WordKool

Game Description: It's getting hot with every passing second. Cool it down by forming words with 3 or more connecting letters.

How to Play WordKool:

• After the game fully loads, you will see a flashing 'Click to Play' button. Click anywhere on the game screen to continue.
• On the next screen you will be asked to choose your mode: Normal, or Difficult. (Hint: Do yourself a huge favor and choose the Difficult mode. The Normal mode is much too easy, and you will become bored very quickly. The Difficult mode is really not that hard, especially in the early levels, but it will gradually become more challenging as you go up through the levels).
• Click adjacent tiles (that is, each tile must be next to the previous tile and share a common side, or even just a corner) to link the letters into words.
• Words must be 3 letters or more.
• To submit a word you may either click the 'Go' button located at the bottom of the game screen, click the last letter of your word a second time (my favorite way), or press the 'Enter' button on your keyboard.
• If your word is accepted, WordKool will display your word on the panel at the left and remove the letters from the board and replace those letters with new ones.
• If you word is not accepted, nothing will happen, and you will simply have to try to spell a different word.
• If you should change your mind, and want to begin spelling a different word, simply click any non-adjacent letter on the board. This will erase the word you were working on, and allow you to begin a new word.
• When you create a word of 4 or more letters a Spin tile will appear. Click the Spin tile before time runs out to place the indicated letter.
• Tiles have different colors. In general, blue tiles are good, and pink or purple tiles are a sign of trouble because those tiles are getting close to becoming frozen. (Hint: Try to form words with pink or purple tiles to turn them back to blue as quickly as possible).
• When a tile becomes frozen, it can be unfrozen and turned back into a blue tile, if the frozen tile is either the first or last letter of an accepted word.
• Click the 'Shuffle' button, when you have dark pink or frozen letters, to change the letters of a single row or column.
• Each round begins with 60 seconds on the clock.
• The clock counts down automatically as you play.
• Each time you submit an acceptable word, more time is put back on the clock. (60 seconds is the maximum amount of time allowed for the clock, so the clock will never increase above that number).
• Your level progress is shown as a percentage right below your score. Each accepted word you submit increases the percentage of your level progress.
• Your goal is to get to 100% to get to the next level.
• When you get to a new level, you start with a fresh board of all blue tiles.
• The game ends when all tiles become frozen, and the clock gets down to zero.
• When you lose, click the 'Reset' button to play again.

WordKool Scoring:

• The score of each word depends on the number of letters used. Longer words score more points.
• Hard to use letters like J, K, Q, V, X, Y, and Z are worth extra points.
• Shuffling letters will reduce your score. Each reshuffle will cost you 5 points.

WordKool Game Options:

• Click the 'Menu' button to pause the game. Click the 'Resume' button to continue your game.
• The game sounds may be turned on or off by clicking the microphone icon located at the upper left corner.
• The Graphics Quality may be set to either High or Low by checking or unchecking the 'Graphics Quality' button located just to the right of the microphone icon. The default setting is for High quality. If the game is working okay for you, there is no reason to change this setting. However if you do have problems, you may want to try the Low quality setting.

WordKool Playing Tips:

• The game clock is located adjacent to the upper left corner of the game board. This is one game where you really don't need to keep an eye on the clock. Your main objective is to keep enough tiles unfrozen to make it to the next level. You do this by paying close attention to the color of the tiles. When you see pink and purple colored tiles, you will want to form words with these as quickly as possible, and turn them back to blue, before they become frozen. Frozen tiles are more difficult to use because you have the additional requirement that they can only be used as the first or last letter of your words. Also groups of frozen tiles clog up the board, eventually making it impossible to continue.
• It is always good strategy to unfreeze frozen tiles when you can, and turn them back to blue tiles. You do this by using the frozen tiles as either the first or last letter of your word. (Hint: You may unfreeze two tiles with a single word. Simply make one tile the first letter of your word, and make the other tile the last letter of your word).
• Use the 'Shuffle' button, when you have dark pink or frozen letters on the board, to change the letters of a single column or row. This can sometimes make a big difference, and help you get through a difficult situation!

Richard's Rating: 3 out of 5.

Comments: WordKool is a fun and challenging game, especially when played at the Difficult mode. If you like playing word games, you will probably enjoy this game.