If you are a word junkie or enjoy a fun puzzler that will leave you thinking, Bookworm is for you. Its unique format presents endless opportunities to grow your vocabulary and entertain yourself without feeling as if you are wasting time.

Connect letters and turn them into words

Bookworm is a deceptively simple word puzzle. Unlike other games, there is no plot, no main characters and no story: it's just you, your mind and the 49 letters on the screen.

In the game, you get points for connecting nearby letters and turning them into words. More points are awarded for longer and more complicated words, and as the game moves on, bonus letters appear, which allows you to pump your score further. 

Outdated graphics but that doesn't matter

The original game was first sold for the Nintendo DS in 2009, and technology has moved on quite a bit from that time. The graphics are relatively static. The main character, Lex (the worm), will occasionally move, shake, smile and speak, but it's nothing too fancy. The graphics and audio are unquestionably a secondary concern. However, you're playing a puzzle game here, not an MMORPG or epic action-adventure. As long as you came for the puzzling and thinking, you won't be disappointed.

Like Tetris for words

Take the addictiveness of Tetris, add a dictionary, and you've got Bookworm. The concept itself is deeply satisfying. If you play for too long, you will unquestionably close your eyes and find yourself trying to connect letters generated by unseen corners in your mind. There is little in the puzzle world more satisfying than not only earning a high score but doing so because of your skill with words. 

The game even had an early version of achievements: As you unlocked new words, books would fill, categorized by topic, with the words you created. This would open new rooms and decorations in your "house," thus enabling you to see the fruits of your labor. 

The game comes with two modes: Classic, which is the regular game, and Action, which is timed and has the infamous "burning tiles" that could cause you to lose the game. It did come with a rudimentary multi-player mode, but that was turn-based, and you actually had to hand the DS back and forth with your friend. This was a severely lacking function, particularly given that a head-to-head mode could have generated quite a bit of competition and fun.

The bottom line

Even though the game first came out on the internet in 2003, it's concept holds up remarkably well: Make words. Repeat. Later versions of the game, which would be ported to a variety of platforms, would correct some of its flaws, including adding plot elements, varying the method by which you could make words and developing a more modernized multiplayer mode. However, even ten years after the introduction of this version of the game, the original still is capable of providing hours of joy with a ton of replayability, encouraging users to solve its puzzles by churning words out as quickly as they possibly can. 

1 Sentence Summary: If looked at for what it is - a word-based puzzle game that is over a decade old - Bookworm is a solid puzzler that can engage both casual and serious gamers.