There’s a Chinese proverb that I’ve always liked. “The beginning of wisdom is to call things by their right names.” This proverb works great for this game, despite it’s unrelated deep philosophical undertones. You have to recognize images for what they are, or at the least, what you think they are. From there, you have the right information to make a decision. Of course, if you have no idea what the image is, no amount of wisdom is going to help. Continue reading
To write is to create substance out of nothingness. Painters use colors, sculptures use clay, and writers use words. A writer’s canvas is the mind of the reader and their paint is pure emotion. To be a wordsmith is to be a creator of visions and ideas. A single word or sentence can stir the imagination of an individual and rouse nations to war. And it all begins with a single letter that turns the gears of change and destiny. Continue reading
Saying “uncle” is an idiomatic statement meant to express submission. For example, if you were to scream “UNCLE!!!” while being tickled mercilessly or being offered a third piece of pie you really didn’t want, you are telling everyone that you want to stop. In this game, other players will do all they can to get you to throw your hands up in the air and shout “UNCLE!” as quickly as possible! Continue reading
The human brain learns by example and association. Something new is put in front of you and your brain immediately starts to think, “oh, this is like (insert thing here)!” This is how we learned NOT to pet saber-toothed tigers and to avoid hiding underneath mammoths. In short,we learn through observation. The more we observe and experience, the more we can personally relate to the world around us. Time to test how closely you’ve paying attention! Continue reading
The idea of being a novelist has always been alluring to me. I romantically dream of a life full of literature, sweater vests, and luncheons with poets and other writers. Conversations would be deep and meaningful as we sipped our expensive coffees. In reality, being a successful writer means lots of long hours, rejection letters, and moments of pure panic as you struggle to write. In this game, players will get to experience the trials and tribulations that come with attempting to write the next great novel! Continue reading
Have you ever tried to finish another person’s sentence for them? For example, I might say, “Boy, am I hungry! Let’s go get some-” and then you interrupt by blurting out, “FISH TACOS!” In this example, you’d be correct. I love me some fish tacos, but most of the time the phrasing that is forcefully injected into another person’s incomplete thought is seldom accurate. This often has hilarious consequences for all within earshot. Continue reading
A fast mind and a fast tongue are only two of the tools needed to play this game. A player must also listen, observe, and search for words that score big points! As the words are found, the number of points letters are worth begins to drop. Using a word that was shouted by another player is strictly forbidden, but using the word to create a longer word is highly encouraged. First to find a word scores big! Just make sure it’s a real word before shouting it. Continue reading
One of the many miraculous abilities of the human mind is to create order from chaos. We can take a 5000 piece puzzle and put it together, we can look at strings of numbers and determine a pattern, and we can look at a hand of cards with random letters to create words. It’s our ability to reason that has allowed us to go to the Moon, avoid being eaten by tigers, and to invent games we can play with the whole family. Continue reading
What do you get when you combine chemical elements with word play? No, not the answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything (that’s “42”, silly). What you do get is a unique word game that will challenge players to make the shortest words as possible using the symbols (abbreviations) of the elements. In fact, the name of the game, TIN, is derived from the symbols of Titanium (Ti) and Nitrogen (N)! Understand the origins of the game’s name and you already know how to play. Continue reading
I really enjoyed Word Wars I.II.III. I found it to be terribly frustrating and rewarding, leaving me giddy when I was able to make three simple words. Only three! And yet, it felt like an incredible feat of intelligence. This is especially true when you score points. It really is a challenge of intellect and seeing words in a cloud of limited possibilities is a great puzzle to solve. Continue reading
In Scrabble Turbo Slam, all the players compete to be the fastest word wiz by playing their cards down to create new four letter words. Game play is fast and fierce and made even more so by the random Turbo Slam that will allow the first player to slam the button to collect a special action card that might or might not be helpful. Get ready to read fast and spell faster! The first player to play all their cards wins! Continue reading
This game is like a lot of other word games you see out in the market these days. They use the English language to drive the game forward but the game itself seems almost like a secondary concern. This does not make Synonyms a bad game, but the game itself would have been much more interesting and fun if there were some ground breaking or even clever mechanics built into the game play. Continue reading
