Hardback

3.9
75 reviews
Content rating
Everyone
1K+
Downloads
Content rating
Everyone
Learn more
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About this game

Hardback is a deck-building word game, a prequel to Paperback. As an aspiring 19th-century novelist, you work to pen your next masterpiece, earning prestige along the way. Specialize your deck in certain genres to exploit card combinations, and press your luck to draw extra cards — but make sure you can still string a word together!

Players build a deck of letters with various powers and race to 60 fame points to win.

Features:
1-5 player hotseat and online async
3 levels of computer opponents to challenge you.

Gameplay
No wilds in your deck - any card can be wild.
Push your luck for more cards with the Ink system.
Match genre colors to gain bonus abilities on your cards.
Fight over the coveted award cards.
Timeless Classic cards stay in play, until someone uses them.
New hardcore mode - can't repeat a word!
Updated on
Apr 8, 2026

Data safety

Safety starts with understanding how developers collect and share your data. Data privacy and security practices may vary based on your use, region, and age. The developer provided this information and may update it over time.
No data shared with third parties
Learn more about how developers declare sharing
No data collected
Learn more about how developers declare collection
Data is encrypted in transit
You can request that data be deleted

Ratings and reviews

3.9
69 reviews
A Google user
June 24, 2019
Great version of a great game, with only one small caveat keeping it from a perfect score in digital form. Both Paperback and Hardback A.I. use words that are not allowed by the human players. Proper nouns are the biggest problems. It accepts it for them, but not the player. My wife and I have even tried using words that we saw the computer use and get scored, and we are not allowed. Other than that, both of these games are absolutely fantastic, especially for multiplayer with other humans!
74 people found this review helpful
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Joan Fleischer
June 22, 2021
Like 2 years after my original review and there are still large periods of time when no online games will appear and if I log out and try to log in, I get a "generic error" and can't log back in. I'm annoyed that I've paid for this and can't play with actual people. When it's not your turn, you can't open that game to see what you most recently did. When people stop playing there's no way to continue with AI or push a notification to them. So it just sits there.
14 people found this review helpful
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Matt Harrison
April 24, 2023
Just started, but game is really fun so far. Very easy to get started with, tutorial takes only minutes. It's kind of mix between Scrabble and engine-building. You aquire victory points, money, etc. based on letters you play. And with money you can buy more powerful letters that do even more. There's additional mechanics, but that's the heart of it. Other points: - Decent on battery - Nice graphics - Great music
12 people found this review helpful
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What’s new

Fixed a Security Flaw.