WordStorm

I like this game and play a lot (you can go back to years of puzzles) but it’s so frustrating because the developer’s word list is full of weird and archaic words and it doesn’t accept common really good ones. There is no way to get a hint if you get stuck and if you “admit defeat” it boos you! Then you reveal the “common” words you missed and they’re lame like beavering, rowel, bravi and inwove. Meanwhile it tells you that half the dictionary is slang and not valid, like binge and soccer. Many times I’ve found really good long words and it says it’s a valid word but not on the list and then I’m supposed to find these nonsense words that even my spell check has never heard of. I got it a day that it was free but I would be annoyed if I had paid for it. Needs work.

What I like about Wordstorm—which has different rules than the similar Spelling Bee and NO hints (a good thing): (1) choice between US & British English, (2) only one puzzle a day, so you can't get obsessed with it, (3) keeps track of your daily scores in calendar format, (4) it's challenging, but not so much so that you can't get 100% every day, after a brief learning curve, (4) the letters you've already typed in light up in different colors, so you can easily tell what you've got left to work with, (5) little dotted lines show you how many letters there are in the words you haven't found yet, (6) tells you when a word is invalid either because it's slang or just not accepted (although it doesn't pick up on *all* the valid words), (7) no clock, so it's a real stress reliever for me: I complete it every morning before breakfast, so it's a great way to start off the day, (8) the sound effects are mildly amusing, but you can turn them off, (9) you can hit the surrender flag to see what you missed. Note: I haven't tried the 2-person version. If it adds a speed element, that would be a turn-off. And I'm hitting 100% every day anyway, so I'm not sure what the point would be.) KEY TIP: you *do* have to accept its limitations. You're solving for the words they accept, not the ones they don't. After a couple of weeks, I found the range of accepted words pretty predictable. For the most part, the game's limitations are a feature, not a bug. SUGGESTED IMPROVEMENTS: (1) please arrange the words you've found in ALPHA order, (2) be more consistent about accepting "er" endings of verbs. Why "iced" and "dicer," for example, but not "icer"?, (3) add a comment forum like the one the NYTimes Spelling Bee has, so Wordstorm fans can form a community. Thanks!

I love this game and play it every day. It’s challenging and relaxing. My one big complaint is that, although a player can select for US English, the developer must be thinking in British English. For example, the word “soccer” which is what Americans call the ballgame everyone else calls football, is not allowed. The game calls it slang. Please developer, soccer is a word in the US where football means American football. Also the word “pram” is considered a popular word. Not in the US. I have NEVER heard anyone use the word pram to describe a baby carriage or stroller. In fact most Americans will look at you blankly if you say “pram”. It is simply not used here. Please developer- check with US speakers.