CatchWord

CatchWord is an online word game in which letters appear on a board and
players “catch” words by typing the letters to form approved words of at least
four letters. Words are checked against an online dictionary in real time.
Each round of eight letters come up for the players. This is all in real time
with a 30-45 second time limit per batch of letters. You can use the letters
to either create new words or steal them from other players. Words can be
stolen from other players by using new letters and their old words. The
program figures out where the letters come from when creating or stealing. Any
unused letters stay up and only letters used are replaced. This gives you some
time to figure out how to use one or two letters to steal a word form someone
else.

The letters are worth points and are based on their rarity in the dictionary
with J actually being one of the rarest ones and worth the most, so this is
not Scrabble. Their are two blank letters which are wild and can be used for
any letter you want. Again, the program knows by what is available to use the
blank as you intended.

Since this is all happening in real time, the pace can be intense and you
start typing in words to steal hoping that a will come up in the next batch.
Players gathered from all over the US and Britain to play with smatterings
from other countries. It was an English only game and available only through
AOL.