Word games, like escape games or tower defense games, seem to be one of those genres that you either really like or just don't get. And that's okay. People are wired differently, and what tickles the brain of one gamer leaves another one cold. But here's a word game that may change how you think about word games.
Word Bubbles, from the brain-training gurus at Lumosity, purports to exercise your capacity for speedily processing vocabulary, meaning it might actually alter the very fabric of your mind, for the better enjoyment of word games from Scrabble to Jumble. Impossible? Possibly! But in any case, word nerds will still find Word Bubbles highly enjoyable, challenging, and highly, highly addictive.
The mechanics of Word Bubbles are straightforward, yet clever. Each round (or "day") gives you a set of three letters and a clock. Your job is to type and enter as many words that start with those three letters as you can, which naturally earns you points. To the right are a range of numbers from four to 13, one of which rises every time you enter a word with the corresponding number of letters. Each of these word bubbles (really number bubbles, I suppose) can only rise three times before it pops and transforms into a friendly star. The more stars you earn, the more points you get, but you can't enter words of a given number of letters more than three times. In this way, the game encourages you to enter words of many sizes, stretching your ability to come up with new words that fit your remaining bubbles in a limited amount of time.
I'm not sure how to evaluate the brain-training aspects of Word Bubbles. That's a question for psychologists, and I am but a humble game reviewer. I can only speak for my own brain, and that Word Bubbles has fiendishly warped it forever. While an individual game is fairly short, lasting but three rounds, I find myself compulsively playing game after game, like eating potato chips. Even when I am not playing, the game haunts me like a specter, and during bouts of insomnia I lie and wonder how many 5-letter words begin with "spl," or if there are words beginning with "rac" that don't have "race," "rack," or "racket" as their root. Word Bubbles encourages you to improve your score, and if Lumosity manages to break your will with its ceaseless registration prompts, you can even keep track of your best score from day to day. Even if it doesn't make you a word game fan, Word Bubbles is sure to be a tempting offering for preexisting word nerds everywhere.
Thank you, Jayisgames, for another hideously addictive game. One tip: if you minimise between "days" (perhaps because you're playing at work?), remember to click your cursor in the "Guess:" window, or lose precious seconds typing for nothing.
And the in-game instructions are minimal, but adequate.
I can't stop!!
I actually signed up. o:
I'm overall 57% higher than people within 5 years of my age. :D
2160
I shared this game with a forum I admin and got competitive, but gave up after my score of 2610 was beat by a score of 2640.
However, I did sign up after I got my personal high score and had a lot of fun and a self-esteem boost playing all the little game things.
2910 points with com-, can-, and eff-.
raclette
raconteur? racy (I don't think that actually has to do with race)?
I love a good word game and this is one of the best I've seen.
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This is just painfully addictive. Lord, I love word games.
3090 with min-, tac-, and lit-!
On the very first round I played, I got "cru". Whiskey tango foxtrot, Word Bubbles. Whiskey tango foxtrot.
I have become sadly addicted to this game. Best score: 3030 with spe-, flu-, and sat-
3120 with bal-, pon-, and coa-. Beat that! ^.^
Finally broke 3000!
Scored 3150 with:
BAS-
SQU-
PAP-
Now I can die happy, or at least try to stop playing this game.
Avetre: CRU- makes crud, crust, crumb, crumpet, crull, crunch, crush and all the usual suffixes.
I am not sure if Lumosity keeps high scores off the net. I have had 4680, and just wondered what people get. Looks like you have to sign up to find out. Personally, the idea of using a dictionary is unseemly, the fun is in stretching your memory. I think that if you aspire to 5000 or more, you would probably have to use one. I signed up for this site, but cannot use my password, so theres that.
I've hit 3960 now (with twi, pon, and was), without using a dictionary, but now I see someone's hit over 4680 that's going to be my new goal. I love this game.
totally addicted to this game. Lots of trouble with "vin."
Highest score 3330.
Took countless wasted hours to achieve!
I play far to much but finally broke 5000. My previous high was 4930 but I got 5130 tonight with mil goo and lit
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