# Prompts

_The letters you have to fit into your word._

Source: https://about.wordbomb.io/prompts

- **Length**: 2 to 4 letters
- **Built from**: The language's own word list
- **Counted by**: How many words contain it
- **Default target**: 500 words or more
- **Case**: Uppercase only
- **Match rules**: Contains or starts with
- **Turn timer**: Starts at 11 seconds

A prompt is a short run of letters cut out of the language. The more words contain it, the easier it is.

## Where prompts come from

Every prompt is a run of letters that real words in the language contain. Category rooms pull from just foods, birds or plants instead.

Japanese is cut along mora and Hindi along aksharas.

## Match rules

| Rule | What your word has to do | Where it is used |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Contains | The prompt sits somewhere inside the word. | Original, Chain Word and nearly every room. |
| Starts with | The word begins with the prompt. | Chain Word on Shiritori, and some custom rooms. |

## Prompt kinds

| Kind | What the box shows |
| --- | --- |
| Syllable | Two to four letters. The usual one. |
| Prefix | The start of a word, so plenty of words begin with it. |
| Picture | A picture instead of letters. Plate and flag rooms use their own art. |
| Sound | A sound. The box shows a music note, and sending nothing replays it. |
| Question | A whole sentence, shrunk to fit over up to three lines. |
| Typing line | Type racer. Green for the letters you have right, red from the first you do not. |
| Masked | Hidden behind a challenge or an unreadable font. |

## Difficulty

Prompts get harder as the game runs.

| Setting | Default | What it does |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Words that must solve it | 500 or more | Fewer as the game runs on. |
| Prompt lengths | Two and three letters | Four letter prompts start off and come in later. |

Prompts you just had, and prompts whose words are already used up, get skipped. Room settings can override every row of this.

## The turn timer

| Stage | Length |
| --- | --- |
| Start of the game | 11 seconds |
| Speeds up | Every few turns. The fewer players left, the sooner |
| Floor before turn 100 | 6 seconds |
| Floor after turn 100 | 5 seconds |
| Floor after turn 300 | 4 seconds |
| Rooms with a custom timer | 8 seconds |

## Letter box skins

A skin repaints the prompt box and the tiles.

You see the skin of the player taking the turn, not your own.

Sizes, positions and the prompt text never change.