Build your answer from the sound up.
It’s a little bit crossword, a little bit phonics, and entirely dependent on the fact that English pronunciation makes no sense. In each puzzle you solve clues, find the sound hidden in each answer, and piece them together to spell a mystery word.
. It’s a delightful way to exercise your brain while making silly sounds. The game comes from creator Jenny Fey, who worked with Slate’s own in-house developers and designers. We asked Fey about how to play, where she found inspiration, and how she worked with Slate to make the game a reality.The goal of the game is to piece together the sounds of a final mystery word. The “bites” of sound come from various clue words. Since the sound bites retain their initial spelling form as they transfer to the final clue, it ends up looking like a nonsense word. The key is sounding out the final word, pronouncing each bite the same way as it was pronounced in the clue words. SoundBites is a game inspired by the funkiness of English spelling, something I think most English speakers bump their head against at some point, whether they come to the language early in life or later on. There are all sorts of historical reasons for it, but the inconsistency between English spelling and pronunciation is typically bemoaned. My thought was to embrace the trickiness for once and have some fun with it. What made you want to create a game like this? How long had you been toying with the idea of creating a game like this? I’ve always enjoyed word games but I wasn’t aware of any web-based word games that were based on pronunciation. Once I had the central idea, it came together pretty quickly for me!Format-wise, I was inspired by the Jumble puzzle of my childhood comics section—a set of clue words leading to a final uniting prompt. And in order to generate the clue words, I landed on crossword puzzle–style clues because they have infinite potential for humor, word play, and topical references.How do you go about marrying the sound bites in the clues to the final answer? Does the final clue come before the other clues? How do you build it? How do you choose the final clues? In building a new game, I try to focus on variety. Even with its irregularity, English only has so many sounds and spelling possibilities. I typically start with a specific spelling quirk I want to emphasize and look for a final word that uses that sound, but I take care to compare the solution to recent final words and make sure it feels fresh. Once I have a final word in mind, I explore different clue words that can generate each sound bite for it. The shape of the final word will change depending on the spelling of the clue words, so I am constantly bouncing back and forth and changing both.The goal is to construct a final word that is surprising but potentially pronounceable, but even that—the level of familiarity/accessibility of the final word—is a fun variable to play with.I’ve developed lists of all the spelling options for the phonemes—sounds—in English, which helps me with construction, so in theory I could knock out a functional game pretty quickly. However, landing on words that are fun to clue and shaping the clues is kind of an infinite process. I have to cut myself off at some point.Tell us about the journey of making SoundBites. Any chaotic or surprising moments during the process of building and testing it? I keep coming back to how difficult it is to develop instructions for a game that is fundamentally pretty simple. I, and the team at Slate, have tried various ways of introducing the game to new users, but in my experience, playing it a few times is the best way to get the hang of it. People’s minds are so overridden by the visual experience of spelling that it takes a little while to embrace the pronunciation aspect.My hope, though, is that I inspire a legion of word nerds who end up talking aloud to themselves at their office desks as they bumble through the pronunciation of a secretly familiar word.All true linguists identify as descriptivists, not prescriptivists—meaning we are interested in demonstrating how language is used, not in dictating how it should be used. Although SoundBites is certainly a celebration of the quirky, it also incidentally reinforces a particular pronunciation norm: that of, which is the most widespread accent in the United States and therefore has an unearned social prestige. It’s important to acknowledge that there really are many valid ways to speak and pronounce English, which is truly a global language with endless regional variations. Fun fact: Approximately 75 percent of all English speakers are non-native. I welcome feedback from any SoundBites players who want to share alternative pronunciations for final words, and perhaps we can incorporate other accent varieties in games down the line.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
New Shared Superhero Universe to Rival DC and Marvel Announces Three New Series (Exclusive)Summit Comics is revealing their next releases -- and it's a mix of cosmic, classic, and more!
Read more »
New York City Council's new hate crime bills sparks free speech debateNew York City Council Speaker Julie Menin and Councilmember Yusef Salaam are introducing a series of bills aimed at combating hate crimes Wednesday.
Read more »
Samsung rolls out more AI, new privacy shield mode with the new Galaxy S26 lineupSamsung on Wednesday unveiled its latest Galaxy smartphones, which boast an even bigger toolbox of artificial intelligence technology than the previous two generations and introduce a new privacy shield that blocks snoopy bystanders from sneaking a peek at the display screen.
Read more »
New Balance’s Hit Low-Profile 204L Sneaker Gets New Animal Print ColorwaysNew Balance is releasing new cow print colorways of its popular low-profile 204L sneaker with pony hair. See both styles here and find release info.
Read more »
Hit Comedy Series to Return for Season 4, Introducing New Cast and ChallengesThe popular sports comedy series is set to return for a fourth season, but it introduces a major shift in the ensemble dynamic. The show's return was hinted at, but confirmation came from an unexpected source, with the potential release date being August. The shift to a new cast presents both creative risks and opportunities for Apple TV.
Read more »
Introducing men’s hockey Olympic gold medal derangement syndromeEven patriotic victories in international athletic competitions are no longer safe from the Left’s interminable cycle of doom and gloom.
Read more »