
public domain.

The 50 level includes Brian's frequency class 1, words appearing
in at least 5 of 12 of the dictionaries as indicated in the 12Dicts
package, and uppercase words in at least 4 of the previous 12
dictionaries.  A decent number of proper names is also included: The
top 1000 male, female, and Last names from the 1990 Census report; a
list of names sent to me by Alan Beale; and a few names that I added
myself.  Finally a small list of abbreviations not commonly found in
other word lists is included.

The name files form the Census report is a government document which I
don't think can be copyrighted.

The file special-jargon.50 uses common.lst and word.lst from the
"Unofficial Jargon File Word Lists" which is derived from "The Jargon
File".  All of which is in the Public Domain.  This file also contain
a few extra UNIX terms which are found in the file "unix-terms" in the
special/ directory.

The 55 level includes words from Alan's 2of4brif list found in version
4.0 of his 12dicts package.  Like his other stuff the 2of4brif is also
in the public domain.

The 60 level includes all words appearing in at least 2 of the 12
dictionaries as indicated by the 12Dicts package.

The 70 level includes Brian's frequency class 0 and the 74,550 common
dictionary words from the MWords package.  The common dictionary words,
like those from the 12Dicts package, have had all likely inflections
added.  The 70 level also included the 5desk list from version 4.0 of
the 12Dics package which is in the public domain.

The 80 level includes the ENABLE word list, all the lists in the
ENABLE supplement package (except for ABLE), the "UK Advanced Cryptics
Dictionary" (UKACD), the list of signature words from the YAWL package,
and the 10,196 places list from the MWords package.

The ENABLE package, mainted by M\Cooper <thegrendel@theriver.com>,
is in the Public Domain:

  The ENABLE master word list, WORD.LST, is herewith formally released
  into the Public Domain. Anyone is free to use it or distribute it in
  any manner they see fit. No fee or registration is required for its
  use nor are "contributions" solicited (if you feel you absolutely
  must contribute something for your own peace of mind, the authors of
  the ENABLE list ask that you make a donation on their behalf to your
  favorite charity). This word list is our gift to the Scrabble
  community, as an alternate to "official" word lists. Game designers
  may feel free to incorporate the WORD.LST into their games. Please
  mention the source and credit us as originators of the list. Note
  that if you, as a game designer, use the WORD.LST in your product,
  you may still copyright and protect your product, but you may *not*
  legally copyright or in any way restrict redistribution of the
  WORD.LST portion of your product. This *may* under law restrict your
  rights to restrict your users' rights, but that is only fair.

UKACD, by J Ross Beresford <ross@bryson.demon.co.uk>, is under the
following copyright:

  Copyright (c) J Ross Beresford 1993-1999. All Rights Reserved.

  The following restriction is placed on the use of this publication:
  if The UK Advanced Cryptics Dictionary is used in a software package
  or redistributed in any form, the copyright notice must be
  prominently displayed and the text of this document must be included
  verbatim.

  There are no other restrictions: I would like to see the list
  distributed as widely as possible.

The 95 level includes the 354,984 single words, 256,772 compound
words, 4,946 female names and the 3,897 male names, and 21,986 names
from the MWords package, ABLE.LST from the ENABLE Supplement, and some
additional words found in my part-of-speech database that were not
found anywhere else.

Accent information was taken from UKACD.

The VarCon package was used to create the American, British, Canadian,
and Australian word list.  It is under the following copyright:

  Copyright 2000-2016 by Kevin Atkinson

  Permission to use, copy, modify, distribute and sell this array, the
  associated software, and its documentation for any purpose is hereby
  granted without fee, provided that the above copyright notice appears
  in all copies and that both that copyright notice and this permission
  notice appear in supporting documentation. Kevin Atkinson makes no
  representations about the suitability of this array for any
  purpose. It is provided "as is" without express or implied warranty.

  Copyright 2016 by Benjamin Titze

  Permission to use, copy, modify, distribute and sell this array, the
  associated software, and its documentation for any purpose is hereby
  granted without fee, provided that the above copyright notice appears
  in all copies and that both that copyright notice and this permission
  notice appear in supporting documentation. Benjamin Titze makes no
  representations about the suitability of this array for any
  purpose. It is provided "as is" without express or implied warranty.

  Since the original words lists come from the Ispell distribution:

  Copyright 1993, Geoff Kuenning, Granada Hills, CA
  All rights reserved.

  Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
  modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
  are met:

  1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
     notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
  2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
     notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
     documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
  3. All modifications to the source code must be clearly marked as
     such.  Binary redistributions based on modified source code
     must be clearly marked as modified versions in the documentation
     and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
  (clause 4 removed with permission from Geoff Kuenning)
  5. The name of Geoff Kuenning may not be used to endorse or promote
     products derived from this software without specific prior
     written permission.

  THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY GEOFF KUENNING AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND
  ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
  IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
  ARE DISCLAIMED.  IN NO EVENT SHALL GEOFF KUENNING OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE
  FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
  DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS
  OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION)
  HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT
  LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY
  OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
  SUCH DAMAGE.

ENABLE

The accepted-guess list also includes ENABLE, the Enhanced North American Benchmark LExicon. ENABLE was placed in the public domain by its authors, who ask that the list be credited as its source and that nobody restricts its redistribution. We credit it here, and our use places no restriction on the list itself.

Offensive-word filter

Words are removed using the English "List of Dirty, Naughty, Obscene, and Otherwise Bad Words" by Shutterstock and contributors, licensed under CC BY 4.0. Changes: we use only the English list, as a filter; a subset (words of three to six letters, plus a few we added) is shipped ROT13-encoded inside the Word Search game so the random filler letters never spell one. Licence text.

Word frequencies

Which anagram answers count as familiar was decided offline with a snapshot of word frequencies from wordfreq by Robyn Speer (code Apache 2.0; data CC BY-SA 4.0, built from sources credited in its documentation). Only the resulting choice of words is used here; no frequency values are published.

The lists themselves are not ours. The selections, exclusions and editorial content built on them are, and they are not offered under the lists' licences.

Fonts

Zilla Slab by The Mozilla Foundation (designed with Typotheque) and Bricolage Grotesque by The Bricolage Grotesque Project Authors, both under the SIL Open Font License 1.1: Zilla Slab licence, Bricolage Grotesque licence.

Edition records

No.DateThemeContent versionEngines (Search, Anagrams, Ladder)
12026-10-19The orchard9101ffea4531300afd803758, 1ae4e0f2142e, efb016f59374
22026-10-20Rock pools at low tide70ecdcb15980300afd803758, 1ae4e0f2142e, efb016f59374
32026-10-21Before the bakery opens2994c2753185300afd803758, 1ae4e0f2142e, efb016f59374
42026-10-22A rainy afternoon6f80f618f23d300afd803758, 1ae4e0f2142e, efb016f59374
52026-10-23At the railway station2ae7816a8680300afd803758, 1ae4e0f2142e, efb016f59374
62026-10-24The allotment58b2b61fbe3a300afd803758, 1ae4e0f2142e, efb016f59374
72026-10-25Picnic on the grass279d46f1bf70300afd803758, 1ae4e0f2142e, efb016f59374
82026-10-26A walk in the wood3db20cb6c952300afd803758, 1ae4e0f2142e, efb016f59374
92026-10-27Time for teacc26186b34c9300afd803758, 1ae4e0f2142e, efb016f59374
102026-10-28Down by the boatsaa479a5b9b93300afd803758, 1ae4e0f2142e, efb016f59374
112026-10-29The pantry shelfe5e2e5d0e20f300afd803758, 1ae4e0f2142e, efb016f59374
122026-10-30After the snowfallc458a5b53301300afd803758, 1ae4e0f2142e, efb016f59374
132026-10-31The kitchen drawerad993b104c96300afd803758, 1ae4e0f2142e, efb016f59374
142026-11-01Pond life405208a575ad300afd803758, 1ae4e0f2142e, efb016f59374
152026-11-02Packing the suitcase47f7e37b26fb300afd803758, 1ae4e0f2142e, efb016f59374
162026-11-03A pot of soup4971111e28dd300afd803758, 1ae4e0f2142e, efb016f59374
172026-11-04Summer meadow7d9d5f7804f0300afd803758, 1ae4e0f2142e, efb016f59374
182026-11-05The bicycle8e8bab06f856300afd803758, 1ae4e0f2142e, efb016f59374
192026-11-06Birds at the feeder0836c9598ca8300afd803758, 1ae4e0f2142e, efb016f59374
202026-11-07Round the campfiree90f9fbc786b300afd803758, 1ae4e0f2142e, efb016f59374
212026-11-08The reading roomb2cd8d0fbebe300afd803758, 1ae4e0f2142e, efb016f59374
222026-11-09The herb potd2d75cd75d68300afd803758, 1ae4e0f2142e, efb016f59374
232026-11-10Up the mountain path217d76999189300afd803758, 1ae4e0f2142e, efb016f59374
242026-11-11Slow Sunday breakfastd1c2a3f423eb300afd803758, 1ae4e0f2142e, efb016f59374
252026-11-12The seaside town3afef38799ad300afd803758, 1ae4e0f2142e, efb016f59374
262026-11-13Autumn leaves981643ddaed2300afd803758, 1ae4e0f2142e, efb016f59374
272026-11-14The sewing box287bb7174943300afd803758, 1ae4e0f2142e, efb016f59374
282026-11-15At the airport668e89ffc479300afd803758, 1ae4e0f2142e, efb016f59374
292026-11-16The hedgerowc79753098397300afd803758, 1ae4e0f2142e, efb016f59374
302026-11-17Laundry day737883aa3c01300afd803758, 1ae4e0f2142e, efb016f59374
312026-11-18Knitting by the fire5c821e1c26c6300afd803758, 1ae4e0f2142e, efb016f59374
322026-11-19A game of chess95ce785691f1300afd803758, 1ae4e0f2142e, efb016f59374
332026-11-20The lighthouse keeperb2b1383a4667300afd803758, 1ae4e0f2142e, efb016f59374
342026-11-21The stationery cupboard9104347ca1cf300afd803758, 1ae4e0f2142e, efb016f59374
352026-11-22By the firebcb8b8360545300afd803758, 1ae4e0f2142e, efb016f59374
362026-11-23The fish counter05fb46b8570b300afd803758, 1ae4e0f2142e, efb016f59374
372026-11-24The weather forecaste98ef4015785300afd803758, 1ae4e0f2142e, efb016f59374
382026-11-25The toy box16ff4137d160300afd803758, 1ae4e0f2142e, efb016f59374
392026-11-26The cake stall2778ab2b19e0300afd803758, 1ae4e0f2142e, efb016f59374
402026-11-27A clear night8604094e2005300afd803758, 1ae4e0f2142e, efb016f59374
412026-11-28The farmyard4ced89b69fcf300afd803758, 1ae4e0f2142e, efb016f59374
422026-11-29The brass band5b31828a8ef9300afd803758, 1ae4e0f2142e, efb016f59374
432026-11-30The workshop benchb4eccea30708300afd803758, 1ae4e0f2142e, efb016f59374
442026-12-01Up go the decorations9280c5bffd4e300afd803758, 1ae4e0f2142e, efb016f59374
452026-12-02The classroomcc95c791a16d300afd803758, 1ae4e0f2142e, efb016f59374
462026-12-03Gone fishinga28ab2c60779300afd803758, 1ae4e0f2142e, efb016f59374
472026-12-04The café counterc0adc7ca872d300afd803758, 1ae4e0f2142e, efb016f59374
482026-12-05The winter fair4299ab10fdb5300afd803758, 1ae4e0f2142e, efb016f59374
492026-12-06Pudding timeaacd9a50891e300afd803758, 1ae4e0f2142e, efb016f59374
502026-12-07The old castle8e44c47ce9eb300afd803758, 1ae4e0f2142e, efb016f59374
512026-12-08The spice rack030d021cf6e4300afd803758, 1ae4e0f2142e, efb016f59374
522026-12-09On the ice43b9854c6abc300afd803758, 1ae4e0f2142e, efb016f59374
532026-12-10Tuning up64e9f55f1a8a300afd803758, 1ae4e0f2142e, efb016f59374
542026-12-11Games nightec63d2d21eb8300afd803758, 1ae4e0f2142e, efb016f59374
552026-12-12A frosty morningddf052ed4cf4300afd803758, 1ae4e0f2142e, efb016f59374
562026-12-13The windowsill gardena2b17aed3972300afd803758, 1ae4e0f2142e, efb016f59374
572026-12-14Bath time12b5c6c65105300afd803758, 1ae4e0f2142e, efb016f59374
582026-12-15The post office05cafdf7c07e300afd803758, 1ae4e0f2142e, efb016f59374
592026-12-16At the panto94a9e397c2b8300afd803758, 1ae4e0f2142e, efb016f59374
602026-12-17The big dinnere86f830eec99300afd803758, 1ae4e0f2142e, efb016f59374