Bookworm Game is a paid application that is available for iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad. It comes under the Puzzle Games category and costs $2.99 (140 INR approximately). Let’s see all the features of this game including game screenshots and the rules in this review post.
This application was originally an Online game which later came to the Desktop Computer (Bookworm Deluxe) and is now available for almost all Mobile Devices. This application was really a fun to review and it’s indeed a great value for money paid application.
[You can Play the Online Version of Bookworm Game for FREE HERE]
Rules and How to play:
The Gameplay
The rules for Bookworm Game are very simple. You are provided with a grid of randomly arranged Letter Tiles, where each letter carries certain number of points.You can form a minimum of 3 letter and maximum of 12 letter words.
In order to form a word, all you need to do is, tap adjacent letter tiles to spell a word and if the selected tiles spells a word, submit the word and get points. The points in turn help you achieve various Ranks or Posts. Once you form a word, new letters are added instantly from the top of the grid, in order to replace letters of that particular row/column:
There is a catch though, at some levels, you will be introduced to special tiles called Fire Tiles. These are not ordinary tiles, these tiles melts down the tiles just below them, thus creating a path for them to reach the bottom of the pile. If they manage to reach the bottom of the pile, the game will be OVER:
You can get rid of these Fire Tiles by forming words out of them, the same way, you do with normal letter tiles. Although, the Fire Tiles doesn’t carry any points. The points you get for forming a word with a fire tile is only the sum of points present in the Normal Tiles. Once you get rid of these Fire Tiles, you won’t face any problem.
Tip: To get fewer fire tiles, try making longer words!
On the plus side, you also have Bonus Tiles, which are Green in colour and when these tiles are included for forming a word, you get bonus points! You can also get more bonus points by finding the Bonus Word, which will be specified at the top right corner of the screen:
Instead of having Levels, this game has Ranks. You have to achieve the highest Rank in order to finish the game. From what we know, the highest rank in Bookworm Game is Bookworm Supreme!:
The game does have Accelerometer support in all the 4 Directions, but you can play the game only in 2 vertical positions (Straight up and Upside down, Portrait Mode). Landscape mode will not rotate your game board into horizontal Position or Give you more space. Instead it will show you Word History, which is basically a list of words which you have made in various categories:
By categories we mean, if you form a word called Dog, it will come under the category of Pets, as well as under 3 Letter Words.
The grouping of the categories in Bookworm game are as follows:
- 3 Letter Words up to 12 Letter Words: It shows you the total number of words you have made, since you first started playing the game.
- Type of words: This includes the categories in which each words you formed goes into.
Game Modes
Following are the Game Modes in the Bookworm Game:
- Classic Play: No time limit, you can take your own time to finish the game.
- Timed Game: You have to make as many words as you can and as fast as you can, because in this mode, any Normal Tile, that is not a fire tile, from your grid can convert itself into a Fire Tile and thus making the game more complicated. If you do not use up the fire tile fast enough, Normal Tiles around it might also convert themselves into fire tiles! The rest of the rules like Bonus tiles, Bonus words and so on, remains the same.
While playing this game you will hear superb background music. We didn’t find the music in any way disturbing, as it was only an instrumental piece.
If you can’t form a word, simply shake your device and the board will scramble. This has helped us many times, but has also trapped us, because this gives rise to more Fire Tiles! The game even has a feature of Auto-Save, which saves your Progress in the Game from time to time.
User Friendliness & Age Bar
This game has no age boundaries (E Rated) and you don’t need to be a scholar in English language to ace at it.
Final Verdict:
This game is full of fun, interactive, educational and make use of your full mind! Let’s see the Pros and Cons of this Game:
Pros of Bookworm Game:
- The UI of this game is really clean, easy to use and superb. You don’t need to be tech savvy to use this app.
- The Letters Q and U have been combined into 1 tile, thus saving us from the burden of finding the letter U, when we already have a Q with us! It’s counted as 2 letters.
- No Age Restriction/Limitation
- Superb and Soothing Background Music
- Value for money
Cons of Bookworm Game:
- The app lacks the ability to share our achievements on Social Network Accounts like Twitter, Facebook etc. Thus we can’t share our game achievements with our friends/family!
- If anyone taps on the Game mode by mistake, he/she cannot go back to main menu. We are forced to restart the game and then come back to the main menu.
Recap
- App name: Bookworm
- Objective: Form words out of the grid of letters provided, avoid Fire Tiles from reaching bottom of the pile, use Bonus words, tiles whenever possible.
- Hint: The Longer your word is, the lesser are the chances of getting a Fire Tile!
- Size: 9.5 MB
- Developer: PopCap Games
- Language: English
- Compatibility: iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad, on firmware 2.2.1 or later (tested on 4.2.1, iPod Touch 2nd Generation)
- iTunes Link: Bookworm
