Wordsearch!

The Multiplayer Word Search Game

I'm sure that everyone has done a word search puzzle. They have them in newspapers, teachers use them to help teach us spelling, and they sell books filled with them. But have you ever done one like this?

Wordsearch! is the multiplayer board game variant of the popular pastime put out by Goliath Games. It is meant for 2-4 players, and the players take turns rotating the board to find the next word. The first person to find the word grabs the 'totem' (the yellow exclamation point looking thing) and  marks the word with their game pieces. Play continues in this fashion until all the words are found, the player with the most pieces on board at the end of the game wins. Seems simple enough, right?

Think again.

Grabbing the totem is a game in and of itself, since it is essentially impossible to place it equidistant from all players, unless it is in the middle of the board. This causes there to be a power struggle to determine where the totem will be placed next. And then you have those times where it turns into a fight over who grabbed it first, which can then devolve into people just yelling out that they have found the word. I should also mention that if you grab the totem (or yell that you found the word) and you can't immediately point the word out, you have to sit out that round.

View of the game board before the game has started

Another interesting rule that can destroy friendships is regarding shared letters in words. If the current word uses a letter from someone else's word, their word is removed from the board, due to it not being complete. If the removal of that word causes any other word(s) to be incomplete, it/they are removed as well.

This can sometimes cause a cascade effect, with several words being removed at once. In this way, it is entirely possible to go from first to last in one fell swoop. And once all the words are found (one full revolution of the board), the pieces on board are counted. Whoever has the most of their colored contact lens looking pieces on the board wins. That's right, it doesn't matter how many words you find, you just need to have the most letters.

In my opinion, the game is much more fun with 4 players than just with 2, since it makes the game really crazy with everyone going nuts when they find a word. I have not had a chance to play with 3 players, so I can't give a whole lot of insight into that. Either way, the game is lots of fun, and replayability is pretty high, especially considering that they sell expansion packs to give you more puzzles.

This take on the popular game gets 8 Stars

Goliath Games' Wordsearch! gets a respectable 8 star rating. The game is fun, replayability is high, and it's a great game to play with your family or at a party. The only real hit that it takes is the process of calling out that you found a word. While the scramble to grab the totem does add a bit to the game, I feel that each player should have their own totem so that they can more easily access it. If you are looking for a new game to play at your next Family Game Night, look no further than Wordsearch!. You can buy it at Barnes & Noble, Amazon or KMart.

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