Building a Tamil Word Game for Primary 2: When Script, Design, and Gamification Come Together
Teaching Tamil at the lower primary level comes with a unique design challenge: how do you make early vocabulary and spelling practice fun, while still respecting the complexity of the Tamil script?
This is the story behind a Tamil Word Game designed for Primary 2 learners—an interactive word-formation activity where students build Tamil words from a bank of letters, receive immediate feedback, and experience the joy of “getting it right” through gamified elements.
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| old, with Tamil characters grouped wrongly |
Along the way, the project tackled the tricky realities of Tamil Unicode, box sizing for grapheme clusters, and the delicate balance between play and pedagogy.
What the Game Does
At its core, the Tamil Word Game is simple and purposeful:
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Students see a pool of Tamil letters (more accurately, grapheme clusters).
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They tap or click tiles to form words.
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They can submit, clear, or request a hint.
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They receive instant feedback and earn points for correct answers.
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Each session includes up to 5 words, keeping gameplay short and focused.
The game is aimed at Primary 2 students, with age-appropriate vocabulary and a controlled level of difficulty: words are between 2 to 4 grapheme clusters long, and each round offers a limited, but slightly noisy, set of letters to maintain a sense of challenge.
The Big Technical Hurdle: Tamil Character Grouping
The Problem: Unicode vs. Real Tamil Letters
One of the most critical fixes in the project had nothing to do with layout or colors—it was about how the game understood a single Tamil letter.
Tamil, like many Indic scripts, uses combinations of Unicode code points to form what we visually perceive as one character. If you split those combinations incorrectly, you don’t just break the code—you break the language.
Initially, the game treated each code point as a separate character. This caused Tamil words to be split incorrectly.
Example:
The word “அம்மா” (mother)
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❌ Incorrect internal representation:
['அ', 'ம்', 'மா'] -
✅ Correct grapheme grouping:
['அம்', 'மா']
The game logic was operating at the level of raw Unicode points instead of grapheme clusters—the units that actually make sense in Tamil reading and writing.
The Fix: Grapheme-Aware Word Lists
To solve this, the entire word database was reorganized:
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Words were stored as complete grapheme clusters, not raw characters.
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Each cluster represented a visually and linguistically meaningful “letter” as seen by a young learner.
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All word formation logic and UI rendering were updated to work with these clusters.
Impact:
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Tamil text now renders correctly.
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No more broken or half-formed characters.
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Students see exactly what they expect on-screen.
This was the foundational improvement that made the rest of the game meaningful.
Getting the Boxes Right: When 50px Just Isn’t Enough
Once the characters were grouped correctly, another problem surfaced: Tamil text was getting cut off in the interface.
The Problem: Cramped Width
Tamil grapheme clusters can be visually wider than Latin letters. The original design used:
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Letter tile width: 50px
This worked fine for English prototypes, but for Tamil:
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Letters overflowed their containers.
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Some glyphs appeared clipped or too tightly packed.
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The reading experience became uncomfortable.
The Iterations
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50px → 70px
Helped a bit, but some clusters were still cramped. -
70px → 90px
This became the sweet spot for both:-
.letter-tile -
.letter-slot
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With width: 90px and height: 50px, every Tamil cluster had enough breathing room.
Impact:
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No overflow.
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No truncation.
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Clean, legible Tamil letters across both tiles and answer slots.
It’s a good reminder that UI patterns that work for English often need to be rethought for scripts with different visual and typographic requirements.
Design Principles That Shaped the Game
Beyond technical fixes, the game is built around several student-centered design choices.
1. Visual Clarity & Readability
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Large font size (≈ 28px) for young readers
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High contrast (e.g., white text on purple gradient buttons)
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Subtle hover and click effects (scaling, shadows) to signal interaction
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Adequate spacing between tiles and slots to prevent clutter
The goal: students focus on reading and forming words—not deciphering what’s on the screen.
2. Immediate Feedback & Reinforcement
The game gives students a clear sense of what’s happening at every step:
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Tiles visually respond to clicks.
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Correct or incorrect submissions trigger messages.
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Scores update in real-time.
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Completing all 5 words triggers a celebration overlay (e.g., confetti).
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A Hint button nudges learners towards success by highlighting relevant letters.
This feedback loop motivates students and supports a growth mindset—mistakes become part of playing, not something to fear.
3. Progressive Difficulty in a Safe Space
The game keeps difficulty calibrated and contained:
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Word lengths: 2–4 grapheme clusters
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Five words per session: long enough to be meaningful, short enough to keep attention
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A mixed letter pool with extra letters creates gentle challenge without overwhelming students
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Points-based scoring introduces friendly competition (with self or peers)
The design balances success and challenge—students can win, but not without thinking.
4. Accessibility & Inclusivity
From the start, the game was designed to work for everyone, not just “typical” users.
Key considerations:
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Full UTF-8 support for Tamil
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Responsive layout that works across desktops and tablets
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Keyboard-friendly interaction patterns where possible
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Color gradients chosen with sufficient contrast
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Clear, simple instructions via on-screen text and tooltips
This ensures the game isn’t just usable, but welcoming, especially for younger learners or those with specific needs.
5. Engagement Through Gamification
The game leverages light gamification, not as decoration, but as a meaningful engagement layer:
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Points and score panel to track performance
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Words Found counter to show progression
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Completion celebration to mark success
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Hints to keep students from getting stuck
The objective is clear: help students stay motivated long enough to practice and internalize vocabulary.
Under the Hood: Structure & Components
The project keeps a clean, maintainable structure:
Word Database
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Around 10 Tamil words, each with:
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The word (as grapheme clusters)
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Meaning
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Point value
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Carefully curated for Primary 2 level
Game State Management
The JavaScript logic manages:
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Current score
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Which words are completed
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Hint usage (if you later want to limit hints)
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The current state of letter selection and word formation
UI Elements
The interface includes:
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Letter Bank – available Tamil grapheme tiles
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Letter Slots – where formed words appear
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Action Buttons – Clear, Hint, Submit, Restart
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Score & Progress Panel – scores and words found
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Completed Words List – reinforcing vocabulary after success
Looking Ahead: How This Game Can Grow
The current version already supports meaningful learning, but it’s also built with future expansion in mind.
Possible enhancements:
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Additional Levels
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Primary 1: simpler words
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Primary 3–4: longer words, more complex vocabulary
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Audio Integration
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Play pronunciation when a word is formed or revealed
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Timer Modes
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Optional timed challenges for advanced students
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Leaderboard
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Track top scores in a class or over time
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Analytics for Teachers
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Which words are most missed?
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How often are hints requested?
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Custom Word Sets
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Teacher-defined vocabulary lists tied to ongoing lessons
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Quality Checklist for Any Script-Based Word Game
Before rolling out similar activities, it’s worth checking:
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All grapheme clusters display correctly (no broken characters)
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Tiles and slots are wide enough to show full clusters
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Word validation works for all target words
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The hint system behaves predictably
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Score and progress indicators update correctly
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The game works on tablet and desktop screen sizes
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Restart functionality fully resets the game state
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Completion celebrations don’t interfere with the next session
Why This Game Matters
This Tamil Word Game isn’t just a fun diversion—it’s a case study in how:
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Language-appropriate technical design (grapheme grouping, box width)
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Thoughtful visual design (readability, spacing, contrast)
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Gamification done right (feedback, progress, rewards)
…can combine to create a meaningful language learning experience for young students.
Most importantly, the iterative process—spotting issues, testing changes, and refining details—demonstrates what high-quality educational software actually looks like in practice.
It’s not just about making something that runs.
It’s about making something that teaches well.