Classic Words (solo word game‪)‬ 4+

I enjoy Classic Words for many reasons, but mostly because the turns are NOT interrupted by ads. With other similar free word games, ads play after every few turns. With this app, unobtrusive ad banners appear near the top, and ads only play after each game ends. Another feature I like is the ability to highlight a word that been played and see the definition.

I also like how the computer player does not make incredibly obscure words, at least not at the Normal level, and makes its words quickly, so you don’t get bored waiting for the computer’s turn. With other word games, the computer makes words most people have never heard of, or plays very slowly, which is no fun to play against.

Another great feature is the ability to easily shuffle your tray of letters with the touch of one button, or you can rearrange the tiles manually. The app keeps track of a few statistics for you, such as win/loss and best word. Classic Words is challenging and fun to play, and as someone with a degree in English, I can recommended this app to anyone who likes playing word games.

After the official Scrabble app was discontinued and replaced by a nightmarish ADHD playground, I had to settle for playing on a handful of Scrabble-like word game apps, each of which left a lot to be desired. Then my son found Classic Words, which is the closest thing yet to an authentic Scrabble experience. Clean interface, decent dictionaries (I’ll say more about that in a moment), quick AI response, and no game-pausing ads or silly “rewards.” Just good ol’ Scrabble. Almost.

There are two main downsides to the app, though neither is bad enough to drive me away. First, as someone who would like to play in tournaments someday, I’d much prefer that they used the current, official tournament word list rather than dictionaries “inspired by” outdated official lists. Second, and much more noticeable, the drawing of tiles is anything but random. The app hands out 7-letter words like candy, and I’m almost never stuck with a truly bad rack. When tile selection is truly random, you’re going to end up with the occasional garbage hand like GKMTTUW or AIIIOOP. But with Classic Words, nearly every rack I draw has a favorable consonant-vowel ratio and gives me a decent play. I shouldn’t be scoring 500+ points this consistently…I’m not *that* good.

Despite its shortcomings, Classic Words is the best app currently available for classic Scrabble enthusiasts.

This is easily my very favorite non-Apple Arcade game. First, zero in-app purchases. Second, yes it has ads but they are very unobtrusive. There is a small ad banner above the game board and a simple static ad page after playing the board or quitting the game that is fast and easy to close out of. I wish other games with ads would use this concept. Major kudos to the developers!

On to the game play. Classic Words is a Scrabble type game with five different levels of difficulty that makes it enjoyable for every level of player. Unlike similar games I’ve played, I have yet to use a word that isn’t in the game’s dictionary. Getting definitions of words is very simple. This game has definitely refreshed and expanded my vocabulary. Another great thing about Classic Words is that if you have to leave mid-game it picks right back up where you left off.

I highly recommend Classic Words to everyone!