wordgames
Latest
Review: SpellGrid reveals the hidden joy of anagrams with fast, addictive gameplay
For far too long, I've lived in a world of Candy Crush. It seemed like the perfect time waster, designed for quick games when you've got a few minutes to kill. Heck, I even managed to get out alive without ever paying for any extras. But something was lacking. I needed a better class of time waster. Finally the clouds parted, spilling bright letters forth. SpellGrid had arrived and my eyes were opened. SpellGrid is a shockingly simple game that combines the best parts of Boggle and Scrabble. Players are given a seven- to nine-letter word with no repeating letters. The idea is to use the letters to quickly build as many other words within a minute. This anagram-building game is tight, fun and forgiving. SpellGrid is just as much about word discovery as it is building high scores. A little checkmark appears while you're moving letters around to inform you that you've got a word. Sometimes you'll get points for words you didn't even realize were words until you're halfway through building an obvious answer. The game's minimalist design is its greatest strength. Players are given a word and an infinite playing board, and nothing else. It plays fast and without distractions. Your scores are stored in the cloud, allowing you to compare your word counts to other people's scores. It even includes achievements through the Game Center. Best of all, SpellGrid is free. That's free free, as in: not freemium. It's a perfect storm of quality gaming and quick playing. SpellGrid doesn't require a great investment of time, but you'll find yourself playing it consistently. I've played it while waiting in line at the grocery store and for about six hours straight on a Greyhound bus. With such high-quality, addictive game play I would be surprised to see SpellGrid stay a free app for very long. If you're looking for a simple, fun, beautiful word game to pass the time SpellGrid is going to be a wonderful surprise.
Daily iPhone App: Letter Rush puts a new spin on spelling games
Word games are probably my least favorite genre on the App Store at this point -- I think they're overused, and many companies these days are just kicking out half-baked spelling games in the hopes of reaching a large casual audience. But Letter Rush, put together by a former Zynga studio, is different enough that it's worth mentioning: It's a word game that will probably make you better at word games. Most word games give you a set of tiles and ask you to spell words with them, and Letter Rush does that as well. But this game also gives you the words to spell, as they move across the top of the screen towards the left. That makes it a much different game than usual -- it's more about learning to spot words than actually spell them. And it could even teach you to be better at word games, to look for ways to spell certain words that might not be readily apparent at first. The goal is to spell all the words on screen before they hit the left side, but you do have a few extra powerups helping you out. Occasionally, words will have blanks in them, and in that case, you can use any letter in that spot (though that sometimes backfires, as it appears the word still needs to be legit, so there may be only one letter that fits in that space). And sometimes you'll get a bomb letter tile, which, when used, will clear the entire board for you. The game is essentially endless, but when words reach the far side of the screen, it's game over. Letter Rush is an interesting take on the oft-visited word game genre, and it's different enough that it's worth a look even if you're bored of spelling games on the iPhone. Letter Rush is available as a free download right now.
Daily iPhone App: QatQi is a free word game that's different enough to try
QatQi is, I am almost sorry to say, a new word game on the App Store. To be quite honest, I'm tired of spelling things out on my iPad's screen. That's not to say that there aren't good word games out there. Spelltower and Puzzlejuice are two great recommendations, but it's easier than ever these days to get all word-gamed out. I still recommend QatQi. It doesn't exactly transcend its word game roots. It has a lot in common with crossword puzzles, which are some of the oldest word games out there, but it's stylish and well-designed enough that it's worth downloading and playing a few levels to see if you like it. As you can see in the video below, the biggest twist is that you're building words on a limited playing space. Not only do you need to arrange your letters in the right order, but you need to do so within a confined grid, trying to earn as many points as possible. QatQi (pronounced "cat-key") is free, which makes it all the more appetizing. There's a lot of content too: One puzzle for every day in a year, which is very impressive. The app's paid for with in-app purchases in the form of undos, but I found that there were plenty of free undos to be had before I had to spend anything. Even if you're as burned out on word games as I am, QatQi's still worth a look.
SpellTower offers fun word-based board-clearing game
For US$3.99, SpellTower (now on the Mac App Store) provides an amusing diversion for anyone who likes word games. Although it's similar to other "find the word" board-clearing games, it adds in just enough bonus features to differentiate it from the pack. The blue and black squares provide extra destruction powers and "minimum word size" indicators nicely ramp-up game play as they force you to build extra-long words. Words of at least 5 letters supply extra board-clearing power. These extras combine for a quicker game pace tempered with a few extra challenges. Game Center integration and multiple play modes (tower mode, puzzle mode, and rush mode) mean you won't bore from gameplay any time soon. I preferred the Tower Mode (no pressure, 150 letters, max out your points) to Puzzle Mode (think "Tetris," adding a row each time you make a word). Your mileage may vary. All in all, I enjoyed giving SpellTower a whirl. It's light, it's fun, and I don't think you'll feel cheated by your four dollar outlay. #next_pages_container { width: 5px; hight: 5px; position: absolute; top: -100px; left: -100px; z-index: 2147483647 !important; }
Merriam-Webster announces Dictionary API for developers, coming to a word game near you
Merriam-Webster just announced its new Dictionary API, which gives developers access to the full dictionary and thesaurus, along with more specialized content like medical, Spanish, ESL and student-targeted vocabulary lists. The API will let app makers integrate word definitions, etymologies, audio pronunciations and more. While this content will no doubt make it into a slew of educational apps, Merriam-Webster says it will also enhance word games, so maybe Scramble and Words with Friends will finally start accepting those obscure three-letter words you have up your sleeve.
7 Little Words offers great fluffy fun but not enough content
Recently, developer Christopher York pinged me and asked me to take a look at his latest offering, 7 Little Words. He's the developer who brought us the well-designed Moxie 2 last year. Being a word-aholic, I was happy to take a peek at this new title. A freemium-styled game, 7 Little Words ropes you in with a sampler of 25 short word puzzles, which you can then upgrade to a paid set. The game play is simple but engaging. The app splits seven words into component letters. It's up to you to recombine those words using the clue list. "Four score" is EI + GH + TY, six letters long. Some of the clues are a bit pop-culture-y and over-thirties may be at an advantage for these. It's really easy to play in short spurts, and there are 25 free levels in total. The problem is that those levels go very quickly, and there's only a single premium upgrade set currently available for purchase, with more promised on the horizon. I really enjoyed 7 Little Words -- I just wish there were more of it available for in-app purchase today.
Kindle 2 gets more game, Kindle 1 gets more wrinkles
Sure, Jeff Bezos may be keen on keeping Kindle a "purpose-built reading device" (for now, at any rate), but that doesn't mean you can't have a little multimedia fun, right? Amazon has published two diction-centric games, Shuffled Row and Every Word, free of charge and available now for delivery via Whispernet. Both involve word creation -- the former with 60 disposable letters and the latter with six or seven reusable tiles à la Scramble -- and neither seem to be available for the Kindle 1. Second-generation and DX owners seem to be playing without issue, but the most faithful of early adopters? You just got another reason to upgrade -- a minor one, yes, but it very well could be a sign of Things to Come.
Hands on with WordCrasher: word puzzles meet Tetris
WordCrasher [iTunes link] is a little gem that deserves a much wider audience than it's currently receiving at App Store. With just 17 ratings to date, this little $0.99 application needs better exposure. Hopefully this review will help. WordCrasher offers a word puzzle game that mixes Tetris-style game play (don't let the letter tiles reach the top of the screen) with Scrabble-like word creation strategy (build words from the letter tiles to eliminate them from play). If you're a word puzzle enthusiast, you'll definitely want to check out WordCrasher. Developer Kevin Ng's graphics are phenomenal, which might be hard to tell from this low frame rate video, which shows me playing the app for a level. A lot of work has gone into them, making the moment-by-moment gameplay extremely satisfying. I particularly loved the rotating menu sequence that starts each session. It's a visual style I haven't seen on other apps, and it gives WordCrasher a unique visual "voice" that stands out from the crowd. WordCrasher offers two game styles: marathon, where you play until you Tetris out of room, and flood panic, which introduces the cool concept of slowly filling the bottom of the game level with "water". Tiles begin to float up from the bottom as well as pile in from the top. It's a nice twist, and especially challenging. If I have any complaint, it's that the built in dictionary tends to be fairly prosaic. A lot of Scrabble-standard words are regularly denied. I'd love to see Ng offer more flexible dictionary support for those of us who tend to geek out on word games. On a side note, WordCrasher uses OpenFeint to manage its top scores system. Seeing OpenFeint initially made me think there might be some sort of interactive gameplay between anonymous participants, say Crash Wars or something like that. but alas no. That's not to take away from my opinion about the quality of the game as is. As it stands, WordCrasher is fabulous. It is likely to be staying on my phone for a while. Word game enthusiasts will love it. Recommended. TUAW is commonly provided with not-for-resale licenses or promo codes to permit product evaluations and reviews. For more details, see our policy page. Promo code requests are not guarantees of reviews.
