Lightning Round is a multi-player, multi-board speed challenge in Words With Friends. The game pits two teams of five players against one another in a race to reach 750 points as quickly as possible. Speed is essential -- the team that scores 750 points first wins the game.
How To Play
You can start a Lightning Round game one of two ways:
1) Press the Lighting Round banner at the top of your WWF home screen.
2) Press the + button to start a new game, and choose the Lightning Round option.
Lightning Round will commence once five players are found for each team (this usually takes a few seconds, but can occasionally take a few minutes).
Each team will rotate through a total of six boards -- one board per player plus one extra. Each player's objective is to move through each board as fast as possible. This challenge is a team effort, so make sure to take the rest of your team into consideration when choosing which words to play and where to play them.
Strategy
When playing Lightning Round, defensive strategy does not work well. While many players choose to play defensively in classic WWF games, it can be detrimental in team games. Whereas defensive strategy utilizes deliberate word placement to keep your opponent from using bonus tiles or building off your words, good strategy in Lightning Round is the opposite -- use tactical word placement in order to set up your teammates to use the bonus tiles and play high scoring words.
Since speed is essential during this challenge, don't waste time swapping tiles. If you can't think of a word, skip your turn and move on to the next board.
Once you get to the TW tiles, don't use them unless you can score 50+ points. By playing a low scoring word using the TW tile, you're most likely preventing a teammate from playing a high scoring word, which only hinders your team from reaching that 750 point total.
Personal Achievements
There are three personal achievements awarded to members of each team at the end of the game:
1) Total Points -- team member who scored the most points
2) Total Words -- team member who played the most words
3) Best Word Score -- team member who played the best word
Lightning Round doesn't currently offer rewards, but it's a great way to improve your technique and speed. It's also an excellent way to prepare yourself for the Duels challenge.