iPad word (and other) game app recommendations

[soondai]

Got a first generation at the Verizon blowout yesterday. Very impressed so far with it as a reader. Happy to discover I could load my ePubs straight to iBooks thru Calibre and Good Reader handles PDFs like a dream. Screen brightness and weight (the two complaints I've heard repeatedly) have not bugged me at all.

So now I need to pick up some fun time killers. And I'm having a little trouble sifting through iTunes (I'm missing how to sort games by genre), plus I trust Mobile Read recommendations in general.

Looks like I should definitely get Scrabble or Words with Friends.

But I also like word games like cryptograms, anagrams/Jumbles, and the like. (My only regret about not getting a Kindle was missing out on Every Word and Shuffled Row)

Also like strategy, puzzle, and board games..

I'd love to hear some MR favorites in those genres (and beyond).

[mgmueller]

Originally Posted by soondai

Got a first generation at the Verizon blowout yesterday. Very impressed so far with it as a reader. Happy to discover I could load my ePubs straight to iBooks thru Calibre and Good Reader handles PDFs like a dream. Screen brightness and weight (the two complaints I've heard repeatedly) have not bugged me at all.

So now I need to pick up some fun time killers. And I'm having a little trouble sifting through iTunes (I'm missing how to sort games by genre), plus I trust Mobile Read recommendations in general.

Looks like I should definitely get Scrabble or Words with Friends.

But I also like word games like cryptograms, anagrams/Jumbles, and the like. (My only regret about not getting a Kindle was missing out on Every Word and Shuffled Row)

Also like strategy, puzzle, and board games..

I'd love to hear some MR favorites in those genres (and beyond).

Not a word game. But I love "KenKen". Kind of Sudoku on steroids...
There's only the iPhone app for now, but it looks good enough on iPad.

And I'm totally addicted to "Logic Puzzles".

[revfish]

Scrabble and Words with Friends are the most played games on my iPad. A close third, though, is Angry Birds. I know it seems silly but, wow, does it suck you in. I have caught myself going "Just one more level!" when I should be doing something else.

[rhari79]

u've been skooled seems to be a clone of scrabble.
I am now mostly occupied with Tiny Wings.

[Mickey330]

I'll second rhari79's occupation with Tiny Wings ... very fun and addictive (and a pleasure to use/play!).

I, too, find myself addicted to word games. I play Words With Friends as often as I can (Mickey330 - invite me!) because of its asynchronous game play. I also enjoy Scrabble, Boggle and Ultimate Hangman (the "condemned" character interacts with the game play).

For less common games, I enjoy:

- Wordstorm: You get a wheel with one letter in the center and eight around it. You spell words and you must include the middle letter (can only use the letters once per word). Collect points based on difficulty/popularity of the word

- Cryptogram: Just like the newspaper's Crytoquips (which are hard to find, BTW). Very nice layout and good word game

- The Word Chase, Moxi and Moxie 2: Word building games. Hard to describe but fun to play.

- Jumble Classic: Because who can resist jumbled word puzzles?

These are the ones I play regularly, when I'm not playing Tiny Wings or TouchRummy (a very cool tile game based on the card game Rummy).

Hope these'll help give you some ideas.

Marilyn

[soondai]

Thanks for the recommendations, everyone. These sound like a lot of fun. Off to iTunes now.

[murraypaul]

For puzzle games I'd recommend:
- Piczle Lines
- Marple (logic problems)
- Puzzle Quest 2 (basically Bejeweled RPG)
- Cut the Rope
- Sword and Poker

There are some good maze type games using the gyroscope, Labyrinth 2 HD is a good example.

Word puzzle games:
- WordFu+ (silly, but quite fun)
- Bookworm (tend to get bored before actually failing)

Solitaire City Deluxe is a very good collection of solitaire card games.

And games that pretty much everyone has: Angry Bird and Plants vs Zombies.

Some of the above are iPhone games which will play with pixel doubling on the iPad, this doesn't tend to matter too much with puzzle games.

[pphilipp]

Originally Posted by soondai

Got a first generation at the Verizon blowout yesterday.

Yep, me too. I couldn't pass up the price.

Now I'm gonna tell you the best thing you can do... upgrade the system to 4.3.1. It takes about an hour to upgrade and when you restart it you'll be quite pleased.

It's much like owning the new ipad 2 as far as the interface and software. It also can now use Garageband. My head is reeling on just how great this thing is now (I'm a musician).

Also have added several great apps which makes the overall experience 2nd to none. ((Using Wikipedia on the ipad is an experience unto itself.)) My daughter was stunned on how great youtube videos look... she couldn't believe they were being streamed by youtube. PocketBible is perhaps the best, simplest, most intuitive study tool I've tried on any platform.

Perhaps the best computer investment I've made yet.

[januaryman]

Crosswords is pretty good, if you like such puzzles.

Angry Birds got me hooked, too (sigh).

[susan_cassidy]

Spellbound (from, I think, New Jersey Software, or some name like that) is one of the best word games I've ever played. I used to have it on my Sony Clie, and now have it on my iPod. There is no sized-up version for the iPad, but it still works fine. Great dictionary. Multiple levels, every level is different. Very challenging.

[soondai]

Many thanks for all the recommendations (again). Just to follow up for anyone else who might find the thread in the future. So far I've picked up:

Plants v Zombies-- wife and I were up until 1 AM last night
Soosiz-- platformer, no real impression yet
Dungeon 2-- Diablo type game. Pretty fun so far.
Angry Birds Rio-- fun for the Mrs. (I'm sure I'll get hooked at some point)
Harbor Master-- Free (extra levels for a buck each). Very cool app working as a flight controller for boats
Cryptogram-- very nicely done version of my favorite type of puzzle
Jumbline 2-- very nice clone of TextTwist, which my wife and I used to play back in the day. Make as many words from 7 letters as possible. 6 letter version is free.
Infinity Field-- Vector style shooter. Probably should've just got the free "pewpew"
Tiny Wings-- Haven't played yet.
iCut Deluxe-- Free. Very cool puzzle where you cut a grid into identically shaped pieces
Words W Friends Free-- Looks like it'll be neat once they fix it so it doesn't constantly crash.
Blue Block-- Free. "meh" sliding block puzzle
Solitary Chess Free-- Free. nice little puzzle. Like the old "leave one peg game" but with chess pieces
Piczle Lines-- Free. Looks very cool and 3 free expansion packs

Thanks to everyone. Most of these were either from recommendations here, or from "people also bought" links from things recommended here. Plenty to keep me busy.

[phenomshel]

I have on mine:
Bejeweled 2
Azkend
Sparkle (Zuma on steroids, LOVE this one)
Mysteries of Venice
Solitaire (which is addictive)
Last Temple
10 Talismans.

Most of them are "connect three or four and clear the board" type games.

[stonetools]

Big +1 for Cut the Rope. Keeping the little bugger in candy has become an obsession with me.
Also really like Fruit Ninja! (the missus beat my top score with her first try! Must be beginner's luck )
Really, there are a TON of Ipad games out there!
(If you want to spend endless hours wasting time enjoyably, there's an app for THAT!)


Thanks for the recommendations. I'll try 'em out.

[harakiri]

try World of Goo

Beware: its addictive!

[SolRaven]

I downloaded Diner Dash when Amazon offered it for Android a few days ago, then d/l the free version on iTunes, then the paid version. I don't usually like games but this silly game has me hooked.