Flip Words Review
From LoveToKnow VideoGames
So What Do You Do?
Flip Words is a simple game from Yahoo! Games that has you forming words and trying to guess a blank puzzle, kinda like Wheel of Fortune.
The game starts you on a 7x7 grid of letters on red circles. You goal is to basically form words in a chain-like fashion in order to score points. The first letter of each valid word may or may not reveal letters in the hidden phrase. Some of the categories are Events, Places, People, Things, Occupations; and most of the phrases are pop culture references, so anybody with a fountain of useless knowledge in their brain should do fine.
As you form words in Flip Words, you earn points. Each letter that began a word is show in the upper left of the screen so you can keep track of letters you don’t need to use to start a word. With each word, your 'turns remaining' goes down by one and new letters will reappear in the used letter's place.
On the right side of the game is a green bar that increases proportionately with length of the word. When you reach the top, you get to keep your turn instead of decreasing by one. Obviously the longer the word, the more points you score, and the quicker the green bar goes up.
The game keeps track of your words in a field on the right. It shows you the letters as you select them and as soon as it recognizes a word, the game shows you how many points it is worth. If you don’t see any words or the letters you need don’t form words, then hit the shuffle button and the letters will rearrange.
NOTE: The online version supports words up to six letters. For anything longer, you need to download the 4.5 MB file which also allows for user created phrases.
When you’re ready to solve the puzzle, click on Guess Phrase and enter your guess. If you’re right, then the puzzle will be revealed and you get bonus points based on how many turns you had left. The ending screen also shows you your best word and how many points it was worth. If you’re wrong or you have no turns left, then it’s game over.
Ultimately, you want to see how many rounds you can go. For the first round, you start out with 20 turns. Each round afterwards you start out with two less. Pretty soon, you may just have to start guessing after only a few turns.
Basic Strategy
Play this game like Wheel of Fortune. Keep an eye on the letters you’ve already started words with so you don’t waste your turn. Try to get ‘E’ and ‘A’ out of the way early, especially if you see they form words. Next, try the popular letters, ‘R’, ‘S’, ‘T’, ‘L’, and ‘N’. Then look for common letter combinations you can complete, such as 'Ch', 'Sh', 'Th' and so on.
If you recognize a word but can't solve the puzzle, complete what you know. Often filling those letters will complete gaps elsewhere. Also try sounding out the phrase to see if anything clicks. And don’t forget the shuffle button. It may use a turn, but if you can’t form any words with the letters you need, you have to click it.
Thompson’s Two Cents
The learning curve of Flip Words is very short. If you click on the help button, then you’ll get a small window with a few sentences explaining the game. Pretty much, that’s all you’ll need because you’ll be racking your brain for 3 letter words as you get into the higher rounds with minimal turns. The Current Word area is handy to see if you have a word or not, especially when you need to start a word with a certain letter and you don’t know if you have a word. Because you can learn the game quick and heat your brain up with a word activity, you should give this game a whirl. And hey, it's free!
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This page has been accessed 1,998 times. This page was last modified 21:39, 7 June 2006.
© 2006-2009 LoveToKnow Corp.
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