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WordPop! review by Shaun McGill of PDA 247


Many of you will have no doubt noticed how many times I mention WordPop! on the 247 sites and I make no apologies for doing so. It occurred to me that I play this game to the point of blunting my stylus and that it was time I reviewed it to explain why it sits at the top of my PDA gaming list. I have owned countless PDAs since 1989 (over 40 by now) and in all that time must have tried hundreds of games- WordPop! is the best PDA game I have ever played and will probably become my most played game in the near future. Don’t panic- I’m not anal enough to keep stats on how many times I play a particular game but I do find it difficult to let a day pass by without having at least one play. The problem is that one play on WordPop! can become over an hour without me noticing.

This is a true story- one night after a few sleepless nights with my children I decided to go to bed at 8pm which is unheard of for me because midnight is my standard bedtime. I sat in bed and thought I would have a quick game of WordPop! I went to sleep at 11:30pm. I was genuinely worried that I had a problem and would be attending a meeting with strangers the next evening… “Hello, my name is Shaun McGill and I can’t stop tapping letters with my stylus.” It is hard to explain why this game is so addictive but I think the main reason is because the result and combinations are so entirely different every single time I play.

In the first image I have chosen three adjacent letters to make the word ‘mix’ which gives me 33 points (see top panel). When I click the final letter twice the letters will explode and leave gaps at the top. Those are the rules- enjoy the game:)

OK, there is a lot more to the game but not in terms of complex rules and a steep learning curve. You can be playing this game within 1 minute and if I can use an awful cliche- ‘easy to pick up, difficult to master’. On to the second image where you will see a blank tile in the grid (the one on the left)- the was move from the column of three blank tiles on the right and can take the form of any letter you like which is useful if you are really stuck. The idea is to keep all three blank tiles available near the end of the level as letters become scarce. You can win extra lettered tiles by getting words worth over 40 points and higher scoring words will grant you a bonus blank tile.

It is strange how your mind starts to think so far ahead and can spot a multitude of potential words in the grid, some of which you need to make yourself by removing letters that are in the way. Remember you can only remove them by making another word so you have to be aware of how the letters will fall as well. There is a lot in this game to make you think and it takes the best of Tetris, Scrabble and Countdown and pours them into a very professionally made package.

I mentioned earlier how addicted I am to this game and those of you who have played it will no doubt be chuckling at my high score table which I admit is not good (at least compared to some people on the Smart Box Design forums) but I don’t care. I worked bloody hard for that 4461 score and am very proud of it!:) I’m also proud of my best word although I have seen some posted that make both of my scores look really stupid…

The small curved arrow icon you can see is a crucial part of WordPop! You use it to flip the letters over- for example if you have a grid that is half full pressing this button will caused the grid to spin 90 degrees and the letters will fall in a slightly different order. There is no element of chance to this- they fall exactly as they should and thus you need to be careful that you understand what will happen when you press it. If you use it well it can dig you out of all sorts of trouble.

There isn’t much else to say about WordPop! except that there is a decent help section built in and that the sounds are just perfect for the game. They are so perfect that my text messages now come in sporting the main WordPop! sound- I just cannot get away from this game no matter how hard I try.

Pros
Value for money- only US$14.95
Addictive, very addictive, very very addictive
Sounds and graphics are perfect for the game
Longevity
Improves your vocabulary
Support- Smart Box Design are as good as a developer can get

Cons
Ooh let me think. If I could think of a way to improve it besides asking Smart Box to add some of the unusual swear I know to it’s database I would.

Conclusion
I’m sure you can guess where this is going. Trust me when I say you MUST try this game- it is, in my opinion, the best word game available on any mobile device today and I can see myself enjoying it for many years to come.

Available from Smart Box Design for Palm and Windows Mobile devices

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4 Years and Counting! Special Anniversary Sale

As of February 28, 2007, Smart Box Design is celebrating four years of successfully selling our games to players around the world. Come celebrate with us. Over the next five days, each game developed by us will take its turn going on sale for a whopping 40% off (10% for each year of business), starting with Farkle Dice today. Hurry, as each game will only be on sale for 24 hours or less.

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Win a Palm or Pocket PC Game with this Word Challenge

If you enjoy a good challenge, why not take a gander at this screen shot of WordPop and see if you can find the longest word possible? Points don’t matter; just sheer length. But you must follow the WordPop rule that each letter must be adjacent to the next, such as ANT. The longest word submitted wins, plus three random entries of the next longest word. Each winner will receive a free copy of WordPop, Word Watch, Word Monaco, Triples or Farkle Dice for the Palm OS or the Pocket PC.

Go to our forum (the link is below) and post your unique words. Make sure to register so we have your name and e-mail address on record. In the case of a tie, the earliest submission will win. Contest ends on 11:59 PM, March 9, 2007. Winners will be announced in the next Newsletter and / or by e-mail.

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My Utopian Palm World is Just Around the Corner

This isn’t about how I use my Palm but how I wish I could use my Palm. I wish everyone had a Palm. If they did then whenever I met someone we could quickly and easily exchange business cards. Then if we were setting up a meeting, I could then easily send them the date, time and location. And if HoliDates was installed on every Palm, then we would easily know what days not to meet or to have items due.

If every store I visited in Bellingham or Fairhaven had a Palm I could quickly add them to my contact list and if they included their hours to the notes section then I would never arrive at the store when it was closed. If my favorite Pizza joint and Thai food restaurant had a Palm I could also get their menu so ordering food for delivery would be easy. Plus I could mark what I love at the restaurant so I could order it again and again.

If all my relatives had a Palm I would do a much better job at remembering their birthday’s assuming it was in their contact info.

I’ve only touched upon a small part of what a Palm can do, contacts and schedules, but it is so powerful. I do the above things every day but not as widespread as I wish but with more Treo’s selling daily, my Utopian Palm world is just around the corner.

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Using my PDA to Navigate Bellingham, WA

I recently moved my residence and business to beautiful Bellingham, WA. Although it is a small town, approximately 100,000 residence in the general area, learning my way around can be time consuming. I decided to put my Palm and my Pocket PC into full use by taking full advantage of the contacts feature.

When I visit a new store downtown or in the Fairhaven district I add the store to my phone book. If I happened to have a nice conversation with the owner or employee I will add their name to the notes section. This has been a great help as on more than one occasion as I have asked for that person by name. For example at the print shop I know ask for a specific employee to do all my business cards and other stationary.

To remind me what the store looks like I will take a picture with my PDA and add it to the contact list. This might seem silly, but if you only visit the store occasionally having a reminder what it looks like is very helpful, especially in the downtown corridor.

Part of the fun of living someplace new is discovering short cuts. Whenever I find a new or interesting way to get to a store I will open the notes section and jot down the directions. This is also very helpful if I have not visited the store in a few weeks. It answers the questions, “hmm, do I take state street or 11th?”

I highly recommend all users when using the contacts list to take advantage of the note section and take a picture to remind you of the location.

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