New word game, Wordwich, now live on the App Store

iOS •

Shakespeare once said, “…brevity is the soul of wit,” but he did so in the middle of 30,000 words in what would be his longest play. In other words, Shakespeare has been trolling the shit out of high school sophomores who have been reading Hamlet since 1609. That said, he was definitely on to something, which is why I try to keep all my posts as short as possible. LOOK AT ALL THIS WIT!

When it comes to games, however, it’s commonly thought that brevity sucks. Wordwich would beg to differ as it’s the shortest damn game I’ve ever played. It’s not the wittiest, but it does manage to be somewhat addictive.

Wordwich is based around an idea so simple that I’m shocked no one has come up with a game like this before. Maybe they have and I just haven’t seen it; I find it hard to believe this is the first time anyone thought of doing this. You’re given two letters and need to come up with a word that begins and ends with each. That’s it. You earn points based on the length of the word and how quickly you can come up with it, chasing high scores on a leaderboard. Sounds ridiculous, I know, but when you’re given a “Starts With: S” and “Ends With: F” and there’s a timer running, you’re brain kicks into overdrive.

As I mentioned, Wordwich is a solo affair with the only incentive to keep playing being your name climbing up the leaderboards. As such, it’s not something you’ll be sitting down and playing for hours at a time. It is a pretty great “standing in line” game, however, as solving 10 words can be finished in a couple of minutes. It’s one of those perfect mobile puzzle games that we’ve all been wasting our time with since Steve Jobs put a touchscreen in our hands all those years ago. It has a few rough edges, such as not having a bigger “submit” button when you’re typing. It’s too easy to misspell something in the heat of the moment and instead of getting a second chance, you’re simply awarded zero points for that entry. Still, it’s only $1 with no IAP, so if you’re looking to waste a little time you could definitely do worse.

• Wordwich for iPhone, $1

Liked it? Take a second to support Stately Play on Patreon!