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SpellTower (for iPhone and iPad)

SpellTower is a wonderfully addictive word puzzle combining elements of Boggle and Tetris.

September 28, 2012

SpellTower ($1.99), a wonderful iPhone and iPad game, has been featured in our "75 Best iPad Games" and "" articles. But while writing that latter story, I realized that I had never formally reviewed this wonderful brain parasite of a word game. 

Let's remedy that.

I'll slap 4.5 stars and an Editor's Choice on this addictive little time-waster. SpellTower combines attributes of Boggle and Tetris, but it's the fit and finish, the elegant color scheme and fonts (as shown at right), that really make it stand out from the masses.

SpellTower has a few different modes. In one, you try to draw words formed from letters on a grid. In the others, you draw your words, but the grid builds from the bottom and increases by a line every turn; if it fills up the screen, the game is over. "Rush mode" adds lines every few seconds rather than each turn. Some letters will clear a whole row, and some can't be used unless you're making longer words. As the game goes on, it demands more five- and six-letter words.

The iPhone and iPad versions have different sized grids; the iPad has a larger grid with more rows, making the game longer. The iPhone 5 uses the iPad's grid, so you get to take advantage of all that extra-long-screen goodness.

Multiplayer mode is strictly local, played between phones or iPads connected via Bluetooth. That's fine with me, but online connectivity would be the next logical step here.

Since I'm now playing this game during every commute, why not give it five stars? SpellTower has some minor issues with touch targets on the full-screen iPhone 5 grid. You may have to tap some letters twice. That's all.

If you like spelling, buy SpellTower.

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