Lock Letters

What is Lock Letters?

Lock Letters is a word puzzle built like a combination lock. Each vault has a row of spinning wheels, and each wheel carries a few letters around its drum. Reading across the wheels gives you a row of letters. Your job is to spin each wheel to the right spot so the rows turn into words.

The early vaults ask for one word in a gold frame. Later vaults ask for three or four words stacked on top of each other, all at once, which is where it turns into a proper puzzle. Any real word counts, so if you find a combination we didn't plan, the vault still opens.

It's free and plays in your browser on phone, tablet or computer, with no download. Your stars, gems and hints are saved on your device.

How to play

1. Look at the window. The rows with a glass band across them are the ones that must spell words.
2. Spin a wheel by dragging it up or down. Each letter it moves counts as one spin.
3. When a row becomes a word, its lamp on the right turns green.
4. Light up every lamp and the vault cracks open, showing the gem inside.

Reset puts every wheel back where it started and sets your spin count back to zero, which is handy when you've wandered off and want another shot at 3 stars.

Vault sizes

The vaults change shape as you go. Here's what to expect:

From vault 61 the word list gets a little harder, with some less everyday words mixed in. The Levels screen lets you replay any vault you've opened.

Spins, par and stars

Every vault has a par, the fewest spins it takes to reach our solution from the starting position. Your stars depend on how close you get.

So on a vault with a par of 6, you need 6 spins for 3 stars and 11 or fewer for 2. The wheels wrap around, so going down 1 is the same as going up 3 on a 4 letter wheel. Always take the short way.

Controls on phone and computer

On a phone or tablet, drag a wheel up or down to spin it, or tap above or below the middle of a wheel to click it along one letter at a time. Tapping is great for small, careful moves.

Listen hints

Stuck? The Listen button puts a stethoscope to the lock. It finds the wheel that's furthest from the solution and turns it into place for you. That turn doesn't count toward your spins, so a hint won't cost you stars on a level.

You start with 3 hints and earn another every 4 vaults you crack, holding up to 9. In the Daily Vault each hint costs 80 points, and Vault Run has no hints at all.

Daily Vault and Vault Run

Daily Vault

One vault a day, the same for everyone: 5 wheels, 3 words, 4 letters on each wheel. It's timed and scored.

The lowest score is 100. Crack it on consecutive days to grow your streak, and sign in to put your score on the daily leaderboard.

Vault Run

Two minutes on the clock and an endless line of vaults. Each one you crack adds 15 seconds and scores 100 points, plus 10 more for every spin you come in under par plus 4. The first couple of vaults are small 3 letter wheels, then they grow. Your best run is saved and goes on the run leaderboard when you're signed in.

The Gem Case

Stars fill your Gem Case. There are 20 gems and a new one unlocks every 7 stars, from the Brass Button you start with to the Ruby Drop at 7, Sea Glass at 14 and all the way up to the Crown Jewel at 133 stars. A few in between: Violet Prism, Ocean Eye, Frost Shard, Night Opal and Pearl Moon.

Tips and strategy

• Start with the fussy wheel. Look for a wheel with an awkward letter like Q, X, J or a lone vowel. It often has only one position that can work, and fixing it first tells you a lot about the others.
• Read columns as well as rows. In the 3 and 4 row vaults, each wheel's letters stay in the same order as they turn. The whole puzzle is lining those columns up at the right height against each other.
• When every letter shows, height doesn't matter. In vaults 13 to 40 and 61 to 80, each wheel has as many letters as there are rows, so the window shows every letter at once. The answer works at any height as long as the wheels line up with each other, so pick the height that needs the fewest spins. Par already counts it that way.
• Plan before you spin. Spins are what cost stars, not time. Work out where a wheel needs to go, then move it the short way around.
• Use the vowels. Most short words have a vowel in the second or third spot. If a row has no vowel in either place, a wheel near the middle is probably in the wrong position.
• Use hints on hard levels freely. In levels they don't count as spins, so they're the cheapest way to save a 3 star run.

Questions