Word / Spelling Games

carolkoh

[Industry Expert] Member Sponsor
Sep 17, 2010
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Other than Scrabble - which remains numero uno in the world of word games - and other Scrabble clones, there are others out there that are pretty good. Here are a few - and some of them are free.

Word Jewels - http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/word-jewels-xl/id437516617?mt=8

Letters in a five by five grid - make words with adjoining letters and use up the red "jewel" ones in a certain number of moves. Free!


Dabble - http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/dabble-fast-thinking-word/id452176000?mt=8

Letters on a pyramid - make 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 letter words - i.e. use up all the letters - within the time frame. Free for a short time.

Challenge your kids!
 

Keith_W

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Mar 31, 2012
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I used to play Scrabble at a state level. I can tell you that Scrabble at that level is not fun. It is a word memorizing contest and a dictionary pissing contest. I am not sure about now, but back then the U.S. had its own dictionary (Official Scrabble Players Dictionary, or OSPD), and the UK had Official Scrabble Words (OSW). If you live in a commonwealth country like me, most of the time you use OSW. But sometimes, some tournaments allow both OSPD and OSW.

Why is this such a big issue - because the list of words is different. Every Scrabble player has to memorize all the two letter words in the dictionary. Add to that all the important word dumps for letters like Q, J, X, and Z. How do you play a Q when you have no U? You play words like QI, QAT, QADI, etc. On top of this, most tournaments have a "double challenge" rule. If you challenge a word and lose, you forfeit your turn. (Single challenge means - if you lose, you don't forfeit your turn). Double challenge really penalizes you if you don't know your dictionary.

After a while I became frustrated with the endless rule changes, having to cope with learning two dictionaries, etc. that I quit. I took up chess instead. I never became as good at chess as I was in Scrabble, but I am good enough to give some people a few hair raising moments ;)
 

Steve Williams

Site Founder, Site Owner, Administrator
I used to play Scrabble at a state level. I can tell you that Scrabble at that level is not fun. It is a word memorizing contest and a dictionary pissing contest. I am not sure about now, but back then the U.S. had its own dictionary (Official Scrabble Players Dictionary, or OSPD), and the UK had Official Scrabble Words (OSW). If you live in a commonwealth country like me, most of the time you use OSW. But sometimes, some tournaments allow both OSPD and OSW.

Why is this such a big issue - because the list of words is different. Every Scrabble player has to memorize all the two letter words in the dictionary. Add to that all the important word dumps for letters like Q, J, X, and Z. How do you play a Q when you have no U? You play words like QI, QAT, QADI, etc. On top of this, most tournaments have a "double challenge" rule. If you challenge a word and lose, you forfeit your turn. (Single challenge means - if you lose, you don't forfeit your turn). Double challenge really penalizes you if you don't know your dictionary.

After a while I became frustrated with the endless rule changes, having to cope with learning two dictionaries, etc. that I quit. I took up chess instead. I never became as good at chess as I was in Scrabble, but I am good enough to give some people a few hair raising moments ;)

My wife and I are master Scrabble players. We do use OSPD
 

Keith_W

Well-Known Member
Mar 31, 2012
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Steve, have you noticed that none of your friends ever want to play Scrabble with you? Especially if you use the double challenge rule. Play words like AA, LI, ZO, QI, CH (to name a few) and they think you are cheating.

These days I much prefer chess. If I am beaten, I am beaten fair and square, and I have nobody to blame but myself. No hiding behind the excuse of a bad tile draw :) The tension you get from chess is different to Scrabble though. With chess you feel a constant state of anxiety, especially when your opponent starts playing mind games. With Scrabble, I always felt more calm. There was little anxiety, only intense concentration. And there is less scope for screwing with your opponent's head with Scrabble :)
 

carolkoh

[Industry Expert] Member Sponsor
Sep 17, 2010
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Seattle, WA
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A vocabulary building game, Monster Words was play tested by my 10 year old niece on Saturday. She ended up involving the adults and another of the mothers approved and noted down the name to purchase for her own kids.

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/monster-words/id497209538?mt=8

What it is - Each set of words is themed and you get a set of clues / questions and the number of letters that's in the word. In a pool, you have jumbled up, word fragments. So there are clues to be found there. Example: Theme - Biology. Clue - The largest organ in your body - 4 letters. The adult that was a doctor provided the answer to that one. I learned something new. I didn't know that the skin was considered an organ.

The first 16 levels are free, the subsequent cost monster bucks which can be bought with $$ or earned in-game.
 

Soundproof

New Member
Jan 13, 2012
429
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0
Oslo, Norway
Don't download the Wordfeud app for Mac or Android. It's very addictive.
 

carolkoh

[Industry Expert] Member Sponsor
Sep 17, 2010
907
226
955
Seattle, WA
www.genesisloudspeakers.com
Don't download the Wordfeud app for Mac or Android. It's very addictive.

Looks like it could be! It's like one of the currently trending games - Draw Something - you get to challenge your friends as well as total strangers - but looking at Wordfeud, it isn't something I'd let a little kid play - since according to the screenshots - you can pull up profiles of anyone that's playing the game. Sets off all my privacy & kid safety warning bells.
 

Gregadd

WBF Founding Member
Apr 20, 2010
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Metro DC
I didn't know that the skin was considered an organ.

The largest sex organ. (Blush)
 

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