"Word Challenge" for Facebook is Highly Addictive

Internet surfers head to Facebook, the social-networking site, for more than merely checking up on their friends. Facebook also offers a host of addictive, time-consuming games that keep users glued to their chairs for hours. "Word Challenge," a Scrabble variation created by Playfish, definitely falls into that category.

"Word Challenge" has a pretty basic board and controls

For many online games, simpler is better, and "Word Challenge" uses a fairly basic game board with spaces for 6 letters. An ever-present timer in the upper left-hand corner starts counting down from 2 minutes once the board is in motion. Before time runs out, though, you have to create as many 3-to-6 letter words from those letters as you can.

The concept sounds easy, but it can be frustrating with the clock counting down, changing color as you get closer to running out of time. "Word Challenge" does give the player some hints, though, by providing a word board above the game board. You can see how many 3, 4, 5 and 6-letter words the game is expecting you to find before the clock hits zero.

"Word Challenge" tips and strategies

Through trial-and-error, I came up with a few "Word Challenge" strategies that seem to help my score stay above an embarrassing level:

• Keep an eye on your "S". "Word Challenge" loves plural words, so if you get at least one "S" in your letters, you can submit a word like "bun" and its plural form "buns." It's like getting two words for the price of one. Additionally, if you have the letters "I-N-G" on the game board, you can create longer words (i.e. "rowing", "sewing").

• Be a poet. Word that rhyme are a staple of "Word Challenge" on Facebook. Once you find one word, see if you can swap out the first letter, creating words that rhyme, like "mop", "top" and "flop".

• Proper names can be a trap. "Word challenge" only accepts proper names if they can be used as regular nouns and verbs. A good example of this is the word "sue", which is a name and a verb.

• Use the word board to your advantage. The word board hovering above the "Word Challenge" playing field is organized in groups of 3, 4, 5 and 6-letter words. Within each group, the words are placed in alphabetical order after you submit them. This can provide vital clues to what words you need to find next.

• Go for the big ones. Finding at least one 6-letter word unlocks the "Word Challenge Bonus Round," which asks you to unscramble the name of one of your Facebook friends. Once the Bonus Round is complete, however, you start over on a brand-new game board.

• Three-letter words are your friend. One great way to get your brain moving is finding as many three-letter words as possible. These can serve as the building blocks for longer words.

• "Word Challenge" has a weird vocabulary. This game has a pretty unusual vocabulary, and it may not recognize some legitimate words. It does, however, allow the phonetic spelling of letters as "Scrabble" does (i.e. "Dee"). It may take several games before you figure out the extent of the "Word Challenge" dictionary.

• Use your shuffle. "Word Challenge" has a red scramble button that allows you to shuffle letters around for better visual clues.

• Check your initial drop. After your 6 letters land on the board, see if you get a six-letter word right off the bat. On one of my early games, the letters landed in this order: A-L-B-I-N-O. That gave me a six-letter word and a chance at the Bonus Round.

• Change your board. During play, you get one chance to swap your letters for new ones. The clock doesn't stop running, though, and your word board is swapped with a new one as well.

"Word Challenge" scoring

Throughout the game, the image of a young schoolgirl sits in the corner, offering encouragement and sometimes laughing at goofy mistakes. At the end of the game, she evaluates your "Word Challenge" score, with ratings starting at "Infant" and moving on up from there. In the 50 odd games I played thus far, I made it as far as "Professional Wrestler," but I seem to keep achieving "Hermit-level" scores.

"Word Challenge" from Playfish can be played for free by Facebook users.