Word Chain Game for Your Twitch Chat

How a word chain works

If you've ever played a last-letter game on a road trip – or heard of shiritori, the Japanese version – you already know the idea. Someone says a word, and the next answer has to begin with that word's final letter. "Tiger" ends in R, so "Rat" works, and "Rat" hands over a T for "Toad".

1. Link up. Each word starts with the last letter of the previous word.
2. No repeats. A word can only be used once per round.
3. Stay on topic. You pick a category before the round, such as Animals, and only words from that category count.

Capital letters and accents don't matter when words are checked, so viewers don't need to worry about typing perfectly. Here's what a run through the Food category can look like – notice how often E comes up:

More example chains

Each category has its own rhythm. All of these chains were checked against the game's actual English word lists:

Notice how the Jobs chain keeps coming back to R. In Everything, any real English word counts – the dictionary holds roughly 190,000 entries:

The other categories are Countries, Cities and Plants. You switch the game to English with the DE/EN toggle, and it then uses its own English word lists.

Playing word chain in Twitch chat

On wortkette.com, the streamer opens the game in a browser window, enters their Twitch channel, picks a category and hits start. The guide to adding Wortkette to OBS walks you through capturing that window in OBS and placing your facecam.

1. A starting word appears. Every round opens with a random, hand-picked word.
2. Chat races to answer. Viewers type words straight into chat. The first valid word wins the spot and becomes the next link.
3. The timer resets. Each word has a time limit. Keep the answers coming and the chain lives on.

There's nothing for viewers to install and nothing to sign up for. The game connects to your chat anonymously and read-only – no Twitch login, and it never posts anything in chat. Feedback such as "unknown", "already used" or "wrong start" shows up as an on-screen notice in the game instead.

Normal chatter won't break the game: filler like "lol" or "hello" is ignored, offensive words are never accepted or shown, and well-known bots like Nightbot or StreamElements are ignored by default. If your chat is busy, you can require a word prefix such as !w. Words the game doesn't recognize get reported so the lists can grow. For an overview of both games, see free Twitch chat games.

Speed levels

Choose a pace before you start. Every correct word shaves 0.5 seconds off the clock (adjustable from 0 to 5 seconds) until the minimum is reached, so long chains get tense.

Your viewers see the stream a few seconds late, so the game adds a delay buffer: 3 seconds by default, adjustable from 0 to 20.

When a letter runs dry: the joker letter

Sooner or later the chain lands on a letter with no unused words left – there are no countries starting with Q, X or Y, for example. Instead of ending the round, a joker letter steps in: a random letter that still has words available. Whoever steered the chain into that dead end earns bonus points for it.

Mods and the broadcaster can also draw a fresh starting letter with !wk skip, or the streamer can press S.

Scoring

Every accepted word earns points for the viewer who typed it:

So "Toad" is worth 10 points, while "Reporter" with its eight letters scores 13. On Twitch, every point also counts as one XP toward levels and achievements that follow players across streams.

How a round ends

A round finishes when the chain breaks, when chat goes quiet, or – rarely – when every word in the category has been found. Mods can end it early with !wk stop or remove the last word with !veto if something slipped through – the player loses the points for it, and the chain continues from the previous letter.

The results screen shows the chain length, a "new record" banner when you beat your best, and the top player with their points. It also suggests a few words that would have fit, so chat learns something for next time.

Tips for tricky letters

Lots of words end in E, N or R, so those letters come up constantly and the easy answers vanish fast. Rare starting letters like Q, X and Y are where rounds get exciting – and that's exactly what the nasty-letter and dead-end bonuses reward.

• Keep a rescue word ready. "Yak" saves you after "Husky", "Pony" or "Donkey".
• Watch the endings. Animals like "Fox" or "Lynx" pass an X to the next person.
• Go long. A longer word with the same final letter scores more.
• Switch categories. If a topic feels too narrow, Everything gives chat a huge dictionary to work with.

Variations

• Second- or third-to-last letter: link on an earlier letter instead. With the second-to-last letter, "Tiger" leads to "Eagle", then "Lion", then "Owl".
• No one twice in a row: the person who just scored has to let someone else take the next link, so the fastest typists don't run the show.
• Auto mode: rounds start on their own after a pause of 3 to 300 seconds.
• Without Twitch: offline mode lets you play solo or invite friends with a phone link and QR code – up to 200 players per room.

Want everyone playing at once instead of one after another? Try Letter Rain: one letter, one category, and your chat collects as many matching words as possible in one minute. Prefer German? The German page covers the same game.

Word chain FAQ