PC and internet-based games have always intrigued, but somehow felt of a lesser order for the purist board game worshipper. Admittedly, Othello on the PC is a joy. CD-based Boggle is a multimedia marvel. Even the traditional Monopoly, works on the PC. I dedicate my column to the humbling accessibility of delightful games on Yahoo! Games.
Bespectacled. Resplendent in his red bow tie. With large pop-eyes and a silly grin. Bookworm is a first-rate word game, with a memorable character. Nothing like the loathsome slug- like creature that you’d occasionally find in a cauliflower! In another era, Corel Wild Board Games had gorgeously animated characters that would taunt and tease you through game play. With Bookworm, the focus is on the word game. The sweetly illustrated worm is merely a prop. Link alphabets together to make words. Longer words are worth more points.
Use alphabets in bonus green tiles for bonus points. As you audibly click the mouse over each adjacent alphabet you select in your word, the tile lights up. Submit the word (demented SFX accompaniment), and your game score spins higher in slot machine style. Making too may small words attracts ‘burning tiles’ that appear from the top. Use up the alphabets in the burning tiles quickly to avoid them reaching the bottom, and setting the library on fire!
Alphabets are arranged in seven columns (alternately seven and eight rows high). Every time a tile is used the column slides down, re-filling tiles from the top. The end of each level is heralded with a scroll that declares the longest word and the best word (in terms of score). Through play time, the worm blinks his beady eyes at you. Make the bonus word that features below him for extra points.
Creating words with five and more letters earns you gold bonus tiles, and yet another way to accelerate scoring. The dark brown and sand (alphabet tiles) colour palette is very elegant. Bookworm is a quick fire game that’s also fun to play in a group. Everyone yelling out words they spot before you do! With some skill, you can actually use up tiles to shift the alphabets you want into place, before you launch into your killer long word. I’m some distance from pulling that off, but can see where I’d like to be!
The author may be contacted at arup_kavan@yahoo.com [1]
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