From the publisher:What do LRU, XCI, NFD all have in common? They are all possible letter combinations you may be asked to make a larger word from while playing starters. First, all players draw their three 'starters' letters. Now you have one frantic minute to write down the shortest word you can think of that contains three letters somewhere in the word. Sound easy? Well, the letters must appear in the same order in the word as they were drawn and the word must be a minimum four letters long. After you've thought of your word there may still be some time left to gain points from other players by forming words using their letters. When time is up, everyone compares their words and the player having the shortest word for each group of 'starters' earns points for it. - BoardGameGeek