Word Warp

My scores are very subjective, of course, but if you enjoy word games then you’ll love Word Warp. Don’t worry too much about the ‘warp’ bit, this is the age old ‘how many words can you make out of
this selection of letters’ game, and it’s made addictive by relentless time pressure and by a cleverly obvious interface.

You see, by default (you can change it in settings, but where’s the fun in that?) you get only two minutes to find and tap out all the words you can from the six letters shown. And – here’s the kicker – there is always at least one six letter word possible, i.e. the six letters you see are a warped version of the main word you’re trying to find.

A ‘Warp’ button on the screen randomly jiggles the letters around and, if you’re very lucky and keep tapping it, will get close to the original word and perhaps kick start your brain in the right direction. But that’s kind of missing the focus of the game – you need the brain exercise! You rack up points by scoring lesser words, each of which appears on the main table, so that you don’t have to remember what you’ve already entered. It’s unlikely you’ll get every one, but if you do then there’s a score bonus.

The main goal though is to find that six letter original. If you do get it, you get to keep your score and advance to the next level, and so on. Miss a single six letter word in a two minute period and you’re back to square one. With the clock always ticking away, Word Warp is both frustrating, addictive and exciting – all at the same time.

As one of a new breed of ad-sponsored games, you’re shown an ad between ‘levels’, with the option to follow where it leads or simply ’skip’. This is a nice balance of advertising versus gameplay, but if these interstitial image ads annoy you then note that there’s also ad-free, commercial version of the game for a very small fee.