Letter Boxing first look

Anne & I did some quick first takes on Letter Boxing this afternoon before I had to take Sammy the Cat to the vet.  It's a game from James Ernest (the classic game creator, mind behind such classics as Kill Doctor Lucky).  I bought the deck from DriveThruCards.com about a month ago.  Here's the creator's video overview.

It really does seem that simple.  I had printed the rules a few weeks back and looked at them a few times, and it sounded like a very ordinary letter game, but I was surprised at how different it actually felt from the many other word games we play.  

It is primarily a bluffing game, where you add a card to the letter sequence on the table, and if the opponent thinks you're bluffing and can't make a real word out of that mess, they can challenge you, then you have to make the word (and get the point score for the entire word) or they get the points on the table.  The other option is to Fold, which means you can't add to the word and don't think you can challenge it, so the opponent gets the points but you get to trade in any number of your cards by doing so.  Your three options for your turn as just those: Play, Fold or Challenge.

It just feels so odd.  You're not adding a letter to make a new word, like in other games.  The sequence on the table doesn't have to be a word, just something that can be turned into a completed word.  You need to have two or more cards in your hand that make an actual word, but only play one of those cards, knowing you can finish the word if challenged, or you're just stuck and have to bluff or fold.  Then the other player is probably going to add a card that ruins what you were planning, but they might also be bluffing.  So then what do you do??

Some fun points: you can add letters to the beginning, middle or end of the current sequence.  And the LAST letter played to complete a word cannot be one of the red cards, like S.  That's a good balancer, because slapping an S onto a word is just too easy.  However, there is a way around this.  If the cards showing are A-T, you COULD stick a red S at the end THEN put a P at the front (P-A-T-S) or an N in the middle (A-N-T-S), as long as you don't play that red S last.

We stumbled on trying to figure this one out, and I was rushed for time.  I wish I had found the video first.  It felt like it would work out if we sorted out our mental blocks.  We will try it again soon.