Common Sense Media Review
By Erin Brereton
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Fun crossword/word search game with many ads, few tutorials.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 4+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Download
Videos and Photos
Word Crossy
Privacy Rating Warning
Privacy Rating
Our expert evaluators create our privacy ratings. The ratings are designed to help you understand how apps use your data for commercial purposes.
Pass
Meets our minimum requirements for privacy and security practices.
Warning
Does not meet our recommendations for privacy and security practices.
Fail
Does not have a privacy policy and should not be used.
Privacy Rating
Our expert evaluators create our privacy ratings. The ratings are designed to help you understand how apps use your data for commercial purposes.
Pass
Meets our minimum requirements for privacy and security practices.
Warning
Does not meet our recommendations for privacy and security practices.
Fail
Does not have a privacy policy and should not be used.
What's It About?
WORD CROSSY tasks players with dragging their finger across a circle of letters to create word combinations. Players can reshuffle the letter order if they get stuck to help them solve these puzzles; since words interconnect like a crossword puzzle, players may automatically fill in parts of other terms as they play, making those other terms easier to guess while also earning coins for successful answers. These coins can be spent on letter clues to solve trickier terms. The game claims to have more than 300 levels, which get harder as you play, but there's no time limit or penalty for entering the wrong word. Some rounds also feature bonus terms.
Is It Any Good?
Players who find the amount of options overwhelming in Scrabble and feel crossword clues are too confusing may love this app's format. In Word Crossy, players are asked to essentially fill in brief crossword puzzles by coming up with words based on several letters. The amount and length of the words you're asked to provide get more challenging as the levels progress; gameplay may start with a trio of three-letter words, but before long, you'll be trying to come up with twice as many terms with four- and five-letter words mixed in. But most of the words are pretty simple, so only younger players may find some issues with not knowing the terms.
Visual learners may like the fact that they can see the letters in different arrangements. If players can't figure a word out, they can get a clue. The first one is free; after that, though, they have to buy clues with coins. These can be earned during play, but it takes a while to rack up the 100 coins a hint costs, and if you don't have enough, the only other option is to buy a package of coins, which can cost up to almost $80. Aside from that, the game moves fast, and even though there are some repeated words and similar terms in the same round -- her and hers, for instance -- it's generally fun to play. The app's biggest hiccup involves its lack of an explanation for some game elements; users, for example, see random amounts of flowers zoom into a total after each round, but the corresponding marker at the top of the screen still reads zero -- and there's no information about what the flowers are used for, or why you're getting them, in addition to coins. It's also unclear why some rounds have bonus words, which are sometimes shorter and seem to be less challenging than many of the main puzzle terms. Clarifying those aspects would be a huge help to navigate the game. You can figure out how to play without knowing -- but being confused about what you're earning and why detracts from the experience a bit. But if you're looking for a fun, simple word game, Word Crossy will entertain you for a while.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about what to do if a child doesn't know a word. When you come across an unfamiliar term, how can you find out what it means?
Word Crossy players can spend money to remove ads or buy coins. Does you feel like it's necessary to make a purchase to enjoy the game? Does it make playing games more or less fun if you don't buy things, in general?
App Details
- Devices : iPhone , iPod Touch , iPad , Android
- Subjects : Language & Reading : letter or word recognition , spelling , vocabulary , Math : addition , subtraction
- Skills : Thinking & Reasoning : deduction , logic , strategy , thinking critically , Self-Direction : work to achieve goals
- Pricing structure : Free
- Release date : March 30, 2018
- Genre : Word Games
- Publisher : gu yunhe
- Version : 2.3.2 iOS/2.3.23 Android
- Minimum software requirements : Requires iOS 8.0 or later and Android 4.0.3 and up.
- Last updated : July 11, 2020
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