I have sort of a love/hate relationship with word games. On the one hand I really enjoy them because they’re typically easy to pick up and play and are a perfect fit for a mobile game. On the other hand I have massive OCD when it comes to finding the “perfect" word and more often than not I end up taxing my brain more than I had planned on when killing a few minutes with my phone. It’s why I had to give up playing Words with Friends. I’d stare at my phone for an hour during my turn making SURE I was playing the absolute best word possible. It was too much. That said, when word games are presented as more of a puzzle, I think I can more easily relax and enjoy them, and that’s the vibe I get from the upcoming game Crossgrams. The premise is pretty simple. Word boxes are displayed both horizontally and vertically, and you’re able to move letters just horizontally in order to make usable words out of all the boxes. See it in action in the trailer below.

As the trailer shows, the concept is pretty simple when you’re dealing with just a few words, but later levels feature massive game boards with all sorts of words going up and down that make finding the perfect solution much more challenging. The developer Nevercenter of Shibuya Grandmaster ($1.99) fame likens it to a blend of Zach Gage’s brilliant Typeshift (Free) and crossword puzzles, with a dash of Picross and Sudoku mixed in. Crossgrams is available for pre-order on the App Store right now with an expected release date of December 12th, and I’ll be looking forward to taking it for a spin next week.