Donkey Oaty is a word game, for 2-4 players, where each player takes a turn to place a single letter on the board in a crossword grid fashion. Donkey Oaty is a building game where each group of letters must be part of a word – but doesn’t need to complete a valid word.
The phrase “crossword grid fashion” means words running left to right intersecting with words running vertically top to bottom in a defined grid. Blank squares (the equivalent of the black squares in a crossword) separate words in the same row or column. A single letter with blanks either side doesn’t need to be part of a word or a stand-alone word itself.
The key element of the game is that each time a letter is played ,the row and column (but only the row and column not the rest of the board) must work as part of a word grid (i.e. enough space left to complete words and a space between them) regardless of how much of each word has been played.
Decide on who is going first. Each player takes 4 tiles from the red bag. The first player places a single letter on the central square of the board. The first player then takes a replacement letter from the red bag. Letters should be replenished in this manner throughout the game, first from the red bag and then from the white, so that each player has 4 tiles on their rack at all times.
Taking turns, the players place a single letter on the board. Each letter must be placed adjacent to another already-played letter. The column and row that the tile is placed in (but only that column and row) must be able to be completed with valid words, for all runs of two or more letters.
The player needs to tell the other players what the word(s) in the row or column could be if asked.
When placing a letter…
The board is divided into different coloured zones. As the game progresses, the players will have to expand outwards from the safe (green) central region, however when a player plays into a new row or column they take a penalty. The aim of the game is to avoid gaining penalty points, and the player with the fewest points at the end of play wins.
Letters can be placed in the green zone without incurring a penalty. The first player to place a letter in new row or column outside the green zone receives a penalty according to the colour of the square. Placing the letter into the yellow zone will result in the player getting a 1 point penalty, 2 points for playing in the orange zone and a 3 point penalty for the red zone. Once a letter has been placed in a row or column (and the person who played them having got a point or points for doing so), other letters can then be freely placed in that row or column up until the point that playing a letter opens a new (not previously played-in) row or column) without the player gaining points.
A tally of each player’s points should be kept throughout the game.
The grey zone is the completion area, players cannot place letters in this zone but it is available to complete words.
When a player cannot play, they receive a 4 point penalty. If every player cannot play, after they have all taken 4 point penalties, the game is over.
Challenging another player: If a player places a letter which another player thinks is an illegal move (that the words they claim fit in the row or column are not words) then a challenge can be made. If the challenged word does not exist in a dictionary, then the move is taken-back and the player must play a different move.
Play continues until all the letters in the red bag have been used, then the white bag, until all the letters have been played or no player can go.
Children and Beginners: Children as young as 6 have enjoyed playing Donkey Oaty. For beginners we recommend using only the white bag of letters. Each time a letter is placed, the player must say out loud what all the words in the row and column are.
Red bag: a: 4, b: 1, c: 1, d: 2, e: 6, f: 1, g: 1, h: 1, i: 3, j: 1, k: 1, l: 2, m: 1, n: 3, o: 3, p:, 1, q: 1, r: 3, s: 4, t: 3, u: 2, v: 1, w: 1, x: 1, y: 1, z: 1. Total: 50
White bag: a: 5, b: 1, c: 2, d: 2, e: 7, g: 2, h: 1, i: 4, l: 3, m: 2, n: 3, o: 3, p: 2, r: 5, s: 2, t: 4, u: 2, y: 1. Total: 51