Play Xanagrams (1983)(Postern)[a] Online

Staring at a mess of letters while the clock ticks down—you swear there’s a word in "QZJXK," but your brain’s blanking. Then you somehow spot "za" and feel like a genius for two seconds.

Developer: Postern

Genre: Word Puzzle

Released: 1983

File size: 23.88 KB

Game Overview

Xanagrams is one of those word games that looks simple at first—just scramble some letters, make words—but then suddenly you're staring at "QZJXK" and questioning your life choices. The timer doesn’t help, either. It starts off generous, but by level 5, you’ll be sweating over three-letter words like they’re final exam answers.

What’s cool is how it forces you to think sideways. That jumble of letters? There’s always at least one word hiding in there, even if it’s something obscure like "za" (which, yes, counts). The Sega 32X version has this weirdly satisfying clicky feedback when you nail a combo, and the difficulty spikes feel fair—until they don’t, but that’s part of the charm.

If you’ve got a soft spot for ’80s puzzle games or just want to humble yourself with vocabulary, this one’s a sneaky time sink. Just don’t blame me when you dream in anagrams.