Try out your word-making skills on this free online word puzzle.
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The game is based on a traditional paper-and-pencil game known by various names, including Word Hunt, Words within Words and Key Words. In these games, players write down as many words as they can make from the letters of a key word of 8 to 12 letters. The concept has been used for many years in "Target" word puzzles in newspapers around the world. (See The Penguin Book of Word Games, 1982, by David Parlett.)
Chihuahua brings this game concept to the Internet for the first time. With Chihuahua, you -
Star,
Rosette
and 
Trophy!However, for those moments when you don't have an Internet-connected computer at hand, there is also a book of 100 Chihuahua puzzles: Chihuahua Nine-Letter Word Puzzles (2010). Read more about it on the Chihuahua Puzzle Books page, or buy it from Amazon.com.
Chihuahua is a creation of Lexigame.com, founded by Alan Walker in Australia. Lexigame's aim is to produce word games unlike any others currently available.
Try out these other games:
The following sources have been useful in the creation of the Chihuahua word puzzle.
Chihuahua uses its own word list, compiled with the use of many resources, in particular:
Chihuahua also uses YAWL (Yet Another Word List), compiled and placed in the public domain by Mendel Cooper. (The list and associated documentation and software may be downloaded from this site.)
For general information and ideas on word games, David Parlett's Web site and books, The Penguin Book of Word Games (1982) and The Guinness Book of Word Games (1995) have been most helpful.
The Chi-Chat rule, "Be Nice", is inspired by the Rules of the JavaRanch Big Moose Saloon.
Chihuahua is designed to run without the need for Java or Flash plugins. (Although where Flash is available, it is used to play sounds if the sound effects option is selected.) Chihuahua uses JavaScript and CSS. Perl and MySQL are used on the server. Communication with the server uses, where available, the techniques that have been called "Ajax" (Asynchronous JavaScript and XMLHttp).
Chihuahua uses Scott Schiller's SoundManager, a JavaScript interface for using Flash to play sounds.
Chihuahua also uses the JavaScript implementation of the MD5 hashing algorithm by "Paj" (Paul Johnston) and Saltstorm's ESC JavaScript compression tool. The email form on this page uses an adaptation of the FormMail script from Matt's Script Archive.
Recommended books and websites:
JavaScript and DHTML Cookbook (2003) by Danny Goodman.
MySQL (Third edition, 2005) by Paul DuBois.
The Ajaxian Web site for the latest news and discussion on Asynchronous JavaScript and XMLHttp
The How To Create and QuirksMode sites - full of useful tips for Web site developers.
And thanks also to the many players of the Chihuahua puzzle who have given me valuable comments and suggestions.
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Needless to say, none of the worthy authors listed above are responsible for anything wrong with the Chihuahua puzzle or website. All bugs, design flaws and the like are my own work.