I am unashamed to admit that I'm a nerd. My idea of a good time is playing a word game like Boggle or Scrabble. Thankfully, I (and many others) can play such games via Facebook and/or my (our) cell phone(s).
While it seems that cheating has become more commonplace in these games (Words With Friends in particular) than San Diego has had nice weather, I've yet to give in to that craze.
One element present with the game Scramble With Friends (Boggle) not present in Words With Friends (Scrabble) are legal boosts called "power-ups," which cost a number of tokens from the 15 available. I've now tried all five power-ups, including the latest one which costs money. So, in case anyone's curious about playing the game or giving these power-ups a gander, here's a rundown of them all:
Freeze - I think this is probably my favorite of all the power-ups. With the freeze, time stands still for a matter of seconds, which allows you more time to find words and improve your score. The only downside of this power-up is the fact there's no set time for it. When I've been really on a roll and clicked on this power-up, it's seemed to last for 15-20 seconds. However, when things aren't going as smoothly, it's seemed to last for just 5-10 seconds. In any case, I think I've found this power-up to be the most consistently effective of them all.
Inspiration - This power-up can be used three times in the course of a game. When you click on it, letters in a word are highlighted for you. In other words, this power-up gives you three words for a game. It can be fairly effective in helping a player find a new starting place where to find a great multitude of words. The words it provides typically aren't of the extremely high-score variety, but they don't tend to be of the extremely low-score variety either. All-in-all, I think it's a decent power-up, but unless you want to purchase two or more power-ups for a round, I'd recommend the "freeze" power-up over this one.
Scramble - I think this is my least favorite of all the power-ups. I can understand how it could be a effective at times, but I don't think I'll ever waste another token on it. What it does is alter the angle of the grid to provide the player with a different perspective. Sometimes a different angle of the grid can help a player see words he or she hadn't seen previously. Again, though, unless a player has had great success with this power-up, I'd probably stray away from this one.
Vision - This is a more recent power-up than the other three I've mentioned. It's similar to "inspiration," but I think I like this one slightly better. With a click on this power-up, a player is given three words to find. Once he or she has found the three words, he/she is given an additional 15 seconds of time. What I like more about this power-up than "inspiration" is the fact it gives me 15 additional seconds to find words. If a player isn't very quick in finding words, I might recommend "inspiration" over this one, as this wouldn't save him/her much time in the end. However, if the player is fairly quick like myself, then those 15 additional seconds can really pay some dividends at game's end.
Mega-Freeze - This is the most recent addition to the power-ups. The title of it is pretty fitting, as it's like the "freeze" power-up multiplied by about four. This power-up gives a player a full minute of extra time. The catch? It costs money. I gave it one gander to see if it was worth the price and came away feeling slightly disappointed. If a player uses this power-up in a 3rd round where there are a lot of words and points available on the grid, then it could very well be worth the price for that game. However, I honestly think that person would be better off spending a few tokens (not actual money) on multiple "freeze" power-ups than spending money on this. The time I used this power-up, the grid wasn't a very good one, and I wound up only using approximately 15 of the 60 additional seconds finding words due to that.
While it seems that cheating has become more commonplace in these games (Words With Friends in particular) than San Diego has had nice weather, I've yet to give in to that craze.
One element present with the game Scramble With Friends (Boggle) not present in Words With Friends (Scrabble) are legal boosts called "power-ups," which cost a number of tokens from the 15 available. I've now tried all five power-ups, including the latest one which costs money. So, in case anyone's curious about playing the game or giving these power-ups a gander, here's a rundown of them all:
Freeze - I think this is probably my favorite of all the power-ups. With the freeze, time stands still for a matter of seconds, which allows you more time to find words and improve your score. The only downside of this power-up is the fact there's no set time for it. When I've been really on a roll and clicked on this power-up, it's seemed to last for 15-20 seconds. However, when things aren't going as smoothly, it's seemed to last for just 5-10 seconds. In any case, I think I've found this power-up to be the most consistently effective of them all.
Inspiration - This power-up can be used three times in the course of a game. When you click on it, letters in a word are highlighted for you. In other words, this power-up gives you three words for a game. It can be fairly effective in helping a player find a new starting place where to find a great multitude of words. The words it provides typically aren't of the extremely high-score variety, but they don't tend to be of the extremely low-score variety either. All-in-all, I think it's a decent power-up, but unless you want to purchase two or more power-ups for a round, I'd recommend the "freeze" power-up over this one.
Scramble - I think this is my least favorite of all the power-ups. I can understand how it could be a effective at times, but I don't think I'll ever waste another token on it. What it does is alter the angle of the grid to provide the player with a different perspective. Sometimes a different angle of the grid can help a player see words he or she hadn't seen previously. Again, though, unless a player has had great success with this power-up, I'd probably stray away from this one.
Vision - This is a more recent power-up than the other three I've mentioned. It's similar to "inspiration," but I think I like this one slightly better. With a click on this power-up, a player is given three words to find. Once he or she has found the three words, he/she is given an additional 15 seconds of time. What I like more about this power-up than "inspiration" is the fact it gives me 15 additional seconds to find words. If a player isn't very quick in finding words, I might recommend "inspiration" over this one, as this wouldn't save him/her much time in the end. However, if the player is fairly quick like myself, then those 15 additional seconds can really pay some dividends at game's end.
Mega-Freeze - This is the most recent addition to the power-ups. The title of it is pretty fitting, as it's like the "freeze" power-up multiplied by about four. This power-up gives a player a full minute of extra time. The catch? It costs money. I gave it one gander to see if it was worth the price and came away feeling slightly disappointed. If a player uses this power-up in a 3rd round where there are a lot of words and points available on the grid, then it could very well be worth the price for that game. However, I honestly think that person would be better off spending a few tokens (not actual money) on multiple "freeze" power-ups than spending money on this. The time I used this power-up, the grid wasn't a very good one, and I wound up only using approximately 15 of the 60 additional seconds finding words due to that.
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