Retrogram in Color Think you're a word nerd? Make as many words as you can using seven letters Retrogram is a love letter to the 1970s, an… Free Buy Now Watch Media DetailsThink you're a word nerd? Make as many words as you can using seven letters Retrogram is a love letter to the 1970s, and the most stylish word puzzle you'll play all year. Train your brain and discover new words every day Subscribe to get the Daily Puzzle. A new puzzle each day, hand-curated and full of interesting stories about your favorite words Or play the Sunday puzzle for free each week FEATURES - A hand-made puzzle each and every day - SharePlay. Start a FaceTime call while you're solving a puzzle and solve together - Play on your Apple Watch too! - No ads, ever Additional details Privacy policy: https://retrogram.app/#privacy Terms of use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Information Seller:in Color Genre:Puzzle, Word Release:Jan 04, 2022 Updated:Mar 10, 2024 Version:2.1 Size:134.7 MB TouchArcade Rating:Unrated User Rating:Unrated Your Rating:unrated Compatibility:HD Universal (while the app info is loading, link is here) I started out posting my first game on these forums over 12 years ago. Thought I'd share my latest! Retrogram a daily word puzzle for anyone who's a word nerd, like me. The aesthetic is inspired by the 70s and 80s: Atari game box art, Nintendo packaging, old magazine ads, washed T-shirts with bubble-type logos, VHS cassette tapes and faded rainbows My partner and I spend each day putting together a puzzle for the next day, researching the words and editing down the list. It's free if you play weekly, for daily there's $0.99/month for 30 daily puzzles, or $6.99/year for 365 daily puzzles. No ads It's also on Apple Watch and iPad. Syncs to iCloud and even supports SharePlay so you can share a game over FaceTime (if the other person isn't subscribed, they'll get the premium puzzle for the duration of the FaceTime call so they can help you solve it!) There's a word of the day each day, and to beat the puzzle you have to make as many words as you can with the seven letters. Definitions and stories about the words are included if you visit the word list slewis7 likes this. slewis7 Well-Known Member Apr 6, 2011 3,768 41 48 Male Retired! Houston, TX #2 slewis7, Jan 8, 2022 My wife and I really enjoy word games and this is perhaps our favorite ever! We look forward to the new puzzle every day and after about 15 minutes when we both start to struggle we pool our words and work toward the “Wizard” level score together. Besides the nature of the word finding (which to be honest is similar to many other word games we have played), we really like the game’s retro aesthetics and the sometimes clever and humorous word definition each puzzle provides for a subset of the found words. Also, being able to play just one puzzle a day keeps it fresh. My only complaint about the game is that it does not give any indication how close you are to finding all the matching words in the game’s dictionary until you actually get there (“mastermind”). simeon and Anotherkellydown like this. simeon Member Oct 19, 2009 8 9 3 https://retrogram.app #3 simeon, Jan 8, 2022 Thanks @slewis7 ❤️ Good point on not indicating how close you are to Mastermind. Part of the reason we don't do this is that we don't want people to think they haven't finished playing and feel compelled to find all the words (which could be quite frustrating), so we want people to feel like they have beat the day's puzzle when they hit Wizard However, if you are trying to get every single word, I can see how it would be frustrating to not see your progress. At the moment the game tells you when you are 90% complete (you'll see "Nearly there!" pop up when you get an answer). Perhaps we can add a few more ("5 words left!" etc) or some other, subtle indicator for people who really want to get everything slewis7 likes this. slewis7 Well-Known Member Apr 6, 2011 3,768 41 48 Male Retired! Houston, TX #4 slewis7, Jan 9, 2022 I understand @simeon and I like your idea of adding a few more subtle hints as to progress to Mastermind. We have been hitting Wizard every day now (although it often feels unobtainable in the early going) so Mastermind has become our goal. simeon likes this. simeon Member Oct 19, 2009 8 9 3 https://retrogram.app #5 simeon, Jan 10, 2022 @slewis7 we plan to put in a share feature which includes a tally of all the different words found at various letter counts. This would look something like the attached image. For now, this would let you see what's missing from the Mastermind score in a more exact way slewis7 and vectorarchitekt like this. ColeDaddy Silver Supporter<br>Moderator Staff Member Patreon Silver Patreon Gold Patreon Bronze Mar 20, 2010 4,234 131 63 Male Sojourner Washington D.C. #6 ColeDaddy, Jan 10, 2022 I really like this game. With word games, the list of acceptable and unacceptable words may vary, which at times can start as a niggle but later become a nuisance. My first game in, there were words that I believe should have been accepted. For example, the noun "arab" wasn't, despite matching all the requirements determined for that puzzle. Whereas, the infrequently used noun (in the USA) "rarebit" was accepted. I had a couple more head-scratchers along the way despite finding one extra word after achieving the "wizard" milestone (something I'm proud to brag about because stuff like this NEVER happens to me) 1. What dictionary(s) do you use? 2. Do you have any data that records words that were rejected but are valid (e.g. arab)? 3. Will you insert these into the game's lexicon? Thanks and keep up the great work! slewis7 likes this. simeon Member Oct 19, 2009 8 9 3 https://retrogram.app #7 simeon, Jan 10, 2022 Last edited: Jan 11, 2022 @ColeDaddy 1. See below for an explanation of how we select words 2. We delete words from puzzles every day, but we do keep track of them and may reconsider them at a later point (generally we follow the rules below! The exception might be a special occasion or special day. Christmas Day's puzzle was "Rudolph" for example) 3. If we miss a word that should have been included, and someone lets us know, we will insert it into the puzzle immediately (if the puzzle has only been out for an hour). Otherwise it is added to a special list where it is included for all future puzzles. This happened recently with "yeet" and "inbox" and they were added permanently As for how we select words: Generally place names and demonyms (names for groups of people from certain places) are excluded, which is why "arab" was excluded. Even though it is also the name of a breed of horse, it felt a little confusing to include, i.e., "Why is Arab included but Indian not?" Archaic and rare words are excluded if they are also boring — we might occasionally include a rare word if we can tell an interesting story about it under its definition section (you'll notice "rarebit" had a definition despite being odd and obscure. Also, you tried it and got it!). I have a tendency to enjoy words about words so something like "mononym" or "tercet" would be included Highly technical terms (chemistry terms, astronomy terms) are excluded unless they are well known. Same goes for the more obscure flora and fauna (something like "Tiger" would be included but "Acara," a type of fish, would not be) Some pop-culture references are included, especially if it relates to the 1970s or 80s. For example, "Atari" would be in, "Trekkie" would be in (Star Trek fan). "Barbie" would be in (this was the interesting related fact for that word: https://twitter.com/RetrogramApp/status/1479464339023093772) We will occasionally remove a word ending in "er" if it just seems highly likely to be missed, or underused in general (or really hard to use in a sentence). An example of this might be "blubberer" (as in, someone who blubbers). I will typically go through these and attempt to use them in a sentence, check their Google ngram usage vs. alternatives, prior to including them I like literary references with interesting origins. So "gamgee" (a surgical dressing named after Joseph Gamgee) might be included, because that word became the colloquial word for "cotton wool" in Birmingham and possibly led to the character name "Sam Gamgee" in The Lord of the Rings (I include these stories with the words) On the whole, the goal is to make a fun puzzle where someone who is trying hard will reach "Wizard" level consistently. So even if we include a word they may not know, they can learn about it in the "Yesterday's words" word list and read up on it. It will be included in future puzzles so hopefully they enjoyed discovering something new and can remember it for next time "Mastermind" (hitting all the words) is achievable but we definitely don't want people to feel compelled to do that. Which is why progress is no longer shown after "Wizard" level and it's purely a bonus for someone with too much time on their hands slewis7 and Echoseven like this. ColeDaddy Silver Supporter<br>Moderator Staff Member Patreon Silver Patreon Gold Patreon Bronze Mar 20, 2010 4,234 131 63 Male Sojourner Washington D.C. #8 ColeDaddy, Jan 11, 2022 That's a very helpful and information explanation. TBH, I gave up on word games because I didn't understand what goes into determining which words to include or exclude. In many cases, there were exceptions to in-game rules, making for a less than pleasurable and confusing experience. Your thoughtful response gave me hope. There's room for consideration and you're not as inflexible as other devs are, within limits, of course. Knowing what goes on behind the curtain gave me sense of relief that you are open to listening and responding to your audience. slewis7 and simeon like this. simeon Member Oct 19, 2009 8 9 3 https://retrogram.app #9 simeon, Jan 11, 2022 Thanks @ColeDaddy. We're still improving in our puzzle editing, but I think we have reached a place of consistency. The most important thing is creating a fun puzzle that everyone has a chance at solving, and possibly learning something new about words We also have a score curve that we like to use. Monday's puzzle will typically have a lot of words, and the puzzles will get harder all the way to Friday and Saturday. Sunday's puzzle (which is also the free puzzle for everyone) can be any level of difficulty slewis7 likes this. slewis7 Well-Known Member Apr 6, 2011 3,768 41 48 Male Retired! Houston, TX #10 slewis7, Jan 11, 2022 This is wonderful. Thank you! I am so glad to see this information. It seems like every time we check to see what we missed in yesterday’s puzzle, we see a handful of words that we were sure we tried and were rejected. Now we know why! I would suggest you put this explanation of your word selection up on the web site for Retrogram. It is very illuminating for your more serious players. slewis7 Well-Known Member Apr 6, 2011 3,768 41 48 Male Retired! Houston, TX #11 slewis7, Jan 11, 2022 Busted! Anotherkellydown and simeon like this. simeon Member Oct 19, 2009 8 9 3 https://retrogram.app #12 simeon, Jan 11, 2022 I believe we have only added one word to a live puzzle recently (since actual release). This happened more often during the beta, but since release we try to let the puzzle stay even if we missed a word. The only exception to this is if the puzzle has only been out for 30 minutes or so and we think no one will notice. So this shouldn't happen to you any more, though if you notice it please let me know and we'll stop Nice idea! I'll see what I can do slewis7 likes this. Xyth Member Sep 17, 2010 6 1 3 #13 Xyth, Jan 28, 2022 Was enjoying this but they appear to have removed the weekly puzzle in favour of a 10-word trial of the daily puzzle and subscription nagging. Deleted. simeon likes this. simeon Member Oct 19, 2009 8 9 3 https://retrogram.app #14 simeon, Jan 29, 2022 The weekly puzzle is still there! And still free. You just have to play it on Sundays. The Sunday puzzle was always free for everyone, and the Saturday/weekday puzzles were hidden. Now, the Sunday puzzle is still free for everyone, and the other days are offered in a "trial" format We had some people confused about why they were getting different puzzles to others and decided to give a sample of the daily puzzle rather than sticking the game on a single puzzle for the whole week (which felt a bit boring as it doesn't take a week to solve a puzzle). We also wanted to show people that there was a new puzzle every day, with its own editorial, regardless of whether they were a free or paid user. This felt like the best approach The game is also now completely unlocked for anyone who plays over SharePlay, no subscription required. If you FaceTime call your friends, everyone's puzzle is unlocked for the duration of the call Xyth Member Sep 17, 2010 6 1 3 #15 Xyth, Jan 29, 2022 Hmm, that's the problem though. I quite enjoyed working on the weekly puzzle throughout the week, a little bit each day. I don't have time to solve a puzzle in a single day, especially on a Sunday. I'd even pay a one-off fee to have that functionality back. Zero interest in a subscription though. simeon Member Oct 19, 2009 8 9 3 https://retrogram.app #16 simeon, Jan 30, 2022 Thank you for explaining more about this. We thought people might have been getting bored with the app stuck on one puzzle for a week and not been aware that there was more to it than just that. We do a lot of work on the puzzle each day: writing editorial content, adding images for certain words, choosing themed words, and we suspected that free users weren't seeing any of that and might not realise what goes into it I'll have to see if there's a way to have both somehow, or a way to stick to the weekly one Xyth likes this. (You must log in or sign up to post here.) Show Ignored Content Share This Page Tweet Your name or email address: Password: Forgot your password? Stay logged in
My wife and I really enjoy word games and this is perhaps our favorite ever! We look forward to the new puzzle every day and after about 15 minutes when we both start to struggle we pool our words and work toward the “Wizard” level score together. Besides the nature of the word finding (which to be honest is similar to many other word games we have played), we really like the game’s retro aesthetics and the sometimes clever and humorous word definition each puzzle provides for a subset of the found words. Also, being able to play just one puzzle a day keeps it fresh. My only complaint about the game is that it does not give any indication how close you are to finding all the matching words in the game’s dictionary until you actually get there (“mastermind”).
Thanks @slewis7 ❤️ Good point on not indicating how close you are to Mastermind. Part of the reason we don't do this is that we don't want people to think they haven't finished playing and feel compelled to find all the words (which could be quite frustrating), so we want people to feel like they have beat the day's puzzle when they hit Wizard However, if you are trying to get every single word, I can see how it would be frustrating to not see your progress. At the moment the game tells you when you are 90% complete (you'll see "Nearly there!" pop up when you get an answer). Perhaps we can add a few more ("5 words left!" etc) or some other, subtle indicator for people who really want to get everything
I understand @simeon and I like your idea of adding a few more subtle hints as to progress to Mastermind. We have been hitting Wizard every day now (although it often feels unobtainable in the early going) so Mastermind has become our goal.
@slewis7 we plan to put in a share feature which includes a tally of all the different words found at various letter counts. This would look something like the attached image. For now, this would let you see what's missing from the Mastermind score in a more exact way
I really like this game. With word games, the list of acceptable and unacceptable words may vary, which at times can start as a niggle but later become a nuisance. My first game in, there were words that I believe should have been accepted. For example, the noun "arab" wasn't, despite matching all the requirements determined for that puzzle. Whereas, the infrequently used noun (in the USA) "rarebit" was accepted. I had a couple more head-scratchers along the way despite finding one extra word after achieving the "wizard" milestone (something I'm proud to brag about because stuff like this NEVER happens to me) 1. What dictionary(s) do you use? 2. Do you have any data that records words that were rejected but are valid (e.g. arab)? 3. Will you insert these into the game's lexicon? Thanks and keep up the great work!
@ColeDaddy 1. See below for an explanation of how we select words 2. We delete words from puzzles every day, but we do keep track of them and may reconsider them at a later point (generally we follow the rules below! The exception might be a special occasion or special day. Christmas Day's puzzle was "Rudolph" for example) 3. If we miss a word that should have been included, and someone lets us know, we will insert it into the puzzle immediately (if the puzzle has only been out for an hour). Otherwise it is added to a special list where it is included for all future puzzles. This happened recently with "yeet" and "inbox" and they were added permanently As for how we select words: Generally place names and demonyms (names for groups of people from certain places) are excluded, which is why "arab" was excluded. Even though it is also the name of a breed of horse, it felt a little confusing to include, i.e., "Why is Arab included but Indian not?" Archaic and rare words are excluded if they are also boring — we might occasionally include a rare word if we can tell an interesting story about it under its definition section (you'll notice "rarebit" had a definition despite being odd and obscure. Also, you tried it and got it!). I have a tendency to enjoy words about words so something like "mononym" or "tercet" would be included Highly technical terms (chemistry terms, astronomy terms) are excluded unless they are well known. Same goes for the more obscure flora and fauna (something like "Tiger" would be included but "Acara," a type of fish, would not be) Some pop-culture references are included, especially if it relates to the 1970s or 80s. For example, "Atari" would be in, "Trekkie" would be in (Star Trek fan). "Barbie" would be in (this was the interesting related fact for that word: https://twitter.com/RetrogramApp/status/1479464339023093772) We will occasionally remove a word ending in "er" if it just seems highly likely to be missed, or underused in general (or really hard to use in a sentence). An example of this might be "blubberer" (as in, someone who blubbers). I will typically go through these and attempt to use them in a sentence, check their Google ngram usage vs. alternatives, prior to including them I like literary references with interesting origins. So "gamgee" (a surgical dressing named after Joseph Gamgee) might be included, because that word became the colloquial word for "cotton wool" in Birmingham and possibly led to the character name "Sam Gamgee" in The Lord of the Rings (I include these stories with the words) On the whole, the goal is to make a fun puzzle where someone who is trying hard will reach "Wizard" level consistently. So even if we include a word they may not know, they can learn about it in the "Yesterday's words" word list and read up on it. It will be included in future puzzles so hopefully they enjoyed discovering something new and can remember it for next time "Mastermind" (hitting all the words) is achievable but we definitely don't want people to feel compelled to do that. Which is why progress is no longer shown after "Wizard" level and it's purely a bonus for someone with too much time on their hands
That's a very helpful and information explanation. TBH, I gave up on word games because I didn't understand what goes into determining which words to include or exclude. In many cases, there were exceptions to in-game rules, making for a less than pleasurable and confusing experience. Your thoughtful response gave me hope. There's room for consideration and you're not as inflexible as other devs are, within limits, of course. Knowing what goes on behind the curtain gave me sense of relief that you are open to listening and responding to your audience.
Thanks @ColeDaddy. We're still improving in our puzzle editing, but I think we have reached a place of consistency. The most important thing is creating a fun puzzle that everyone has a chance at solving, and possibly learning something new about words We also have a score curve that we like to use. Monday's puzzle will typically have a lot of words, and the puzzles will get harder all the way to Friday and Saturday. Sunday's puzzle (which is also the free puzzle for everyone) can be any level of difficulty
This is wonderful. Thank you! I am so glad to see this information. It seems like every time we check to see what we missed in yesterday’s puzzle, we see a handful of words that we were sure we tried and were rejected. Now we know why! I would suggest you put this explanation of your word selection up on the web site for Retrogram. It is very illuminating for your more serious players.
I believe we have only added one word to a live puzzle recently (since actual release). This happened more often during the beta, but since release we try to let the puzzle stay even if we missed a word. The only exception to this is if the puzzle has only been out for 30 minutes or so and we think no one will notice. So this shouldn't happen to you any more, though if you notice it please let me know and we'll stop Nice idea! I'll see what I can do
Was enjoying this but they appear to have removed the weekly puzzle in favour of a 10-word trial of the daily puzzle and subscription nagging. Deleted.
The weekly puzzle is still there! And still free. You just have to play it on Sundays. The Sunday puzzle was always free for everyone, and the Saturday/weekday puzzles were hidden. Now, the Sunday puzzle is still free for everyone, and the other days are offered in a "trial" format We had some people confused about why they were getting different puzzles to others and decided to give a sample of the daily puzzle rather than sticking the game on a single puzzle for the whole week (which felt a bit boring as it doesn't take a week to solve a puzzle). We also wanted to show people that there was a new puzzle every day, with its own editorial, regardless of whether they were a free or paid user. This felt like the best approach The game is also now completely unlocked for anyone who plays over SharePlay, no subscription required. If you FaceTime call your friends, everyone's puzzle is unlocked for the duration of the call
Hmm, that's the problem though. I quite enjoyed working on the weekly puzzle throughout the week, a little bit each day. I don't have time to solve a puzzle in a single day, especially on a Sunday. I'd even pay a one-off fee to have that functionality back. Zero interest in a subscription though.
Thank you for explaining more about this. We thought people might have been getting bored with the app stuck on one puzzle for a week and not been aware that there was more to it than just that. We do a lot of work on the puzzle each day: writing editorial content, adding images for certain words, choosing themed words, and we suspected that free users weren't seeing any of that and might not realise what goes into it I'll have to see if there's a way to have both somehow, or a way to stick to the weekly one
