Crossword Jam: Fun Word Search 4+

After a while you forget how to spell, or question if you spell correctly even though you went in confident! That’s what’s tough, really. The words are easy and you’ll see at the top how many players were able to complete the puzzle- the closer you get to 5% the better you can feel if you rely on comparing your performance to others’, lol. I like that the words are relatively easy when fitting them in the puzzle is challenging. It makes you want to play time and time again. I’ve had to catch myself to not play when I found that a movie or family convo got a tad boring, imo (especially during Covid lockdown). If, for example, you’re waiting for your doctor at a visit and have already read read the news and greeted fellow visitors where some draw you into interesting convo about… a blissful nothing sometimes, this game is a great time-killer! Get it, guys. More specifics: travel through countries around the world, knock out different levels from a sleepy owl, and broaden your vocabulary by happenstance a few times. No, happenstance is not in the game (so far), maybe something as long a word will come along later. I’m on Level 566 towards the end of Cambodia, for reference. Enjoy!

The game is fun at first, but has a lot of faults. You have to pay to access the coins that you earn in game, they're held in a "piggy bank" but aren't stored there until you've played for a while, so you can access them at first but can't later (you need coins for hints, which you'll need after a while, trust me). The app doesn't recognize all words in the dictionary as actual words, so it limits the bonus words you can accumulate (which help you earn coins that you CAN access). The amount of ads is actually ridiculous, I don't think I've ever downloaded a game before with the amount that this one has in it. There's an ad after every game, even if it's only 3 words that need to be found, and every time you open the app. I started only playing this game when I wasn't connected to wifi and turned off my data so I didn't have to deal with them. There's also daily challenges where they want you to watch EVEN MORE ads. The app will host tournaments where you can earn a lot of coins if you win, but once you approach higher levels the amount of coin prizes drops. When I first started the tournaments there were awards for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd, but the most recent tournament I entered only had a prize for first place, so unless you play the game 24/7 you won't win. The theme is cute and if you like these kind of words games then you'll have fun, but all of the issues I stated above are why I'll be deleting the game.

I’m on the penultimate level of this game (which is Tonga, as of 26 Nov 2019), and have overall had a great time playing it. My quips are: 1) certain words that are very clearly existing words are not counted; this occurs both with singular or plural forms of certain words that are counted in their other form (“layouts” is counted while “layout” is not, even though the app’s dictionary’s first entry for “layouts” is “plural form of layout,” e.g.) as well as with a plethora of random words (“lust” won’t be counted even though “lusty” is, e.g.); and 2) the Daily Challenge is occasionally designed in such a way where you literally have to just guess which word is going to fill a certain space when multiple words could potentially fit and be correct in the “crossword” schema. For instance, say both “act” and “ace” would fill the space in the puzzle equally appropriately; you have to guess one or the other, and guessing incorrectly forces you to lose points toward the daily challenge that you’d otherwise have been guaranteed (not all Daily Challenge puzzles include these frustrating elements—some, that is, are able to be solved in a more precise and accurate way instead of having to guess randomly at where certain words have been arbitrarily placed).