- Wordsmith - Walkthrough

Wordsmith is an excellent online word game that will challenge you to make words with the letters you are given and the words placed on the screen. The game is difficult but not so much so that newcomers to the word game genre won't enjoy playing it. This is really a game that will be fun for anyone regardless of experience of skill level. It can be frustrating but never so frustrating that you don't want to continue. With a simple goal, simple rules and simple graphics, it's somewhat surprising that this game is as fun - and as addictive - as it is.

In Wordsmith, your goal is fairly simple. Make words out of the letters you are given, shown at the bottom of the screen, by placing them on the game board next to the letters already in place. In each level, you start with more letters already in place making each level just a little but more difficult than the last. To place letters all you need to do is click and drag them into place with your mouse. What makes this game challenging is the rules, not the goal. The rules are pretty easy to understand. Each letter you place on the game board must be either above or beside a letter already in place. In other words, each letter you place must be touching another on at least one edge. In addition, each word you make may only be used once throughout the entire game. What this means is that if you use the word 'cat' you will not be able to use the word 'cat' again for the remainder of the game. To make it a bit easier to remember what you are able to do with the letters you have, you can look at the 'used word' list by clicking the red 'used words' button at the top of the screen. Remember, most common three letters words can be arranged in different ways to make different words. 'Cat' could also be 'act', 'eat' can be 'tea' and 'ate' and so on and so forth. Look at all of your options carefully before making your moves. Once a letter is placed on the grid you will not be able to move that letter to another location. Make sure the move you are making is your best option. In addition, longer words give you a bigger point bonus as does making more than word at once. Try to lay out your letters so that placing one letter will give you more than one word. This can be a bit difficult, but the bonus maked it worth it. If you can use all seven of your letters in one word, you'll get an even bigger bonus.

Wordsmith introduces bombs and 'random letters' which make getting through the levels a bit easier. There are small bombs and big bombs that will blow up the letters surrounding them. When you are about the place a bomb, you will see the letters it will blow up highlighted in red. Keep this in mind when you are placing that bomb. They're a valuable resource. Don't waste them. Random letters are great as well. When a random letter is placed on a board it will cycle through the alphabet until the letter it turns to can be used to make a letter. For example, if you place a random letter between a 'c' and a 't', the random letter will submit the word 'cat' when it reaches 'a'. If you have already used the word 'cat', it will continue cycling through the alphabet until it reaches the first letter that forms a word you haven't already submitted, perhaps, in this example, 'o' to form 'cot'. Where the scrolling of letters begins depends on what letter it is at when you place it. If it is at 't', it will start scrolling through the alphabet at 't'. Keep this in mind if you are using a random letter to make a longer word if the placement of the random letter may also make a shorter word. Place the letter so that the letter you need for the longer word will appear before the letter you would need to make the shorter word. If the random letter scrolls to the letter needed for the shorter word first, the shorter word will be submitted.

When you beat a level in Wordsmith, you will be taken to a bonus round. In the bonus round you are given letters you can use to make as many words as possible before your time runs out. This is a great level to earn some extra points, but keep in mind any words you use in the bonus round will count as used words. If you've been playing word games for a while, you shouldn't have a lot of trouble coming up with new words until much later in the game, but for newcomers to this genre might find that a little bit difficult. You need a decent vocabulary to get a good score in this game. On the other hand, for someone looking to build their vocabulary for more intense online word games, this game might be just what you're looking for.

Overall, Wordsmith is a fun, engrossing word game with entertaining graphics and enough difficulty to pose a challenge without feeling impossible; until later levels of course. There is no shame in giving up if you simply don't feel you can make any new words. Once you each a certain point in this game, it becomes very difficult to continue. Use bombs and random letters to get as far as you can. You'll have a blast with this interesting word game and will want to keep playing game after game.