--- title: "How to play Motamo: rules and a first game, step by step · SIWA" description: "Motamo rules made simple: a French word chain game where you find five words from their definitions, each starting with the last letter of the one before." canonical_url: "https://dev.siwa.io/en/guides/comment-jouer-a-motamo" last_updated: 2026-10-27 locale: en meta: "og:description": "Motamo rules made simple: a French word chain game where you find five words from their definitions, each starting with the last letter of the one before." "og:image": "https://dev.siwa.io/og/en/motamo.jpg?v=9c7b8f2b" "og:image:alt": "Motamo · Rebuild the chain of 5 words" "og:image:height": "630" "og:image:type": image/jpeg "og:image:width": "1200" "og:title": "How to play Motamo: rules and a first game, step by step" "twitter:image": "https://dev.siwa.io/og/en/motamo.jpg?v=9c7b8f2b" "twitter:image:alt": "Motamo · Rebuild the chain of 5 words" --- > Index of every page on this site: [llms.txt](https://dev.siwa.io/llms.txt) How to play # How to play Motamo: rules and a first game, step by step To play Motamo, you rebuild a chain of five French words from their definitions: the first letter is given, and each word starts with the last letter of the previous one. Tries are unlimited, correctly placed letters stay on screen, and you win once the chain is complete. Updated October 27, 2026 [Play Motamo](https://play.dev.siwa.io/game/motamo) ## The idea in one sentence Motamo is a French word chain game: you guess five words from their definitions, and the last letter of each word becomes the first letter of the next. At the start, only the first letter of the chain is known. The rest arrive as you solve. Think of it as a crossword without the grid: everything hinges on reading the definitions and on the letter constraint. A new chain goes live every day on [the Motamo page](https://dev.siwa.io/en/games/motamo), the same for every player. The words and definitions are in French, so it suits French speakers and learners with a solid vocabulary. ## The rules of Motamo ### What you see on screen At the top, a row of dots shows the chain: one dot per word, filled once the word is found. In the middle, tiles show the length of the current word, with its first letter already in place. Below them, the definition types itself out. Each word comes with several definition sentences. The first is deliberately the most cryptic; the next ones get more and more direct. Words are usually 5 to 9 letters long. ### How to submit a word Type the missing letters on the on-screen keyboard or your computer's keyboard, then press **Valider** (submit). The button only lights up once every tile is filled. Accents are ignored: just type the plain letter. ### What happens after a guess - **Right word**: it appears in full, its last letter slides over to the next word, which starts with it. - **Wrong word**: the row shakes, correctly placed letters stay in blue and lock, and the others clear. You can try again straight away. Motamo only flags correctly placed letters. Unlike Wordle, there is no colour for a letter that appears elsewhere in the word. ### The joker The **Joker** button reveals an unknown letter of the current word, at a random position. Jokers are unlimited. If a joker fills the last empty tile, the word is submitted automatically. ## A first game, walked through Here is a sample game, with a chain made up for the example. **Word 1, M, 6 letters.** The definition opens with "You always come back to it, without even thinking." Vague. The next sentence is clearer: "Building where you live." With an M and six tiles, MAISON (house) fits. Its final N passes to the next word. **Word 2, N, 5 letters.** "It travels without luggage and changes shape on the way." Then: "Mass of droplets floating in the sky." That's NUAGE (cloud). It ends in E, so word three starts with E. **Word 3, E, 6 letters.** "It has guided sailors for centuries." You try ETABLE (stable), just to test letters. Wrong, but three letters stay blue: T in second place, L in fifth and the final E. That leaves E T \_ \_ L E. The next sentence, "Heavenly body shining at night", points to ETOILE (star). **Word 4, E, 7 letters.** The definition describes something worn around the neck in winter. ECHARPE (scarf) comes quickly, and its final E keeps the chain going. **Word 5, E, 5 letters.** You get stuck on "It dries more slowly than thought." A joker reveals N in second place: E N \_ \_ \_. The rest of the definition mentions quills and inkwells: ENCRE (ink). Chain complete, game won. The tally: five words in six guesses and one joker. The score takes both into account, along with your time. ## How the score works Scores are out of 1000 points, with 1 to 3 stars. Three things matter: | Factor | Effect on the score | | --- | --- | | Accuracy | 30% of the play rating depends on words found per guess | | Jokers | about 60 points off per joker | | Time | a bonus for beating the reference time, a penalty if you are much slower | Words found make up the other 70% of the play rating, and since a game only ends with a full chain, that share is always yours. The reference time is 3 minutes for a medium chain, 2 minutes for an easy one and 4 minutes for a hard one. Difficulty is estimated from the day's words and applies a multiplier from 0.9 to 1.15. Two stars start at 450 points, three at 750. ## After your first game Once the rules click, the best way to improve is to play every day: you quickly get used to the style of the definitions and the letters that keep ending words. To go further, read our [Motamo tips](https://dev.siwa.io/en/guides/astuces-motamo). If you enjoy daily letter games, our pick of [daily word games](https://dev.siwa.io/en/guides/jeu-de-mots-du-jour) has more. ## Frequently asked questions
How many words do you need to find in Motamo? The daily chain has five words. The dots at the top of the screen track your progress: each filled dot is a word found.
Can you lose a game of Motamo? No. Tries are unlimited and the game ends once all five words are found. Mistakes and jokers only affect your score.
Do I need to type accents in Motamo? No. Accents are ignored, so you type ETOILE for ÉTOILE. The on-screen keyboard has no accented keys anyway.
What does the joker do in Motamo? It reveals one unknown letter of the current word, at a random position. Jokers are unlimited, but each one takes about 60 points off your final score.
Can I skip a hard word and come back later? No. Words are solved in order, because each one hands the next its first letter. The next word stays locked until the current one is found.
## Ready to play? Today's grid is waiting, free and without sign-up. [Play Motamo](https://play.dev.siwa.io/game/motamo) ## More guides [TMSPMPR

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One grid a day, in the browser, no sign-up needed.AlternativeRead the guide](https://dev.siwa.io/en/guides/jeux-comme-pedantix) [Play Motamo](https://play.dev.siwa.io/game/motamo) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@id":"https://dev.siwa.io/#identity","@type":"Organization","email":"hello@siwa.io","name":"SIWA","url":"https://dev.siwa.io/","logo":{"@id":"https://dev.siwa.io/#logo"}},{"@id":"https://dev.siwa.io/#website","@type":"WebSite","inLanguage":"en-US","name":"SIWA","url":"https://dev.siwa.io/","publisher":{"@id":"https://dev.siwa.io/#identity"}},{"@id":"https://dev.siwa.io/en/guides/comment-jouer-a-motamo#webpage","dateModified":"2026-10-27","datePublished":"2026-10-27","description":"Motamo rules made simple: a French word chain game where you find five words from their definitions, each starting with the last letter of the one before.","name":"How to play Motamo: rules and a first game, step by step","url":"https://dev.siwa.io/en/guides/comment-jouer-a-motamo","@type":["WebPage","FAQPage"],"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https://dev.siwa.io/en/guides/comment-jouer-a-motamo#breadcrumb"},"isPartOf":{"@id":"https://dev.siwa.io/#website"},"mainEntity":[{"@id":"https://dev.siwa.io/en/guides/comment-jouer-a-motamo#/schema/question/1"},{"@id":"https://dev.siwa.io/en/guides/comment-jouer-a-motamo#/schema/question/2"},{"@id":"https://dev.siwa.io/en/guides/comment-jouer-a-motamo#/schema/question/3"},{"@id":"https://dev.siwa.io/en/guides/comment-jouer-a-motamo#/schema/question/4"},{"@id":"https://dev.siwa.io/en/guides/comment-jouer-a-motamo#/schema/question/5"}],"potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https://dev.siwa.io/en/guides/comment-jouer-a-motamo"]}],"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https://dev.siwa.io/#logo"}},{"@id":"https://dev.siwa.io/en/guides/comment-jouer-a-motamo#article","@type":"Article","dateModified":"2026-10-27","datePublished":"2026-10-27","description":"Motamo rules made simple: a French word chain game where you find five words from their definitions, each starting with the last letter of the one before.","headline":"How to play Motamo: rules and a first game, step by step","inLanguage":"en","mainEntityOfPage":"https://dev.siwa.io/en/guides/comment-jouer-a-motamo","thumbnailUrl":"https://dev.siwa.io/og/en/motamo.jpg?v=9c7b8f2b","author":{"@id":"https://dev.siwa.io/#identity"},"image":{"@id":"https://dev.siwa.io/#/schema/image/1"},"isPartOf":{"@id":"https://dev.siwa.io/en/guides/comment-jouer-a-motamo#webpage"},"publisher":{"@id":"https://dev.siwa.io/#identity"}},{"@id":"https://dev.siwa.io/en/guides/comment-jouer-a-motamo#breadcrumb","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","name":"Home","item":"https://dev.siwa.io/en","position":1},{"@type":"ListItem","name":"Guides","item":"https://dev.siwa.io/en/guides","position":2},{"@type":"ListItem","name":"How to play Motamo","position":3}]},{"@id":"https://dev.siwa.io/en/guides/comment-jouer-a-motamo#/schema/question/1","@type":"Question","inLanguage":"en-US","name":"How many words do you need to find in Motamo?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"The daily chain has five words. 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