Codenames and Trapwords creators’ next co-op word game Letter Jam is Scrabble meets Hanabi

Czech Games Edition, the publisher behind brain-bending team word games Codenames and Trapwords, is adding to its collection of tricky tabletop language challenges with this year’s Letter Jam.

Letter Jam is a co-op word game designed by Ondra Skoupý that appears to play a bit like a cross between classic family spellathon Scrabble and Antoine Bauza’s Spiel des Jahres-winning deduction card game Hanabi.

As in Scrabble, each player has an individual collection of letters; rather than diddly plastic tiles, in Letter Jam you’ll be holding a hand of letter cards. 

The goal is to spell out a word using all of your cards by the end of the game. Simple enough – except that, like Hanabi, all of your cards are held facing outwards, so you can’t see what’s on them.

You’ll therefore need to rely on clues from your teammates to work out the letters you’re holding and where they are in your hand, so that you can gradually rearrange your cards and fill in any blanks to complete the word.

The more players that manage to correctly spell out their hidden word by the end of the game, the greater the group success.

Letter Jam is said to take around 45 minutes to play with between two and six people, and will cost €17 (£15) when it’s released this summer.