Latest news with #WordPlay
Forbes
26-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
‘Word Play' Review: Scrabble Meets Balatro In This Bargain Game
Word Play combines Scrabble-like spelling with roguelike elements It's not all that often that word games are bobbing near the top of the Steam charts. Word Play has been hovering near the top of the Popular New Releases since it was launched earlier this month and after a few hours playing the game you can see why it's earned a 92% rating on Steam. Word Play is Scrabble meets Balatro, a game where you score more points for plonking down long words, but with a roguelike element to it. Like Balatro, you have to earn a target score before you can advance to the next round, and there are all kinds of perks and modifiers that can increase the score of the words you play. Also like Balatro, it's disgustingly addictive. Word Play Gameplay At first glance, World Play looks more like another popular word game: Boggle. Your letters are arranged in a four-by-four grid and you're looking for the longest words. Four letters is the minimum, but there are bonus points on offer for five-letter words or longer. The scoring is identical to Scrabble – ten points for the Q and Z, a point each for the vowels and common consonants, and so on. However, the real scoring comes from the perks (similar to Balatro's jokers) that you obtain as you move through the rounds. These add scoring bonuses to the words that you play or apply other power-ups that help you play. For example, you might get a 3x bonus score for the second letter in every word, or a +4 bonus if a word contains an E. Those bonuses can carry over, so the +4 becomes +8 if the next word you play also contains an E, for example. To get through the harder rounds, you're probably going to need to find perks that synergize with one another. For example, there's a perk that refreshes your letters if they don't contain an E, which works very nicely with the perk mentioned previously that cranks up your score for words containing that letter. In addition to the perks, there are upgrades (think Baltatro's tarot cards) that can permanently increase the score of letters in your bag or allow you to switch one letter for another. There are modifiers that vary the rules of the game, such as turning a Q into a Qu to make it easier to play. There are gifts and special tiles that make it easier to score points. Like Balatro, it all sounds quite complicated and finicky when you write it down, but after a few rounds of play you'll quickly get the hang of it. Winning Word Play Some rounds make you play the highlighted letters The aim of the game is to progress through the rounds, accumulating enough points to move on to the next, until you've won the final round. Some rounds have special rules, such as forcing you to play a certain letter or only allowing words that are six letters or longer to make it more challenging. You only get a limited number of 'plays' in each round, and there are only so many tiles in your bag, so you've got to make sure you're scoring heavily each time you play a word in the later rounds, or else you'll bust. It's a clever, cleanly designed game that will run on practically anything – PC, Mac or Steam Deck. The only thing I don't like about it is the irritating music, but that's easily switched off. For less than $10, Word Play is a B-A-R-G-A-I-N (yes, only ten points scored, but you should see my perks).
Hamilton Spectator
02-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Hamilton Spectator
Read by the Sea celebrates silver
25 years strong for local literary festival Read by the Sea held its 25th anniversary celebration at the deCoste Culture Hub. The annual festival included WordPlay, a literary festival dedicated to children of all ages; OnWords, a 'meet the author' experience for middle grade/young adult readers; Wordstock, a grab bag of unique literary shenanigans designed to encourage emerging writers and recognize the value of the regional's written and oral storytelling tradition; and Main Stage, the marquee experience featuring four author readings, with interviews and a Q&A session. 'The social media presence from all the authors has been outstanding. The turnout, the buzz about it, has been great,' remarked co-coordinator for the 2025 Read By The Sea planning committee Sarah Butland. 'The Town of Pictou has been very receptive. We've gotten a lot of business support and the deCoste Performing Arts Centre has been a wonderful venue for us to host and celebrate in conjunction with the Murray Family Public Library. People are loving the views that the library offers and just the venue itself is memorable.' Read by the Sea 2025 was well attended, and seemed to have a profound impact on those who came, many of whom are aspiring authors themselves. An interesting dichotomy explored throughout the weekend was the struggle of balancing personal creativity with external pressures. 'We attended the workshops and I just love hearing the authors talk about their process, because it's a great way to motivate us,' noted attendee Tamara Elwood. 'It's kind of interesting to see how successful authors do things. And I think a lot of them have the same dilemma. You know, in writing, you do it by yourself, but it's for an audience. And it's sort of just the two opposites existing together. You're kind of pouring your heart out by yourself, but it's for a larger audience. So that's kind of a neat concept.' The final event, the Main Stage, was held in the deCoste Centre amphitheatre. It was the best and most well attended event that took place over the weekend, Butland recounted, 'As in most years, the Main Stage author line-up brought the crowds and excitement, with comments such as 'fantastic line-up', 'perfect choice for interviewer', and 'what a beautiful facility.' The 25th celebration with the added Author Reception, made for a memorable celebration of some fabulous Canadian authors.' Read by the Sea aims to promote Canadian literature by celebrating good books, the people who write them and the people who read them; and by encouraging new or non-readers to discover the joy of reading. Error! Sorry, there was an error processing your request. There was a problem with the recaptcha. Please try again. You may unsubscribe at any time. By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of service apply. Want more of the latest from us? Sign up for more at our newsletter page .
