My grandmother faithfully did the Word Jumble and crossword puzzle every day. I remember her sitting at her dining room table with newspaper in hand working through the various daily puzzles. Words games seem to be addictive, at least in my family! Most of Gramma’s grandchildren also do word puzzles. However, instead of using the newspapers, we are on our various tablets and smart phones.
For those of you who like the Spencer grandchildren love word games, here are three to check out in the new year. They are all free apps for tablets and smart phones. If you are an Apple device person, go to the App Store. An Android or other brand user, check out Google Play Store.
Word Jewels
In this game, the player is presented with a board full of random letters. The point is to create words with a minimum of three letters by sliding your finger horizontally, vertically or diagonally. Notice in the image to the left that one of the letters is highlighted in red. In order to advance the player must use all of the red letters. This image shows the easiest level. The player has one chance to create one word using the red N.
This is level nine–many more red tiles to use! Once a word has been created, those letters disappear from the board. The letters above slide down into their places and new ones appear at the top. The board changes every time a word is played. The levels go up into the twenties. The higher levels become more difficult because letters like Q, Z and J start appearing. Creating the words seems like such an easy thing to do, but as the game advances so does the difficulty. Also, the player becomes obsessed with creating longer words in order to earn more points.
This is also a fun game to play with grandchildren because the words are short.
——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–
Red Herring
Red Herring presents the player with a grid of 16 seemingly unrelated words. The challenge is to organize them into three categories. The fourth column contains the red herrings, words included to befuddle and confuse the player. In the example to the left, oval and box obviously go together as shapes. But wait–land–how does that fit? Sometimes the categories just jump out at the player, other times—not so much!
The player does have access to 10 free clues.
Puzzle Solution:
——————————————————————————————————————————————————————-
7 Little Words
Similar to crossword puzzles, 7 Little Words provides the player with clues and the number of letters in the solution. In this example, the first clue—meaty mushrooms—was pretty obvious to me. Portobello The player clicks on the word parts in the correct order and they appear in blank space below the clues.
Here’s what it looks like as you add word parts. Word # 5.
Sometimes the player might learn a new word. In this puzzle I learned two! calamus & acetabulum — not words I will use every day, but still fun to know. I confess that I had to go online and search for the answers.
I am sure readers have favorite online word games too. Please share them in the comment box. Have fun and Happy New Year!
More from Our Blog
DIY Holiday Tech Gifts
Some of the best gifts to give are those you’ve made yourself! Here is an opportunity to use your tech skills to offer unique and valued gifts this year. These ideas use technology you already have (or can easily borrow) to make thoughtful and well-regarded gifts using that most precious commodity, your time! As thoughtful […]
Three Cool Things to Try With Your iPhone Camera
Our iPhone cameras are pretty amazing. The newer the phone, the more things you can do! Here are three features to try out before the holiday season. 1. Portrait Mode You can choose among natural light, contour light, studio light, stage light, stage light mono, and high-key light mono. You have to play around with […]
