Goal: trap every IPA symbol by dragging descriptor tiles onto the six regions.
A symbol is trapped as soon as it shares a region with any descriptor tile that matches it.
- Drop a descriptor tile into a region: it immediately traps every currently-untrapped symbol in that region that matches it.
- Drag a descriptor tile back out (to the tray, or into another region): the symbols it was trapping go free again. If another descriptor tile still in that region can trap them, they are re-trapped automatically.
- Grey tiles are singletons — only one copy exists, so use it where it counts.
- Voiced / voiceless (dark tiles) match almost everything on the board, but there is only one copy of each, so they can only be used in a single region. Save them for last!
- Lateral approximants/fricatives and the lateral click can be trapped by lateral or by their other manner/place. Labial‑palatal [ɥ] and labial‑velar [ʍ] can be trapped by either place they belong to or by their manner.
- Click any symbol to see its full phonetic name and what descriptors it would be trapped by.
Scoring (on Finish & Score): you earn +10 pointed for each of
voiced and
voiceless left unused, +1 point for every other descriptor tile left unused, and −10 for each symbol still untrapped.