Word Games Contents: -----Crossword Games -----Word Search Puzzles -----Hangman and "Wheel" Games -----Cryptograms & Jumbled Words -----Other ==================== -----Crossword Games [CCK] CROSSWORD CONSTRUCTION KIT 1.2 (Kijin Jung; $19) creates a 15x15, diagonally symmetrical crossword puzzle. It outputs the grid and solution as EPS files for a professional appearance. Clues can be saved separately as text files, which you may format as you desire. [CWFD] Cross Word Finder (White, Banjamin; $25) generates a list of words that match a specified length and letter pattern. The list can be used either for creating or solving crossword puzzles where some of the letters are known. The master list contains 200,000 words, yet is extremely fast. Requires a hard disk with 4 meg free during installation; space used after installation is 2.6 meg. [COMPUZZL] Compuzzle (DLC Software; $(See text)) is a first-rate, computerized crossword puzzle. Twenty puzzles are included on this disk. You can order 72 more puzzles from the author for $16 or 144 more for $25. The program is easy to use. As you scroll across or down the screen, the clues are shown at the bottom of the screen for the across and down spaces you are on, and you can type in all or part of answers at any time. The program will optionally verify your answers as you enter each character, after each word, or after the puzzle is done. Answers can be saved and restored for play at a later time. If you like doing crossword puzzles, you will enjoy Compuzzle. [CCPSYS] Computer Crossword Puzzles System (Nael Software; $?) is for people who enjoy solving or creating their own crossword puzzles. In CCPS you can have up to 5000 words in the library, and up to 500 puzzles and up to 100 puzzle layouts. After the puzzle is completely solved the computer will ask you if you want to print the completed puzzle on paper. This is the only time you can print the completed puzzle. You can print the unsolved puzzle with a list of clues any time you wish. When you are creating puzzles, the program will let you add new words to the dictionary. (Note: When you press I for Information, a file is not found. We are trying to get a replacement, but the program is easy to use without any help screens.) [CREATOR] Crossword Creator (PC-Help Line ASP; $20) can be used for designing or solving crossword puzzles. It provides the tools needed to layout a crossword puzzle on your computer's screen, define a short clue for each word in the puzzle, and save the puzzle to disk. The maximum puzzle dimensions are 36 columns by 22 rows. The program remembers up to 30 words that are not placed successfully and allows you to select them without retyping. [CROSWRD] Crosword ($?) creates crossword puzzles from the words that you provide. [CRSASST] Crossword Puzzle Assistant (Ridgley, John A.; $10) will help in the design and printing of a 20 x 20 square crossword. The maximum number of words that may be used is 75. A dictionary of words is included from which you may have the program pull words with which to finish the puzzle. [DXWORD] DXWord 1.0 (Tavolga, William N.; $15) is a computerized scratchpad for working on diagramless crossword puzzles. It displays a 23 by 21 diagram on which letter can be entered and squares filled as needed. Some or all of the square contents can be erased or moved. The diagram can be resized without losing data and data can be printed and also saved and recalled. EGA/VGA video is required. [PUZZLER] Puzzler (Acropolis Software; $10) helps you solve crossword puzzles, unscramble anagrams or any other kind of puzzle where you only know some of the letters of a word. It has a dictionary of over 112,000 words and abbreviations. [TOM_CRSS] Tommy's Crosswords (Tommy's Toys; $20) is a personal crossword puzzle management system, allowing you to create and solve computerized crossword puzzles in color. [WORDF_CO] WordFind 8.1s (Castle Oaks Computer Services; $15) is a system to assist you in finding words for crossword puzzles and for other types of word puzzles such as acrostics. [WORDLOK] Wordlok 1.1b (Virtual Solutions; $15) is a crossword puzzle-building program that fills words into user-defined puzzle grid layouts. It has an internal list of 1750 words between two and eight letters long. Puzzles may have up to 10 rows and 38 columns with a total of 255 words. We have seen other puzzle builders that could not fill a complete puzzle, but this one did so easily in our testing. [XDOWN] Crossdown 2.8 (Bellotto, Sam Jr. ASP; $31) lets you create and solve crossword puzzles on-screen. It employs a very attractive mouse-based graphic interface. You simply click on a space, choose an across or down clue, and type in your answer. A help mode is available for when you get stuck, which reveals one letter at a time. If you get really frustrated, all words in the puzzle can be revealed. Seven example puzzles are included, and you can easily create your own. Requires EGA/VGA, 512K, and a mouse. [XPRO] CrossPro (Petreley, Nicholas; $20) is a crossword puzzle generator. As you give it words, it will cycle through the positions the word could go given the words already given. Then it aids in writing clues, lets you move words around, and lets you keep a pending list of words which can be added in at any time. [XWORD] The Daily Crossword 1.0 (Aus-PC-Soft Shareware; $30-40) allows you to construct and solve crossword puzzles. Features include automated crossword construction, on screen solving of crosswords, printout of the lattice, clues and solution, and facilities for maintaining a pool of lattice designs and dictionaries. You can create new dictionaries, add words and clues to existing dictionaries, display statistics of a dictionary, and there is also a special word feature for personal greetings or advertising slogans. Requires VGA, 512K Ram, and 1MB of disk space. [XWORDJJ] XWordJJO 1.6 (JJO Software; $20) is a fast, flexible and compact menu-driven crossword puzzle tool box. While easy to use, it is intended for serious crossword puzzle creators. [XWORDPWR] Crossword Power 5.0 (Wisco Computing ASP; $42) is a powerful menu-driven crossword puzzle generator. Up to 80 words can be automatically placed in each puzzle. Puzzle words can be up to 17 characters long, and clues can be up to 100 characters long. Separate word/clue lists can be maintained, and you can easily move words between lists. An Auto-Search function can create over 200 different word arrangements to find the puzzle with the most included words and clues. A variety of printing options are available, and puzzles may also be captured as a PCX graphic file for importing into desktop publishing programs. Mouse support is provided. This could also be an excellent vocabulary tool for teachers. [XWORDS2] Crosswords #2 (Tracker Software; $5) contains ten easy to medium level crossword puzzles. You can ask for a one-letter hint or see the entire solution. Incomplete puzzles can be saved to a file and recalled later. Mouse support is included. Requires EGA/VGA. -----Word Search Puzzles [SPWS] Super Pro Word Search (Boozer; Rick; $35) is a word search puzzle generator that is capable of producing puzzles that are as good as those created by professional human puzzle makers. This program follows the rules determined by word search puzzle magazines. It automatically figures theoretical optimum width and height of the puzzles. The program circles words in the solution sheet, interlocks words at common letters, checks for words entered twice, reverses words at random and more. A word list editor is included. Requires 512k. Mouse is optional. (Use the PKZIP /d option when installing.) [TOM_WRDS] Tommy's Hidden-Words (Tommy's Toys; $0) is a computerized version of the circle-a-word type of puzzle. There are nine levels of play, including snaking words and wrapping around edges - very challenging. [VOCABPWR] Vocabulary Power 2.0 (Wisco Computing ASP; $42) creates word search puzzles, vocabulary bingo cards, and flash cards from your words and definitions. Word lists created with this program are compatible with Crossword Power. This was originally created for teachers, but can be enjoyed by anyone who likes word puzzles. [WORDSRCH] Spellbound Word Search Creator (Casey, Kenneth R. Jr.; $20) allows you to create custom word search puzzles. You can set the size, level of difficulty and direction of insertion. You can enter words manually or from a list. The program will automatically search for a fit for specified words. You can create numeric and alphanumeric puzzles, as well as puzzles with punctuation. [WORDFND] Wordfind (AA Small Business Systems; $25) lets you create your own word puzzles. You can enter up to 40 words of your choice, save the puzzle, change the words in the puzzle at a later time and print them to be solved. [WORDHNT] Wordhunt (Yee, George; $5) accepts a list of words and generates a word search puzzle. The puzzle is a matrix of letters into which the words of the supplied list have been hidden. The words may appear up, down, left, right, or diagonally. The puzzle is solved by finding each word of the list in the matrix of letters. [WSPM] Word Search Puzzle Maker (Impact D. Publishing; $15) generates 24 different variations of word search puzzles which can be printed saved to a file for importing into word processors. An editor is provided to customize your own puzzles. [WSEARCH] Word Search 1.1 (Parssinen, T.; $10) lets you solve word search puzzles on your computer. Ten puzzles are provided with topics covering States, U.S. Rivers, Star Trek, Rock Music, and more. Many options are available including a timer, up to 44 words per puzzle, mouse support, and the ability to save and recall puzzles. [WORDSQR] WordSquared (Blyth, Mike; $?) generates word search squares in which the player tries to locate hidden words running in various directions. You can edit and store lists of words, choose which directions the words may run, size the squares, and view or print the squares with or without the filler characters. [WORDWIS] Wordwise (Fogarty, John; $5) is a hidden word game. Each letter has a point value corresponding with the number of occurrences. You bid a number of points on each word and as letters are picked the point value is deducted from the bid. If you fail to guess the correct word, the point value is deducted from your score. If a word is correct, the remaining amount of points will be added to your score. [WSC31] Word Search Creator 3.1 (Owen Associates, reg. fee: $29) creates and prints word search puzzles -----Hangman and "Wheel" Games [ACLUSL] A Clues Solution 2.0 (Nikula, Richard; $10-$15) combines the strategies of Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy, and Trivial Pursuit. You solve a puzzle by guessing the letters that comprise the words of the related clues. After guessing all the letters of a clue, you are allowed to try to solve the solution. Up to four people can play. [AMBILAL] Ambilalf (Burket, David and Fitch, J. R.; $0) is a guess-the-letter word game which can be played in either Indonesian or English. There's lots of color, graphics and sounds - one of the more entertaining word games we've seen. [CONJ] Conjecture (RSE Incorporated; $11) is a Wheel of Fortune type game for up to four players. It features nice graphics, 50 puzzles, and the ability to customize the game to the point of controlling how fast Suzi walks across the screen. [GTTITL] Guess the Title 3.1 (Duperre, Paul; $10) is an excellent version of Wheel of Fortune for two players. This version has a 100 puzzles. [HANG4] Hangman 4.0 (Larry W Parker, reg. fee: $15) is a game of hangman for VGA. [HM_STUDN] Hangman for Students (Langin, Chester ASP; $19) is the classic game of Hangman with word lists available for all different grade levels. You can also add your own words. It uses ASCII characters instead of graphics, so any video will work. [HOWMANY] Howmany (Pelaware; $2) is a game in which phrases which start with numbers are shown with all but the first letters of the key words blanked out. Your goal is to guess the phrase. For example: "365 D___ in a Y___" would be "365 Days in a Year". This is an interesting puzzle, but one of our testers did not like the fact that if you are wrong, you can't find out what the right answer is supposed to be. We think that just makes it more fun to play next time. [HANGHYP] Hyper Hangman (Soleau, William; $10) is a Hangman (guess-the-word) game with good graphics and a hanging man who is not content to hang quietly while you botch the letter-guessing process. An interesting twist, good graphics, and difficult enough to keep adults interested. [LHANGMN] Larry's Hangman 1.0 (Parker, Larry; $15) is a game of hangman for VGA. It features basic and advanced games and user definable words. [PHRAZE] Phraze Craze ($?) - pick a letter at a time and try to guess the phrase. [MISSLNK] Missing Link (Nissen Ventures; $25) is a word game involving skill and strategy. A series of hidden words are linked together to form a chain. You have to guess the missing words ("links") in the chain, with a new letter exposed after each guess. Each word is a clue to the next word. Sounds cannot be turned off. You can play the computer or a human component, both of whom are represented on screen with animated characters. [SINKEM] SinkEm 1.01 (Soleau, William; $12) is a graphics based game like Hangman, but the poor victim in this case is in a row boat that sinks further into shark infested waters each time you miss a letter. Like Hyper Hangman, the sinking man does not go quietly. [SIXLTR] Six Letter Word Game 4.2 (Nottingham, Ralph and Gellman, Robert; $0) is a variation of Wheel of Fortune type games. You try to guess a six-letter word by guessing all the letters in the word at once. You are told only how many letters match the exact positions, but not where the matches are. There are hints, an expanded dictionary, an on-screen workspace, and more. [TOM_WHEL] Tommy's Wheel of Misfortune 09.10.92 (Tommy's Toys; $0) is a takeoff on the famous Wheel of Fortune show. [VGAWHEL] VGAWheel & EGAWheel (Mueller, Russell ASP; $10 each) are Wheel of Fortune/hangman kind of word games for VGA and EGA. Features include play for one to three contestants, an editor to add or delete your own puzzles, and a used letter board to separate the vowels from the consonants. Over 1000 puzzles are provided. [WORDPLAY] WordPlay (Schonewille, Jerry; $?) is a Wheel of Fortune type game. It has a better user interface than some of the other Wheel games. It also has an editor for creating new puzzles. -----Cryptograms & Jumbled Words [CIPHER] Cipher 2.1 (Anderson, Nels ASP; $17-$26) displays an enciphered quotation on the screen with the object being to solve the cipher in as few attempts as possible. The program supports up to nine players, and a filer allows selection of any puzzle by number. The screen displays player name, puzzle file name, puzzle number within file, and puzzle file topic. You can add puzzles that are already encrypted or any straight text quote. [CIPHERA] Cipher-Ace Series (Stewart, Charles W. ASP; $24) is an introduction to cryptography which includes some classical ciphers for you to try to break. You can do secret writing, convert a message into ciphers for sending, and it provides a work screen and help menus for decrypting two cipher types. [CRPTGRM] Cryptogrammer 1.2 (McGuire, Paul; $8) is a cryptogram solving program. Code-breaking tools are provided for tallying frequencies of letters, doubles, 2and 3-letter words. There are also references on typical frequencies found in everyday usage. [CRYPTO] PC Cryptograms 1.1 (Blanchard Software; $15) is a set of 50 challenging cryptograms like those you see in the newspaper, except that this program is much easier to use. The program takes care of the substitutions for you when you guess a letter. This is the perfect program for finding out if you have a future in the CIA's code breaking department. [CRYPTOQ] CryptoQuest (ON AIR Software, Inc.; $0) lets you create cryptograms or decipher 60 of them included on the disk. A lexicon of the most frequently used words in the English language is provided as well as a pattern word dictionary. [CRYPTOSW] USA-Crypto 1.1 (Unicorn Systems Associates; $20) helps find solutions to cryptograms. A database of 15 ready-to-solve ciphers are included. Statistics are kept on each cipher in this database. A tutorial is also provided. [CRYPMAN] Crypto-Mania 2.21 (Dow, Don L.; $15) is a game of cryptograms, which are sentences or phrases written in code, one letter substituted for another. You must decipher the code and reveal the phrase. There are 250 puzzles included. Requires 640K RAM and CGA or better video. [CRYPTOZ] CryptOz (R&M Logic Systems; $8) is a word game in which you decipher messages. About 80 or so puzzles are included for the computer to choose for you to solve, or you may enter your own puzzle. [ENIGMAX] Enigmacross 1.4 (Bellotto, Sam Jr. ASP; $26) lets you solve and construct professional quality acrostic puzzles. It features a mouse-driven graphical interface, animated selection buttons, on-screen help and sound effects. Puzzles can be printed in various styles with standard acrostic numbering added automatically. Requires EGA/VGA, a mouse, 512K RAM. [FICT] Fictionary 1.32 (Cascoly Software ASP; $20) is a game the players make up definitions for obscure words, trying to convince the other players to guess incorrectly. It can also be used by one player as a vocabulary program. [JUMBLE] Jumble ($0) is a set of programs that will allow you to rapidly solve anagrams up to 24 executable code are included. 750K of disk space and 400K of memory are required. [KRYPTO] Krypto 2.3 (Intelligent Educational Software; $0) is a challenging word game in which you solve and create kryptograms. It presents quotes as a series of symbols. These symbols are then substituted with letters. You can add up to 200 kryptograms to a file. [NAMEGRAM] NameGram (Rubenking, Neil J. ASP; $25) makes anagrams from names. First you enter one or more words. (Example: TURBO PASCAL) Then NG compares all possible combinations of the letters in the word(s) to a 250k (compressed) dictionary it has on disk and displays them. From this list, you can pick a word of any length. (eg: BLOAT) Then NG will display all words that can be made with the remaining letters and you can pick another word in the list (eg: US, CRAP) You continue picking words in this manner until no words are left. NG will then tell you any letters that are left over. Ideally, you would want to use all the letters in the words you pick. [QTFALL] Quotefall 2.1 (Morgan, Bill; $0) is a fun little program that makes a kind of word puzzle called a Quote Fall puzzle. In this type of puzzle, you are presented with columns of letters across the page and you try to arrange the letters vertically in each column so that they read across the page correctly to come up with the original quote or message. You can also save printer control codes for your particular printer in case you want to print the puzzles. [QUATO] Quato 1.1 (Soleau Software; $12) is a combination word game and sliding tile puzzle. You have 3 minutes to move the tiles around on a 5x5 grid to spell as many different words as you can. (After spelling a word, you get credit for it and can move the letters in it to spell something else.) An 80,000-word dictionary is used to check for words and a list on the side shows the words you have spelled. Requires EGA/VGA and a hard disk. [SOLVQOT] Cryptoquote Solver 1.59 (Pearce, Tal; $0) helps in completing a crypted quote without the need for pencil and paper. It also provides a fast way of changing letters without error. [TARGET] Target Word (Farrar, David; $0) is a word game, with the objective of finding the "target word" that the computer has chosen from a list of words in a data file. The player uses carefully chosen "probe words" and logical analysis to eventually find out the identity of the target word. (The author can no longer be reached at the address provided in the documentation.) [TOMCRYPT] Tommy's CryptoQuips 11.13.92 (Tommy's Toys; $6) helps you solve and create cryptograms. Several cryptograms are provided. You can play solo or with 2-5 other players or teams. [WW] Words*Words 1.3 (Blanchard Software; $15) is a word game in which you try to determine the computer-selected five-letter word by guessing other five-letter words. When you guess, the program tells you how many letters in your word matches the computer's word and you have to figure out the correct letters by inference, with a limit of 18 guesses. The difference between this and similar games is that your guesses have to be real five-letter words contained in the programs 6,000-word database. When you get a correct answer, you are rewarded with a clever quotation based on the computer's word. [WORDMIX] WordMix 1.3 (Blanchard Software; $5) is a word game in which you reconstruct puzzle words from mixed letters. Clues involve trivia information, common phrases or expressions, and words within words, riddles, and synonyms. It has 41 clues and more than 900 puzzle words. It is intended for teens and adults and requires a moderate vocabulary, some knowledge of English letter combinations, and the ability to juggle words and letters mentally. [WORDWAR] Wordwars is a game in which you try to make as many words as possible from a randomly selected set of letters. One to six people can play. BASIC or GWBASIC is required. It may require a slow-down program. -----Other [ACROSTX] Acrostix 2.3 (Intelligent Educational Software; $18) is a pair of programs, one of which will let you try to solve Acrostic puzzles, and the other of which will let you create them for others to solve. [BOOGDX] Boogle Deluxe 1.0 (Seaboard Software; $30) challenges you to list as many words as possible in the alloted time by combining letters from the random cubes. The letters must be adjacent, but can be in any direction, including diagonally adjacent. Mouse is required. [CHASPUZ1] Chaspuz1 (Carr, Charles; $5) is a graphic word/puzzle game. A picture is displayed and you must decipher the phrase it represents. Twenty five puzzles are included. [EDUGAME] EduGame 1.0 (Jarrett, Eric; $8) is an educational word-puzzle guessing game. Players are given a category and a hint, and must try to guess letters or a complete puzzle. It is designed for two players of high-school level and up. Over 400 puzzles are included. Categories include collectors, past scientist, geometry, chemical elements, vocabulary, entertainers' names, computers, noted writers, animals, state capitals, disasters, U.S. Presidents, astronomy, state nicknames, Canada, and foreign currency. [KRIS15A] KrisKros (Hirbernik, Robert M.; $15) is a game similar to a crossword puzzle for up to four players. Players form words by placing letter tiles on a grid. Points are awarded for completion of a pattern which vary from easy to difficult. Each player gets up to 90 seconds to complete a play. Requires a 286 machine, EGA, hard disk, and a mouse. This is a very well done game. [QUOTRIS] Quote-Tris 1.0 (Kapusta, Philip; $10) is a Tetris style word game. It combines famous quotations with the action of a Tetris arcade game. You put together a notable quote using random words that descend before time runs out. Requires hard disk and VGA. [WORDY2] Wordy 2.0 [Cooper, M.; $2-8] is a word construction game that challenges you to enter as many words as possible out of a set of letters. Wordy checks your choices in a 94,000 word dictionary and keeps track of scores. [WORDWHIZ] Word Whiz Volume I (Miller, Scott; $4) is a word challenge game that tests the player's knowledge of the English language. It is played like a quiz, and continually rates the player's progress.