The Best Word Games

I love to play word games. A poetry professor once told us that all writers should play word games, like crossword puzzles, because it keeps your mind active. In fact, among the elderly, playing words games is supposed to help ward off dementia and Alzheimer’s because it keeps certain areas of your brain active. Word games will keep your mind sharp, and help you expand your vocabulary. If word games aren’t quite your thing, try Sudoku, which is similar to a word game puzzle, but with numbers.

When I have free time, I can get wrapped up in word games—they are pretty addictive. I enjoy playing group games, solving word games in newspapers, and take advantage of the many free games online. Out of all of the games out there, here are a few of the best:

Boggle is played with 16 lettered dice that are shaken up and arranged inside of a tray. You have a set amount of time to find as many words in the combination of letters as you can, but the letters have to be touching each other to make the word.

The point of the game is to find as many words as you can, but hope that nobody else finds the same words. The longer the words are, the more points they are worth. I actually have a hard time finding anyone to play this game with me anymore because I get really into it; and, I won’t be modest here, I kick butt at this game.

Bookworm

This is a fun game you can play online. Yahoo! Games offers a free version of the game. The game provides a jumble of letters that you have to link together to make words within a time limit. You earn points whenever you make words, and the longer ones are worth more. Making words with the green and gold tiles give you bonus points. As you play, you start getting red tiles—which move down as time goes on. If the red tiles reach the bottom, your book burns and the game is over.

Balderdash

This board game is a ridiculously good time. The dasher is the person whose turn it is. The dasher pulls a card, and reads the word aloud to everyone (spelling it too). The other players make up definitions of the word, writing them down (you get bonus points if you provide the correct definition), giving the “definitions” to the dasher. The dasher then reads all of the definitions aloud, including the real one provided on the card, in no particular order. Everyone takes turn choosing the right definition. Points are awarded to the players who choose the correct definitions, and also to players whose fake definitions are chosen as the real ones.

These words are all pretty crazy, so it is funny to hear the different definitions people come up with.

Text Twist

I think this is the most addictive game online. Once I start playing, I have a hard time stopping. To play this game, you have to make words out of the letters you are given within a set time limit. Words can be as short as three letters long, and I bet you will discover words you never even knew were words.

Once you discover all of the word possibilities, you move on to the next level. If you don’t identify all of the words within the time limit, your game is over. If you are stumped before the time runs out, you can rearrange, or twist, the letters. You would be amazed at what a fresh view of the letters will do for you.