Multiplayer word games are a lot of fun, even if you are playing friends on different platforms. But sometimes, you don't want to wait for someone else to play their turn. Or maybe you're on a flight and there's no network.
When all you want is a quick test for your vocabulary without relying on someone else, just fire up one of these fantastic single-player word games: Most will work either on iOS or Android.
Word Puttz [No Longer Available]
Sometimes, great graphics alone can make a game enjoyable. Word Puttz has that in spades and backs it up with some engrossing gameplay. The newest game in this roundup, its premise is silly but fun: you're an octopus at a mini-golf course and instead of putting the ball, you place tiles from the tee to the hole. These tiles have letters and you need to form proper words from the starting point to the finish. Along the way, you'll have to earn coins, break down walls, navigate around rocks, and much more. And hey, it's free!
SpellTower ($1.99)
If you love your word games, I dare you to play SpellTower and not get instantly hooked. It combines the addictive word-making formula of Boggle and the arcade charm of Tetris. So you have a grid of letter blocks, challenging you to form words by connecting adjoining tiles. Get rid of a block and the laws of gravity will make all the blocks above it fall one line — yup, just like Tetris. There are multiple game modes: start off with Tower Mode, graduate to Puzzle Mode, and when you really want to task yourself, take on the time-sensitive Rush Mode.
Download: SpellTower for iOS ($1.99)
Unolingo (Free)
The first word game most of us were introduced to is a crossword. Well, Unolingo takes that classic and twists it around. In a crossword grid, you will find a few letters already placed in some tiles. Now it's up to you to fill up the rest of the grid using the 26 letters of the alphabet — and you can use each letter only once! It's not as easy as it sounds, so you will need to use the Hint button at times to solve one tile or the Audit button to check your progress—but be warned, hitting either will give you a time penalty. The game has different levels of difficulty, starting you off with a total of 20 puzzles across four skill settings for free. Once you're done with those, you will need to buy additional ones, starting at $0.99 for 20 or $4.99 for a pack of 160 puzzles.
Download: Unolingo for iOS (Free)
Words (Free)
Word search games are among the oldest form of word games, where you are given a large grid of random letters and a set of words that you have to find in the grid. Well, Words is exactly that, but customized to look good and play well on a touchscreen. I've tried several of such word search games on small and large Android screens and Words plays the best as it shows you the word you have traced so far with your finger and the remaining letters to finish that word — it sounds like a small thing, but it's a huge help when you're playing these games on small screens. Plus, Words has a cool way of colour-coding the lines of words you have formed that looks great and slowly fills the whole grid, giving you an indication of your progress.
Download: Words for Android (Free) | Words for iOS (Free)
7 Little Words (Free)
If you enjoy crosswords, you'll love 7 Little Words. In this game, you are given seven meanings, along with an indication of how many letters would be the one word needed for that meaning. Below this, there is a set of tiles and each tile has two letters on it. You have to grab these tiles and make words to match the seven meanings above — each tile can be used only once. It sounds pretty simple, but the game is deceptively challenging because unlike just thinking up a word, the sight of a tile with two consonants or two vowels next to each other can throw you off. But it's never too difficult and you'll have a lot of fun with it. Each day, you get three free puzzles, apart from the 50 to start the game. And you can buy more puzzles if you feel like it. It's also among the most addictive word games on iOS.
Download: 7 Little Words for Android (Free) | 7 Little Words for iOS (Free)
Wordiest (Free)
Erez reckons Wordiest is the best word game on Android and I have to agree. It's simple, it's elegant, it's got lovely graphics, and it's a single-player game with a hint of multiplayer competition. Here's how it works. Wordiest gives you 14 letter tiles, each with points like in Scrabble, and some with double/triple letter or double/triple word points. All you have to do is form two words using those 14 tiles and make the most number of points you can. Hit Submit and you will see the total points you earned, as well as a graph which tells you how players across the world fared with the same letters. In an instant, you're able to tell how good or bad you have performed compared to others, but there's not pressure of having to wait your turn. I love this!
Download: Wordiest for Android (Free)
Word Swap (Free)
Like SpellTower, Word Swap has a bit of Tetris in it. Like Words, Word Swap has a bit of word search in it. Yet, it's a simplistic game that will get you addicted to it quickly, and slowly frustrate you because you think you should be beating it easily. There's a set of wooden blocks with letters on them and a list of words above—initially, these are themes (animals, nature, etc.) but later become general words. By swapping adjacent blocks, you need to form the words in the list. The tricky part is that if you swap a tile too many times, it becomes immovable! And that's where the game starts getting really difficult and hair-tearingly maddening — but in a good way. Be warned, you'll need to be really good at solving logic puzzles to make serious headway with Word Swap.
Download: Word Swap for Android (Free)
Single Or Multiplayer?
There's a huge number of word and puzzle multiplayer games on both Android and iOS, but do you always look only for those or do you enjoy playing a few games by yourself? If yes, what are your favourite single-player word games?