My entire way of playing Wordscapes™ changed today, in a matter of seconds. Duh!
I am currently on level 38145, having just finished the prior level.
If you will look in the upper right corner of the above photo, you will notice the “cent” symbol, and, the numbers 13939. Those are the number of points I have currently; having won, bought, or watched videos in order to acquire the currency. The cute little llama in the bottom left corner, with my current crown status, is your humble, well, llama. Me.
How has my playing of the game changed? Let me try to explain.
Here is what the screen looks like when I open the next ”round”. One must find as many words from the letters given to fill the crossword puzzle. Any additional words are stored in the small star, bottom left, and points are awarded when the round is finished.
As you can see, also in the circle with the star, that the 3 in crossed out; that means the words cannot be shorter than 4 letters. They can have more than 4 letters, just not less.
Now, for the other little doodads around the outside of the circle. From the right, the lightbulb with the 100 means they will give you a 1 letter hint for 100 points. (Until today, I used that much too frequently.)
Below that is the rocket, and, as you can see, I have earned 1 free hint in this form. What it does is send a spray of from 4-6 letters that land wherever they want. Helpful, but 200 points, if you have to buy it. Yikes.
Swinging around to the left, you already know about the star, so continue up to the bullseye. A you can see, I have 2 free bullseyes in my pouch, to use when I wish. If you touch it, you can touch any empty space on the puzzle, and, it will give you the letter. Fancy, huh? Very expensive. This one costs 300 point. I never use that unless I have some in reserve. Who can afford 300 points?
Now, to the crowning glory; the shuffle. You touch this, and the letters will turn in the circle, giving you a completely different view of the letters within. You can probably already see a host of different words in the circle; chipped, chip, pipe, piped, hide, hipped, and so on.
There are nine words to be formed from these letters; included is the “special” word, the one that has the 4 cent symbols on it. That one gives you four extra points.
Now, the shuffle doesn’t cost a single point. You can use it however many times in a puzzle that you want. So, why, if I think I’m so very clever, didn’t I figure out to use the shuffle more often, and stop using up all of my points? I have no clue. But, I did, I have, and I am. Finally.
I used all of my points in this past weekend’s tournament, so I had to break down, and buy most of the points you see. However, since I figured out to use the shuffle, I have not used a single point, and have collected several hundred points, from the tournament.
It is great fun, closing onto addictive, but it keeps my mind sharp, and my vocabulary in abundance.
That’s all for today. Stay happy, stay healthy, stay safe. Wash your hands, cover your mouth, and protect your loved ones.
Post script: I forgot to mention that if you tap on the word you spelled, it will give you the dictionary meanings of said word. Neat, huh?!