{
  "id": "word-hoard",
  "title": "The Word-Hoard",
  "catalogNo": "AGC · 016",
  "genre": "Word game",
  "shelf": "word",
  "summary": "A sealed word-deduction game where an AI reveals a fixed ladder of clues to a hidden word and checks your guesses, never inventing the answer.",
  "tagline": "A dead lexicographer sealed five words in a slip-drawer, each behind a fixed ladder of six clues; the Reader turns them up one at a time and you name the word on as few as you can.",
  "players": "1",
  "sessionMinutes": [
    10,
    20
  ],
  "rating": "All ages",
  "isFree": true,
  "playedIn": [
    "ChatGPT",
    "Claude",
    "Gemini"
  ],
  "status": "playable",
  "url": "https://aigamecards.com/games/word-hoard/",
  "loadUrl": "https://aigamecards.com/g/word-hoard/SYSTEM.md",
  "loadPrompt": "Let's play a game. Fetch https://aigamecards.com/g/word-hoard/SYSTEM.md and run it as the game — it's a complete, self-contained prompt. Be the game master and begin.",
  "faq": [
    {
      "q": "Won't the AI just make up clues or move the word when I get close?",
      "a": "No. All five words and every clue are written on the card and sealed with a SHA-256 hash before you start. The AI turns up the clues in a fixed order and checks your guess against the locked word. It cannot add a clue, change a word, or hand you the answer, and you rebuild the hash from the reveal afterward to prove nothing moved."
    },
    {
      "q": "Is the AI actually good at running a word game?",
      "a": "Yes, because it is not being creative. Each word already has its clue ladder — an oblique hint, definition, etymology, wordplay, letter count, and example sentence — printed on the card. The AI only turns up the next clue and compares your guess to the fixed answer, so there is nothing to improvise and nothing for it to get wrong."
    },
    {
      "q": "How does scoring work, and how long is a game?",
      "a": "About ten to twenty minutes for five words. You may guess after any clue; the fewer clues showing when you get it, the more the round is worth, up to twenty points each and a hundred in all. Guessing on the third clue every time is par, sixty."
    },
    {
      "q": "What kind of words are they, and can I get stuck?",
      "a": "Real English nouns and adjectives, no proper names or phrases. Every word has a six-clue ladder that runs from an oblique hint down to a sentence with the word blanked out, so a later clue almost always gets you there; a missed word simply scores zero and the game names it before moving on."
    },
    {
      "q": "Do I need an account, an app, or a paid plan?",
      "a": "No. Paste the card into a chat with ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini and play there. Verifying the seal afterward uses any SHA-256 tool, including ones built into your operating system."
    }
  ]
}