Taking a cue from property developers squeezing more out of the area available, Upwords moves a classic word building game vertical! It’s billed as ‘the unique 3-dimensional word building game. Suspiciously like yet another Scrabble extension, I regarded it warily. As it turns out, Upwords from Funskool, is a good find.
The elevated 8x8 grid with raised tablets to hold ridged tiles is practical, and locks alphabets conveniently in place. The reluctance to play an extension of a classic is intriguing. Since Scrabble pretty much set the word game standard, it’s hard to not keep using it as the index. At the risk of repetition and annoying die-hard fans, I rate Wordsearch from United Toys way more challenging and dynamic than Scrabble. Is
Upwords one up on Scrabble? I’m undecided! It uses the same basic engine. Draw seven tiles unseen and place them on your rack. Make words on the board. Build words on (literally in this case) other words. Engineer multiple words on a single turn. Forfeit a turn or exchange letters in preparation for a seven letter (20 bonus point) effort.
Upwords is immediately different from Scrabble in a few memorable ways. All tiles are worth the same value. There are no special (bonus point/word) spaces on the word. Instead, you get two points per tile used in words formed directly on the board. And one point per tile as you begin stacking. As play progresses, you accumulate points for each of the tiles under stacks on which you form your words. It’s a clever idea. I’ve played adaptations of this with cards. That was interesting too. But in its 3D version, Upwords has more flair. Old habits die hard though. So, for several turns, I ended up playing regular Scrabble (i.e. direct on the board), and wasn’t able to see any significant merit in raising my sights to a second or third tier. When I finally began stacking, it was a pathetic one or two letters, and none of the satisfaction of a job well done. But clearly, that was my ability in question, and not the game design. Sadly, I fear Upwords will remain something of a passing fad. A clever extension idea by the game makers. There’s not enough time spent on word game play, for Upwords to insinuate itself into a regular ritual.
Passively waiting to be discovered on retail shelves, Upwords will fade into oblivion. More’s the pity!
The author may be contacted at arup_kavan@yahoo.com [1]
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