Design system
Mode

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Pinyin Tiles · private guest play

Build the word. Hear the tones. Know what it means.

A thoughtful Mandarin word game from the Learning with LiAnn family. Place Pinyin initials and finals, choose every tone, and reveal the verified English meaning behind each scored word.

Start a matchSee how it works
Play immediately.
No account and no personal profile required.
Learn honestly.
Source-governed translations and fuller glosses.
Keep your progress.
Private save, local statistics and download.

Start a solo match

You play first. The WebSolver takes the second seat.
VocabularyCombined HSK 1–9 + safe extended corpusOne level-blind gameplay corpus. HSK classification never changes a word's score.

No registration · local save · download anytime

How it works

A word game that teaches the system underneath.

Every move connects sound, spelling, tone and meaning. The board stays familiar; the learning happens in the decisions you make.

Rules Q1–Q36 frozen
1

Build with sound pieces

Choose an initial such as sh or x, then connect finals such as eng, iao or üe. Zero-initial finals show their standard standalone spelling.

2

Choose every tone

Declare the lexical tone for each syllable before you play. The preview shows the complete Pinyin reading, so pronunciation is part of the move rather than an afterthought.

3

Learn what you scored

After a valid play, see its concise English translation, fuller dictionary gloss and HSK classification. Classification is information only and never changes the score.

Learn Pinyin

Meaning is part of the move.

Pinyin Tiles does not ask you to memorise an unexplained string. Every supported reading is tied to governed dictionary evidence and shown in clear English.

HSK 3.0 level 1xuéxíto learnto learn; to study
HSK 3.0 level 1xuéxiàoschoolschool
HSK 3.0 level 3yīnyuèmusicmusic
Our promiseNo model invents a meaning. Published translations and glosses retain their source, licence, stable entry and sense provenance. If a reading cannot meet that standard, it does not enter a production-ready corpus.
Rules Q1–Q36 frozen
Fair play

Three modes. One honest vocabulary.

Novice protects the learning journey, Intermediate supports the opening, and Advanced makes no draw guarantee. Steady, Sharp and Relentless solver strengths change the opponent — never the dictionary.

1
Hints stay visible.
Intermediate and Advanced support the one-tile hint system, with its cost shown in the score.
2
The solver cannot take your turn.
If it is unavailable, the match stays saved and offers a clear retry.
3
Results identify their rules.
Corpus and ruleset versions keep unlike games from being silently combined.
Competitive play

Play today. Rankings later.

The current alpha is guest solo. Authoritative online play is part of the launch programme, while public rankings and leaderboards are deliberately deferred. This page will never present a local prototype score as a global result.

Help and answers

Clear before, during and after a match.

Start with the essentials here. The board also keeps spelling guidance, dictionary search, solver status and recovery controls beside the game.

Do I need an account?

No. The guest alpha starts immediately. Your saved match and statistics remain on this device and can be downloaded as JSON.

Can I choose an HSK level?

No. Gameplay uses one combined corpus. HSK 3.0 classification is shown beside a word as learning information but contributes no points.

What happens if the solver stops?

The committed match state is preserved. One automatic retry is attempted, then the game shows a manual retry without penalising your turn.

Where do the meanings come from?

The gameplay projection uses governed CC-CEDICT source senses under CC BY-SA 4.0, with stable provenance and learner-safety controls.

Does the game use Chinese characters?

No player-facing game surface does. Pinyin Tiles teaches pronunciation and spelling through Pinyin initials, finals and tone choices.

Is online multiplayer available?

Not in this guest-solo alpha. When enabled, individual sign-in creates a permanent player identity, but the current match and statistics still remain on this device. Authoritative online play is separate launch work; rankings, institutional portals and live communication are deferred.

Ready to make the first word?

No registration. Choose a mode, meet the solver, and keep learning from every move.

Start a guest match
Guest solo · Direction B

Pinyin Tiles

Score0Hints −0 Bag0 Turn0 Seedrandom Started—
initial   final   -r suffix   blank  — click a rack tile, then a square. Click a placed tile to take it back.

Played words

Players

First move guide Rules Q1–Q36 frozen
  1. Select an initial or final on your rack, then choose a board square. Your opening play must cross the centre star.
  2. Combine sound pieces into a valid Pinyin word and choose each final tile's citation tone.
  3. Check the preview, then choose Play. The scored-word card shows its HSK band, English translation and fuller gloss.

Intermediate and Advanced modes include a one-tile hint. Its cost is shown before the move is resolved.

Rack

Spelling and play rules — §4

Play rule — every word must include an initial and a final.
Zero-initial syllables are still valid, but a complete word must use both tile types.

The -r tile is the erhua suffix.
It attaches to the complete syllable before it — nǎ + -r is nǎr — and carries no tone of its own. It cannot stand alone, begin a word, or follow an initial or another -r.

Rule 1 — a final with no initial takes y- or w-.
i→yi in→yin ing→ying ia→ya ie→ye iao→yao iu→you ian→yan iang→yang iong→yong
u→wu ua→wa uo→wo uai→wai ui→wei uan→wan un→wen uang→wang
ü→yu üe→yue üan→yuan ün→yun
a o e ai ei ao ou an en ang eng er — unchanged

Rule 2 — after j q x, ü loses its dots.
j+ü→ju   q+üan→quan   x+üe→xue   j+ün→jun
After n and l the dots stay: n+ü→nü, l+üe→lüe

Word list

Settings — what the prototype is meant to settle

The rule set changes draw protection and turn handling, so scores are not comparable across rule sets. It applies from the next new game.
Bonus magnitudes are reasoned, not playtested (§11.5). Premium layout is undesigned (§11.1) — "reduced" is a lower-density starting point because the mean word is 4.04 tiles, not Scrabble's ~4.5.
Match complete

Your result

—

Played words

Stored on this device

Guest statistics

Clearing statistics does not delete your current saved match.