Two contestants played a crossword game on a computer-generated Scrabble board. They were given a letter to build on, the number of letters in that word, and a clue to help them figure out the word. After the clue was given, the contestant selected two tiles from a rack that was placed between the two contestants. Each tile contained a letter of the alphabet that may or may not be part of the word; the three tiles that contained letters that were not part of the word were known as "stoppers." The contestant then chose a letter that he or she had picked. If that letter was in the word, it was placed in its appropriate position; if it was a stopper, the opponent gained control of the board. The contestant continued to pick tiles, two at a time, until he/she guessed the word correctly or revealed a stopper. After the word was revealed, the contestants played another word that built on one of the letters of the previous word.
If all three stoppers in a word were revealed, a "speed word" round was played. The remaining letters of the word (except for the last letter) were randomly revealed one at a time, and the first player to buzz in with the correct answer won. Speed word rounds were also played if time was running out.
If a letter was on a light blue square on the board and the contestant correctly guessed the word immediately after that letter was placed, he or she won a $500 bonus. If that letter was on a pink square, he/she won $1,000. (There were no dark blue or red squares in the TV version.)
The first player to guess three words correctly won $500 and a chance to play the Scrabble Sprint round.
