Moxie - Review

Category: word games
Price: $1.99
App Store Link: [Full] / No Lite Version

Review: Like it
Recommendation: If you're into word games, Moxie is a nice addition
Replay Value: High (different game every time)

Blue Ox Technologies Ltd. describes Moxie as "a word game that's different from anything else on the App Store." And Moxie is different; unlike most of the word games on the App Store, you're not trying to make as many word combinations as possible out of the given letters. Instead, players are given 52 random letter tiles one at a time. You attempt to place your tiles on the game board to make words, and much like Scrabble, each tile has its own point value. Once you create a word, you're challenged to overlay tiles attempting to create a new word with each tile. If you place a tile on existing word and fail to create a new word with it, you've "twaddled" and lose points. Conversely, if you manage to create a special "moxie" word (basically animal names), you gain bonus points.

Every turn, you're presented with one of your 52 tiles until you run out. You can choose to pass on a tile if you don't wish to play it, but once you pass it, you can't get it back. Planning is paramount. To demonstrate these simple (yet seemingly confusing) rules, here are a series of pictures demonstrating the progress of a single game of Moxie (notice how the board & score progress. You can tell how many turns have passed by the number of tiles left):

Click Images to Enlarge

Because the tiles are random, every game is different. The only goal of the game is to get the highest score possible, and maybe beat your old high scores. A game only takes a few minutes, and the absence of an obnoxious timer makes the game easy to pick up and play casually no matter where you're at. While action driven games may not be drawn to this game, it's a pretty safe bet for any word game fan.

Developer Video:

~M@