The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
SCAM
Definition of SCAM
noun
A fraudulent or dishonest deal. A swindle.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
US American carnival slang of uncertain origin. Possibly from scamp (“swindler, cheater”) or Irish cam (“crooked”). Also possibly from Danish skam; if so, it would be a doublet of shame and sham. First use appears c. 1963 in the periodical Time. The word became common use among the US drug culture when in early 1980, after Operation ABSCAM, an FBI sting operation directed at public officials, became public.
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.
SCAM in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 15 boards so far. 32 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 11, 31 May 2026. The most recent board was Day 119, 16 September 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 1 day.
First found by a player on Day 11, 31 May 2026.
Built from these letters
SCAM starts with S and ends with M. Sorted, its letters read ACMS - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. No letter is used twice, which makes it an isogram.
Same letters, different word
2 other words use exactly these letters. Worth knowing at the board: an anagram fits a grid the same way.
Words that start SCAM
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 11
Could you have found SCAM?
OUTLIER is a daily word game. One grid, the same grid for everybody, and the words nobody else spots are the ones that pay. This word was on Day 11 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER