7. Word Games

What’s a seven-letter word for an ancient Greek vase? A ten-letter word that means “of or describing a random process”? If you know the answers,^* this chapter’s games should intrigue you. Your knowledge of language will serve you well as you are challenged to make words or come up with the right word to answer a question.

^* Amphora and stochastic.

CROSSWORDS / JUMBLE / SCRABBLE / “SCRABBLE”

Scrabble for iPad

$9.99 • Electronic Arts • http://5str.us/rj8

A boardgame classic brought with superb extras to the virtual world

Scrabble isn’t one of a kind any more; it has competition from other board and digital word games. However, it’s an original and a classic, and the app version is an able conversion.

You can choose from several forms of game play, whether in the same room or with other players on the Internet. A pass-and-play (“Pass’N Play”!) mode lets you hand an iOS device around to let each person take his or her turn while hiding the tile rack from other players.

The app lets you match up with Facebook friends after logging into that service. You can also join or offer public games with other Facebook users looking for a match. A separate Tile Rack app for the iPhone or iPod touch (free) lets you put an iPad in the middle as the game board, using your smaller device to handle your game play.

Scrabble manages up to 25 games at a time. You can also pit yourself against the computer at varying levels of expertise each of which limits the size of the word list the computer consults.

A shuffle option rotates your letters through random combinations, which can sometimes stimulate the little grey cells to come up with a new idea.

If you need a little help finding or verifying words, an in-game official dictionary lets you type in words to test them (but not scan through them), and shows a list of all legal two-letter words. A hint feature will dig up the best word you can play up to four times per game.

After each turn, a board is updated at the top of the screen with each round’s word and score. It offers a way to figure out how your scorned opponent managed to get 76 points with a three-letter play involving Q, Y, and Z.

Words with Friends

$2.99 • Newtoy • http://5str.us/g6r

It’s like chess by mail for the always-connected age

Words with Friends lets you play a quite familiar word game (cough, , cough) with friends in a turn-by-turn approach that allows up to 20 simultaneous games to be conducted over a local network or the Internet. A separate chat follows each game, too, to let you taunt or whine at your partner.

For players in the same place, you can use a pass-and-play mode in which turns alternate, and the letter rack shows only the current player’s tiles during his or her turn. Moves are signaled via push notifications.

Perhaps trying to avoid criticism from Scrabble’s makers, the board puts words score bonuses in different places. This takes a little getting used to.

When you place a word and tap Submit, you’re blocked if any of the words formed aren’t in the standard dictionary.

The game lets you set up an account directly with the developer, and find other registered friends using their in-game moniker. You can also contact friends on Twitter and Facebook, although you’re not assured they own the app.

If you don’t have pals, buddies, or tweeters ready to play, the Random Opponent option tries to match you up with someone else who wants a game.

The folks at Newtoy have a good sense of humor: the company released a free version of this app called Words with Pirates (http://5str.us/rdu) for international Talk Like a Pirate Day. All the words in that version be grrr! and arrr!

2 Across

$5.99 • Eliza Block • http://5str.us/zx5

Find puzzles from many sources, and solve them

2 Across is a solid offering that provides access to over two dozen sources of puzzles, including The Houston Chronicle, The Onion, and The Wall Street Journal. You can solve puzzles by showing clues in a variety of ways, including a view that lets you scan through them.

After choosing a source, scroll through a wheel by date and year to find puzzles. You can download one by tapping Download, or tap Add to Queue to set up multiple items to download at once.

Tap on a square on the grid to start solving. You can swap among Grid, Clues, and Split views to choose how you work through solutions.

A cheat mode—the developer’s word, not my description!—offers the option to check whether a letter, word, or the whole puzzle is right; it can be turned off. You can also reveal a letter, word, or the whole dang puzzle (select Reveal and Grid, then tap Reveal Grid when and if you get fed up).

The app provides access to New York Times Premium crosswords for subscribers to that service, too.

Crosswords

$9.99 • Stand Alone • http://5str.us/vda

Cruciverbalists rejoice: gain access to a huge array of current and past puzzles

Crosswords provides access to over two dozen crossword sources, mostly newspapers, and lets you access premium accounts you may have at those sources. The app provides a comfortable interface for tapping in your answers.

Select a puzzle, and it appears with clues on one side in the iPad version and in landscape mode on an iPhone/iPod touch. In portrait mode on the smaller iOS devices clues are shown one at a time below the puzzle or in a separate tab. (In landscape mode, no tabs are shown; rotate to portrait to view tabs, change settings, or switch puzzles.)

Tap a square on the puzzle, and the appropriate clue for across is highlighted or shown. Double-tap the clue to swap between across and down. As you type, letters fill the squares, skipping those already filled unless you tap directly on such square.

The makers of the app provide a variety of hints (read “cheats”). On the iPhone/iPod touch, a Hints button appears at the top of the Across and Down clues list; on the iPad, hold down on a square. You can check a letter or word, or reveal a letter, clue, or the puzzle. There’s also a link to clue suggestions at OneAcross.com.

A pencil/pen tool switches between entering letters in gray or black. You can also enter up to 10 letters in a square (iPad only) to test out solutions.

Those who have a competitive streak may like the time clock (optional), and the ability to post how fast you solved a puzzle to a leaderboard run by the company, and to Twitter and Facebook.

Moxie

$0.99 • Blue Ox Technologies • http://5str.us/yet

Fill in the squares to make words as letters appear, but don’t make twaddle!

Moxie relies heavily on an extensive personal knowledge of words of five or fewer letters. Moxie shows you three rows of five blanks. In a round, a letter appears at right, and you tap a blank to fill it and make a word.

Moxie 2 (landscape figures at right) bumps that up to six letters, which makes it possible to rack up higher scores, but also adds to the challenge in finding words that fit in successive rounds.

As you create legitimate words—or words that the apps recognize, at least—points float over the screen. Fail to make a word and you’re punished with points off and the label “twaddle!” floating by. Skip letters you can’t fit by tapping Pass, rather than score a penalty.

Moxie and Moxie 2 score by adding together the point value of the letters in a word and then multiplying those points by the word’s length.

You receive extra points for composing the current Moxie words based on a category you choose, such as animal or vegetable. There’s also a daily set of challenge words.

High scores can be uploaded globally and compared for bragging rights.

Jumbline

$0.99 • Brainium Studios • http://5str.us/b1m

Word-scrambling puzzle leaves you panting to fill in blanks

Jumbline forces you to think fast. You sort through letters to creates words of varying lengths before time’s up. It’s like Scrabble without intersecting words.

You set parameters for a game, such as how many letters you’re given (5, 6, or 7) and how long you have (which affects bonus points).

When play starts, you drag letters to form words and swipe underneath a set when you get a match. Legitimate words populate empty lines to fill a game board. It requires the word-depth knowledge of Scrabble, to be sure, while the time limit (which can be set to “infinity”) keeps things interesting.

As you play, you unlock badges, and can link into Facebook to trumpet success. This also lets you compare yourself to friends and a global leaderboard.

Jumbline 2 for iPad

$2.99 • Brainium Studios • http://5str.us/9ik)iPad

Shoot down clouds of words while building towers into the sky

Jumbline 2 adds two additional word-sorting games: a cloud mode, in which you tap clouds and form one word from the letters before the clouds exit the screen; and Star Tower, which requires you to build words rapidly, one on top of another.

Jumbline 2 is available in three other versions: free and paid versions for the iPhone/iPod touch and a free iPad version. The free versions have ads and only show shorter words, as does a free version of regular Jumbline.