How to play Marquee

The rules

• The line is shown as dark tiles, one per letter. Spaces and punctuation are visible, so you can see the shape of every word.
• Before you guess anything you are told whether the line is from a film, a TV show, a book or a play, and the year.
• Tap a letter. If it is in the line, every tile with that letter lights up. If it is not, one of your eight bulbs goes out.
• Tap Solve at any time and type the dark letters in order. A wrong solve also puts a bulb out.
• Lose all eight bulbs and the line is shown.

The bonus round

Once the line is up (solved or not), you are shown four films, shows, books or plays from the same medium and a similar era. Pick the one the line comes from for 250 extra points, or skip it.

Scoring

• A solve is worth 700 points, minus 75 for each bulb lost.
• Every tile still dark when you solve adds 10 points, up to 300 more, so solving early pays.
• A solve never scores less than 100. Losing all your bulbs or giving up scores 0 for the line.
• The bonus round adds 250. The best possible day is 1,250.

Tips

• Start with the commonest letters: E, T, A, O, then N, S, H, R.
• Look at the word shapes. A one-letter word is almost always A or I, and a three-letter word ending in an apostrophe-S is often IT'S or HE'S.
• The year and medium are big clues: think of the famous lines from films of that year.
• Once you can read the line, solve straight away: every dark tile is worth 10 points.

Frequently asked questions

Where do the quotes come from?

Short, well-known lines from films, TV series, books and plays. Every one is checked word for word against a reliable source, and each quote is used in only one of our quote games.

Can I play past days?

Yes: the calendar in the game replays the last seven days for fun (not ranked). Older lines are in the answers archive.

When does it change?

Every day at midnight UK time. Everyone gets the same line.