Words of Gold

Last updated
Words of Gold
Logo of Words of Gold owned by Cupcake Entertainment.png
Words of Gold icon
Developer(s) Cupcake Entertainment
Platform(s) Facebook, iOS, Android
ReleaseFacebook:
November 2014
Android:
December 14, 2015
iOS:
February 11, 2016
Genre(s) Puzzle

Words of Gold is a multiplayer word game developed by Cupcake Entertainment. It was released in November 2014 for Facebook, December 2015 for Android, and February 2016 for iOS. [ citation needed ]

Contents

Gameplay

Words of Gold is a word puzzle scrabble game. Each level has an empty game board with a starting point for words which may contain obstacles. Random letters are placed at the bottom, and the user needs to drag them onto the board to form words. The player can create words horizontally or vertically.[ citation needed ]

The game comprises multiple levels, each with a distinct objective that players must accomplish within a limited number of moves or within a set time frame. These objectives may involve removing moss from the game board by matching tiles, achieving a certain score, bringing specific items to the bottom of the board, or clearing a predetermined number of words. To increase the difficulty of the levels, obstacles such as boxes, bombs, and multi-layered moss blocks are introduced. Failure to clear these obstacles within a certain number of moves may result in the level being lost. Players can earn or purchase boosters to aid them in their progress through the levels. Additional letters are placed in the pile by matching a combination of five letters. Blank letters show up randomly and can act as any letter. Letters marked with a small number in the left corner at the bottom of the tile give the player more points.[ citation needed ]

Illusion letters are purple tiles on which a new letter is displayed every round. Boosters include Hints (shows a word), Shuffle (reorders all words), Wand (changes letter to a blue or green colored letter), Hammer (clears a piece from the board), and Rainbow (all colored words explode). Extra Moves or Extra Time can also be acquired through in-app purchases.[ citation needed ]

The game is primarily monetized through in-app purchases (through Facebook credits). [1]

Players begin with five "lives", which are lost whenever the player fails a level, a common feature in Cupcake’s games. When they run out of lives, users can send requests to their Facebook friends for more lives, wait for them to replenish themselves (a life is restored every thirty minutes), and/or purchase them. At certain points of the game, primarily at the start of new "episodes", users must also either purchase or receive a request from at least three friends before they may access the next set of levels.

The game includes in-game advertisements to monetize users that choose to play for free.[ citation needed ]

Once all levels in an episode are completed, the next episode (starting at episode 2) is locked and the player must either get three friends on Facebook to send them "tickets" to unlock the next episode. It can also be unlocked directly through the in-game store. Other than waiting for the time period until mystery quests are available, using in-app purchases is the only way to unlock episodes.[ citation needed ]

Plot

The player solves puzzles to help the six colorful tamarins defeat the Evil Owls.

Reception

Words of Gold has over 150 thousand players and around 5,000 active players every day. The game received particular mention in Brazilian media due to its popularity in the country. [2]

Sequel

In October 2013, a sequel titled Letters of Gold was soft-launched by Cupcake Entertainment. The game has a similar design but different gameplay mechanics, bringing its challenges to a word puzzle engine similar to Candy Crush Saga . As of September 2015, there are 440 Letters of Gold levels. Its mobile version is reportedly under development.[ citation needed ]

Related Research Articles

<i>Scrabble</i> Board game with words

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.

<i>Upwords</i> Board game

Upwords is a word game invented by Elliot Rudell and originally published by the Milton Bradley Company, now a division of Hasbro. Worldwide marketing rights to Upwords have been licensed to Spin Master Inc. by Rudell Design, LLC as of 2018. Upwords is similar to Scrabble or Words With Friends, in that players build words using letter tiles on a gridded gameboard. The point of difference is that in Upwords letters can be stacked on top of other letters already on the gameboard to create new words. The higher the stack of letters, the more points are scored. This typically makes words built in later turns of the game more valuable than earlier words, increasing play intensity and adding a level of strategy unique to Upwords. The memorization of two-letter words is considered a useful skill in this game.

<i>Crosswords DS</i> 2008 video game

Crosswords DS and as Nintendo presents: Crossword Collection in PAL regions 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 confirms that Nintendo Australia is re-releasing it with a European localization. It was first released in North America, and has since been released in Australia. 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.

<i>Bookworm</i> (video game) 2003 video game

Bookworm is a word-forming puzzle video game by PopCap Games. From a grid of available letters, players connect letters to form words. As words are formed, they are removed from the grid and the remaining letters collapse to fill the available space. Players earn more points by creating longer words or words which use less common letters and earn less for smaller words. In November 2006, PopCap Games released a sequel, Bookworm Adventures. Bookworm was released for the Nintendo DS digital distribution service DSiWare on November 30, 2009. It has also been released on the regular Nintendo DS cartridge.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tile tracking</span> Gaming strategy

Tile tracking is a technique most commonly associated with the game of Scrabble and similar word games. It refers to the practice of keeping track of letters played on the game board, typically by crossing letters off a score sheet or tracking grid as the tiles are played. Tracking tiles can be an important aid to strategy, especially during the endgame when there are no tiles left to draw, where careful tracking allows each player to deduce the remaining unseen letters on the opponent's final rack. The marking off of each letter from a pre-printed tracking grid as the tiles are played is a standard feature of tournament play.

<i>Bookworm Adventures</i> 2006 video game

Bookworm Adventures is a word-forming puzzle video game, the follow-up to Bookworm from PopCap Games. Released in November 2006, Bookworm Adventures combines the "create words from sets of letters" aspect of Bookworm with several elements of a role-playing video game. In the 2007 Interactive Achievement Awards, Bookworm Adventures won the "Downloadable Game of the Year". The game also won three Zeeby awards for Best Word & Trivia Game of 2006, Best Game Design of 2006 and Best Story/Narrative of 2006.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bananagrams</span> 2006 tabletop word game

Bananagrams is a word game invented by Abraham Nathanson and Rena Nathanson of Cranston, Rhode Island, wherein lettered tiles are used to spell words.

<i>Fishdom</i> 2008 video game

Fishdom is a puzzle game developed by Playrix for Microsoft Windows, Mac OS, Nintendo DS, Nintendo DSi, Nintendo 3DS, Android, iOS, and iPadOS. The game was launched 18 June 2008.

<i>Words with Friends</i> Multiplayer crossword style video game

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.

<i>Scrabble Showdown</i> American TV series or program

Scrabble Showdown is an American game show created for the American cable network The Hub. The program was based on the board game Scrabble and was hosted by Justin Willman. It ran from September 3, 2011, to April 15, 2012.

<i>Word Streak with Friends</i> Video game

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.

<i>Ruzzle</i> 2012 video game

Ruzzle is a mobile game developed by Swedish gaming company MAG Interactive and was first published in the Apple Store in March 2012. Ruzzle is inspired by the classic board games Boggle and Scrabble. The game is highly social and based on online matches, requiring the player to find an opponent who can be appointed randomly by the system from online users, chosen from a list of friends set by the player, or selected from amongst their Facebook friends. Ruzzle is now available for iOS, Android, and Windows Phones.

<i>Candy Crush Saga</i> 2012 video game

Candy Crush Saga is a free-to-play tile-matching video game released by King on April 12, 2012, originally for Facebook; other versions for iOS, Android, Windows Phone, and Windows 10 followed. It is a variation of their browser game Candy Crush.

<i>Microsoft Ultimate Word Games</i> 2012 video game

Microsoft Ultimate Word Games is a word puzzle game published by Microsoft Studios, first released for Windows Phone as 'Wordament' on April 24, 2012. The game was relaunched in June 2017 with two new game modes, Crosswords and Word Twister.

<i>Snap Attack</i> 2014 video game

Snap Attack was the second word puzzle game developed by You vs. the Internet and published by Microsoft Studios, the first of which was Wordament. The game was initially released for the Windows Phone and Windows 8.1 operating systems on May 6, 2014 as a free download from the respective app stores. The game was also available for iOS and Android devices. The name Snap Attack was trademarked on April 3, 2014. In March 2018, it was announced that Snap Attack would be shut down as of May 18 of that year.

<i>Letters of Gold</i> 2013 video game

Letters of Gold is a word puzzle game released by Brazilian studio Cupcake Entertainment in October 2013 for Facebook. In March 2015, the game reached 400 levels. The game is periodically updated, adding new "episodes" and levels.

<i>Alphabear</i> 2015 video game

Alphabear is a freemium Scrabble-style word game that was released by independent video game company Spry Fox in July 2015. It draws on creative elements of one of their older releases, the 2010 game Panda Poet. A sequel, Alphabear 2, was released in 2018. Alphabear was removed from the stores in 2019.

<i>Angry Birds Blast</i> Free-to-play tile-matching puzzle game published by Rovio Entertainment

Angry Birds Blast is a free-to-play tile-matching puzzle game, developed by Bandai Namco Studios and published by Rovio Entertainment in 2016 as a spin-off from the Angry Birds franchise.

<i>Homescapes</i> 2017 video game

Homescapes is a casual free-to-play puzzle game. It was developed and launched by Playrix in 2017 as a successor to their 2016 match-3 game, Gardenscapes. The storyline narrates about attempts of the game's protagonist, Austin the Butler, to restore his childhood home. The game is available on Apple's App Store for iOS and macOS, and also on Android via Google Play, Amazon Appstore, or Huawei AppGallery. It is also available for Windows on the Microsoft Store.

Kamibox is an independent German video game developer founded by Philipp Stollenmayer. Stollenmayer is the sole employee of the company, which creates almost exclusively mobile games. Some of Kamibox's games have received awards for their design, including an Apple Design Award. Kamibox games often have a philosophical element to them, such as see/saw and Sometimes You Die, which explore the concept of death in video games.

References

  1. "4 Ways In-App Purchasing Will Change Mobile". Mashable.com. 19 July 2011. Retrieved 2015-05-30.
  2. "LETRA DE OURO". jogosdaqui.com.br. Archived from the original on 2015-07-15. Retrieved 2015-05-30.