Alan Turoff invented Boggle [App Store] in 1972 and since then the game has seen numerous variants, computer games, and as of today, an iPhone game. The classic game of Boggle is played by shaking a covered tray of 16 dice, each with a different letter printed on each of its sides. The dice settle in to a 4×4 grid, you flip over the included hour glass and start writing out every word you find then tallying your score.
The iPhone version of the game, needless to say, takes care of most of these things for you. The game still starts with a vigorous shake, but finding words is done using a simple touch interface that works identically to other similar word games on the App Store. You drag your finger across tiles to spell a word, hit the green button that pops up to enter it, and repeat for three minutes. You can even rotate the letters by putting two fingers on screen at once and rotating them. At the end of the game, it shows you your total score along with the complete word list and the ability to challenge your friends via email.
Tapping the challenge button brings up an already filled out email ready to be addressed. When the person you’re challenging receives the email, assuming they also own the game, tapping the included link fires up Boggle and allows them to play your exact letter set to beat your score. If you receive a challenge, you can access it at any time by tapping the “Challenges" button, so you don’t need to play challenges from friends right away if you don’t want to.
Also included is an “Advanced" mode that mixes things up a bit by allowing you to change the time limit as well as enable “portal cubes" and/or “panic flip". With portal cubes on, when you match a word the first and last letters swap positions on the grid and with panic flip at 20 seconds left a new configuration of the letters appear. If you’re an old school Boggle player and prefer writing and scoring your own words, there’s a self score mode that does nothing more than display the letter grid and a timer.
If achievements and stat tracking are your thing, Boggle keeps track of a ridiculous amount of data such as your total play time, most used letters, and even things like your favorite method of controlling the game among other equally silly statistics. Achievements range from word length to total games played, challenges beaten, and other things like that.
[ Full HD version | Low Bandwidth version ]
There’s really not much to say about Boggle other than it’s an excellent adaptation of the original. I can see the challenge feature being extremely popular among word nerds, and advanced mode will mix things up a bit for Boggle veterans. Also, at $2.99, the iPhone version seems well priced for a brand-name title, and only priced slightly higher than the generic Boogle-variants already found in the App Store.
The iPhone version Boggle was developed by Tricky Software who also developed Spore and Armado for the iPhone.
App Store Link: Boggle, $2.99
