The Dewey Game

This is a word game similar to Anagrams, but with the specific objective of forming the last names of 14 admirals who served in the U.S. Navy during or prior to the Spanish-American War. The game is named after Admiral of the Navy George Dewey, and seems to have been published to cash in on the glory of then Commodore Dewey's victory over the Spanish fleet at Manila Bay.

The names run in value from Admiral Albert S. Barker (10 points) to Admiral Dewey (100 points). The game contains 77 plain square letter tiles, one for each of the letters in the names on the list of admirals.

Players initially draw a hand of 10 tiles, and attempt to form, in whole or in part, names from the list. On each turn, a player draws a tile from the face-down stack, and if possible adds it to one of his names in progress. Instead of drawing from the stack, a player may steal a face-up tile from another player needed for one of his own names, provided that his own partial name is closer to completion than his opponent's. Letters may not be stolen from completed names. Completing a name grants an additional tile draw.

When the draw pile runs out, players may continue to steal, and the game ends when no further plays are possible. The winner is the player who completes the highest point-value worth of names.