Introducing Chavalo, the new word game from The New Yorker

Anagrams have a special place in the annals of wordplay. Although dismissed by some as “intellectually trivial” (A.E. Housman) or merely “frivolous” (Ben Jonson), the art of transliteration—rearranging the letters in one word or phrase to form another—has provided many writers with literary inspiration. For example, the metaphysical poet George Herbert noted that the letters in MARY could be transposed to spell ARMY, taking this as a sign of the mystical power of the Holy Mother. For Vladimir Nabokov, who created the alter ego Vivian Dark Bloom—see what he did there?—the anagrams were metaphors for the unconscious: “All dreams are anagrams of daytime reality,” he wrote. Any genealogy of the letter’s senders would have to include the poet Jim Morrison, who memorably called himself “Mr. Mojo Raisin’.”

You don’t have to be a writer or a drug addict to enjoy the power of anagrams. Most puzzle fans know the rush of extracting a word from the alphabet soup, or the joy of realizing that the letters in, say, Britney Spears can also spell the word Presbyterians. If this kind of thing lights your fire, then The New Yorker A new daily game, Chavalo, is for you.

Shuffalo is a letter combination challenge with a new twist: your goal is to unscramble a group of letters to form a word – but each time you do, an extra letter is added to the group. As you play, the words get longer and the game becomes more difficult, culminating in an eight-letter scramble. (If you’ve made it this far and really want to show off, skip to the nine-character bonus round.) Those who get stuck can always use a hint, but keep in mind that your final badge is determined by how many hints you used. To learn how to do it, watch this video featuring comedian and vocabulary expert Kate Berlant.

Part of the fun of Shuffalo – which was based on a game created by The New Yorker Crossword creator Adam Wagner lies in the surprising twists you discover as you play. It calls to mind the surreal parlor game Exquisite Corpse: tackle one thing, and you get something else entirely. It turns out that add the letter “I” to the solution, and you can make olives; Then add the letter “T” to make the purple color; Letter “N” to make a novel; And another “N” to make it pinchy. (Okay, maybe that last one isn’t that big of a leap.)

You can play a new Shuffalo game every day in our Game Center, or by subscribing to our Puzzles & Games newsletter. Is he intellectually trivial? Depends on who you ask. Either way, we hope it adds some joy to your daily reality. ♦