Writers and readers pride themselves in being people who are familiar with a broad range of vocabulary words, and this blogger herself is one of them. Combine that love of words, with gameplay, with technology, and you get Play on Words, an app that’s available for ios users at the App Store. The app is compatible with an Apple TV, making it a great game for parties, among friends, and among families.
The app is currently free to download, but you can pay an additional fee to have ads blocked.
I think of this app as a combination between favorite board games such as Boggle, and Scrabble (an idea which I thought of before I saw the same description on the website). While technology has made it easier for people not to mind correct grammar and spelling, apps such as these make it easy for users to continue to test their mettle against the kind of brain drain that studies show happens when exposed to too much technology.
Of course, once must note that beyond educational, the app itself is fun, interactive, and brings the competitive spirit out in its players.
Play on Words can be played two ways – Single Player mode, and Multiplayer mode. In Single Player mode, you go against time (60 seconds), to get the most number of words possible, highest combination points possible (per word), and of course to get a good score at the end of the round. Words can be as short as two letters, so articles, pronouns and prepositions are allowed. Words in past, present, and future tense are usable, as long as all the letters are on the screen. Proper nouns, sadly, are not considered in the line-up of possible words.
Each game is a challenge against oneself to not only score a lot of words, but to find those really difficult word combinations that can get you the highest amount of points. Badges are given when you meet a challenge, let’s say 1000 points in one game or 30 words in a game. That means each new game is a challenge to beat your current highest score, but also to learn new words which you can use in the future.
Multiplayer is much more fun as you’re competing against friends (up to 6 players) to earn the most number of points per round, and also to earn the most number of points after the 10-round game.
Each player has the option to choose their own color and animal (in the game, every word you get correctly corresponds to your animal making their animal sound), and their own in-game name. Then a QR code gets shown at the upper right of the Apple TV’s screen which players scan with their phone once they’re ready to play. Players must all be connected to the same wi-fi connection as the Apple TV for the multiplayer session to work.
Once the round begins, players will race against time to find the most number of words, or to get the most number of points per round.
At the end of each round, there’s a ranking for players with the most number of words in that round, the word with the highest points for that round, and for the player with the highest points for that round. On the side is also a tally of rankings for the multiplayer session to see who’s in the lead with highest number of points.
So far, aside from playing with friends, I’ve also been playing Play on Words on my own as a means of getting quicker and of course testing my vocabulary of words. I really like the game, and I find it’s an amazing interactive game to play with friends. Of course, the downside is that to play multiplayer mode you have to 1- have an Apple TV, and 2- all players must be using an Apple product (iphone or ipad) to be able to participate.
Hopefully they’ll find a way to get the app across to Google Play so that more people can try out the game for themselves.
Check out the developer’s sneak-peak video below, as well as their dedicated game’s site for more information on the game itself.
