| Microsoft Ultimate Word Games | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer(s) | Microsoft Casual Games |
| Publisher(s) | Xbox Game Studios |
| Platform(s) | Windows 10, iOS, Android |
| Release | Windows 10
|
| Genre(s) | Word puzzle |
Microsoft Ultimate Word Games (known as Wordament on iOS and Android) is a word puzzle game published by Xbox Game Studios, first released for Windows Phone as 'Wordament' on April 24, 2012. [1] [2] The game was relaunched in June 2017 with two new game modes, Crosswords and Word Twister (first known as Jumble).
The game had the distinction that allows optional access to online leaderboards through Xbox Live service from all platforms, including iOS and Android devices. [3] [4] Through the service, the game gives out achievements and the associated Gamerscore as reward, even if the user is using a non-Microsoft device. [5] [6]
In Wordament, the goal is to find words by highlighting adjacent or diagonal letter tiles in sequence. Words must have at least three letters and cannot be abbreviations or proper nouns. To make a word, select any tile and drag through adjacent or diagonal letter tiles to make words. Each tile can only be used once per word. Some tiles have two letters or unique characteristics. Double letter tiles with a slash between them can work as either letter, otherwise if there are two letters they are both used. A dash after a letter is a prefix tile. Prefix tiles can only be used at the beginning of a word. A dash before a letter is a suffix tile. Suffix tiles can only be used at the end of a word.
In Word Twister, the goal is to make as many words as possible using the given tiles. Words must have at least three letters and cannot be abbreviations or proper nouns. To make a word, click or drag tiles to move them above the rack and press the Check button. The Bonus Twister is an extra puzzle players can unlock by finding the three words with keys next to them. Players can solve by using all the tiles given.
In Crosswords, the goal is to find answers for all of the given clues. Divided into two lists, Across and Down, clues often involve trivia, word play, or brain teasers. To answer a clue, highlight the grid space by clicking on the clue in the list. You can also select any square in the crossword grid and click the square again to swap between highlighting Across and Down clues. Type in the missing letters to fill in the answer. You can check any letter, answer, or the full grid at any time with the Check button. Correct letters will become green while wrong ones will be marked with a red strike.
Scrabble is a word game in which two to four players score points by placing tiles, each bearing a single letter, onto a game board divided into a 15×15 grid of squares. The tiles must form words that, in crossword fashion, read left to right in rows or downward in columns and are included in a standard dictionary or lexicon.
UPWORDS was invented by Elliot Rudell. The gameboard version of UPWORDS, as of 2018, is under license to Spin Master by Rudell Desiign, LLC. UPWORDS was originally manufactured and marketed by the Milton Bradley Company, now a division of Hasbro, which at different times marketed UPWORDS under its own name and also as Scrabble Upwords in the United States and Canada; and Topwords, Crucimaster, Betutorony, Palabras Arriba and Stapelwoord in other countries. Upwords and Hurry Upwords are available as digital gaming apps developed by Lonely Star Software under license by Rudell Design. HURRY UPWORDS can be played on the Skillz gaming site that offers free "Practice" games as well as wager-to-win "Pro" gaming.
Word games are spoken, board, card or video games often designed to test ability with language or to explore its properties.
A crossword is a word puzzle that usually takes the form of a square or a rectangular grid of white- and black-shaded squares. The goal is to fill the white squares with letters, forming words or phrases that cross each other, by solving clues which lead to the answers. In languages that are written left-to-right, the answer words and phrases are placed in the grid from left to right ("across") and from top to bottom ("down"). The shaded squares are used to separate the words or phrases.
A cryptic crossword is a crossword puzzle in which each clue is a word puzzle. Cryptic crosswords are particularly popular in the United Kingdom, where they originated, Ireland, Israel, the Netherlands, and in several Commonwealth nations, including Australia, Canada, India, Kenya, Malta, New Zealand, and South Africa. Compilers of cryptic crosswords are commonly called "setters" in the UK and "constructors" in the US. Particularly in the UK, a distinction may be made between cryptics and "quick" crosswords, and sometimes two sets of clues are given for a single puzzle grid.
Scrabble is an American television game show based upon the Scrabble board game. Muriel Green of Exposure Unlimited developed the idea for a television game show based upon the board game concept. During 1983, Green convinced Selchow and Righter, who at that time owned the Scrabble board game, to license Exposure Unlimited to produce the game show. Exposure Unlimited co-produced the show with Reg Grundy Productions, and licensed the show to NBC. Scrabble aired on NBC from July 2, 1984, to March 23, 1990, and again from January 18 to June 11, 1993. Chuck Woolery hosted the program. Jay Stewart was the announcer for the first year. Charlie Tuna replaced him in the summer of 1985 and remained through the original run and the entirety of the 1993 revival.
Jumble is a word puzzle with a clue, a drawing illustrating the clue, and a set of words, each of which is “jumbled” by scrambling its letters. A solver reconstructs the words, and then arranges letters at marked positions in the words to spell the answer phrase to the clue. The clue, and sometimes the illustration, provide hints about the answer phrase, which frequently uses a homophone or pun.
A word search, word find, word seek, word sleuth or mystery word puzzle is a word game that consists of the letters of words placed in a grid, which usually has a rectangular or square shape. The objective of this puzzle is to find and mark all the words hidden inside the box. The words may be placed horizontally, vertically, or diagonally. Often a list of the hidden words is provided, but more challenging puzzles may not provide a list. Many word search puzzles have a theme to which all the hidden words are related such as food, animals, or colors. The puzzles have, like crosswords and arrowords, become very popular. Also in common with these latter puzzles, have had complete books and mobile applications devoted to them.
Fill-Ins, also known as Fill-It-Ins or Word Fill-Ins, are a variation of the common crossword puzzle in which words, rather than clues, are given, and the solver must work out where to place them. Fill-Ins are common in puzzle magazines along with word searches, cryptograms, and other logic puzzles. Some people consider Fill-Ins to be an easier version of the crossword. Since the Fill-In requires no outside knowledge of specific subjects, one can solve the puzzle in another language.
Crosswords DS is a puzzle video game developed by American studio Nuevo Retro games released by Nintendo for the Nintendo DS handheld video game console. It was previously released in Australia as CrossworDS but a new OFLC entry confirmed that Nintendo Australia re-released it with a European localization. Crosswords DS features over 1,000 crossword puzzles that the player solves by using the stylus. Despite the title, it also features word search puzzles and anagram puzzles. It makes use of similar handwriting mechanics that the Brain Age titles make use of. Crosswords DS is included in the Touch! Generations series of titles, which includes such popular games as Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day! and Nintendogs. The background music was composed by Fabian Del Priore.
Scrabble variants are games created by changing the normal Scrabble rules or equipment.
The New York Times crossword puzzle is a daily American-style crossword puzzle published in The New York Times, online on the newspaper's website, syndicated to more than 300 other newspapers and journals, and on mobile apps.
Windows Phone (WP) is a discontinued family of mobile operating systems developed by Microsoft for smartphones as the replacement successor to Windows Mobile and Zune. Windows Phone featured a new user interface derived from the Metro design language. Unlike Windows Mobile, it was primarily aimed at the consumer market rather than the enterprise market.
Babaroga, LLC. is a Chicago, Illinois-based video game developer specializing in iOS, Windows, Android, and Feature Phone games. The company has created many licensed games for publishers such as Electronic Arts, and Disney Interactive, as well as original titles with publishers such as Microsoft and Glu.
Words with Friends is a multiplayer computer word game developed by Newtoy. Players take turns building words crossword-puzzle style in a manner similar to the classic board game Scrabble. The rules of the two games are similar, but Words with Friends is not associated with the Scrabble brand. Up to 40 games can be played simultaneously using push notifications to alert players when it is their turn. Players may look up friends either by username or through Facebook, or be randomly assigned an opponent through "Smart Match". Players can also find potential opponents using Community Match.
Word Streak is a word game developed by Zynga with Friends for iOS and Android and released in January 2012. Gameplay is similar to that of Boggle—players try to find as many words as possible in a jumbled 4x4 grid of letters by connecting adjacent letters to form words within a two-minute time frame - though with extra features and a different scoring system. Words may be formed vertically, horizontally, and diagonally. Scramble with Friends is one of the top ranking games in the iOS application store, available as both a free ad-supported version and an ad-less paid version. Scramble with Friends replaced Scramble Challenge at the end of 2011, but did not retain the solitaire option of the latter.
SpellTower is a puzzle video game by Zach Gage in which the player creates words from a jumble of letter tiles to clear the screen before it refills. The game has several game modes and a multiplayer battle mode. The impetus for the game—the concept of combining elements from Tetris and Boggle in what was a prototype of the puzzle video game Puzzlejuice—inspired Gage to create SpellTower. The game released for iOS in November 2011 to generally favorable reviews. Versions for OS X and Android followed over the next two years. In 2017 SpellTower Minutes was released. This browser-based Flash game created special "blitz" like modes not found in the mobile releases. A new iOS version released in 2017 swapped out the unnamed dictionary and began using Merriam-Webster's Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged. French and Dutch language specific versions were also released. A 2020 release, SpellTower+, added new game modes, cleaner visuals, and a jazz soundtrack.
Microsoft Solitaire Collection is a video game developed by Microsoft Casual Games and published by Xbox Game Studios for Microsoft Windows. It combines the Solitaire, FreeCell and Spider Solitaire titles that were included with previous versions of Windows. It also introduces Pyramid and TriPeaks to Windows for the first time, as well as new daily challenges and themes. Unlike the games included in Windows 7 and earlier versions, Microsoft Solitaire Collection is freemium adware with Xbox Live integration.
People Puzzler is an American television game show hosted by Leah Remini and broadcast by Game Show Network. It premiered on January 18, 2021. The show is inspired by the celebrity and pop-culture themed crosswords in People magazine.
Tug of Words is an American television game show that premiered on Game Show Network on November 8, 2021.
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