Word Connect

Word Connect is a simple Scrabble-like game in which up to four players (human or computer) take turns placing letters on a board, trying to form the highest scoring interlocking word possible. The game comes with seven different board layouts ranging from a tiny layout for a quick game through to a Super challenging one with blacked out cells that cannot be used. The computer opponents' playing strength can be set to a value from one through to twenty for a tough game. In game tools include an anagram finder to help words from a mix of letters and a crossword finder where the player enters, for example, a*a*** and the game supplies a list of possible six letter words that match the criteria.

There is an editor that allows the player to create their own game layouts. These can be of varying sizes with 15 x 15 being the largest. In addition to placing the bonus squares the player / designer can specify the frequency of the letters, the number of letters each player picks from the reserve, the scoring rules and so on.

The game's dictionary is split into three sections and which section is used in the game depends upon the difficulty setting of the computer opponent. The easiest settings are levels one through to eight, these use the smallest dictionary of just eight thousand words. Difficulty settings nine through to fourteen use the eighteen thousand word dictionary while the hardest settings, levels fifteen to twenty, use the full one hundred and sixty thousand word dictionary.

The game is played entirely with the mouse and it has a save-game feature.