Boggle Your Mind with Hasbro's Computer Boggle Games

Let me tell you right up front, before I forget, I really love this game. Of all the computer games I have, Boggle is the one I come back to again and again. For me, it is the most fun and the most addictive.

Having said that.... I remember back in high school playing Boggle in the gym on rainy days. The Boggle set then consisted of a single game. A plastic tray was designed with a grid that held 16 dice - 4 in one direction and 4 in another. Then, with cover affixed, the 16 dice were shaken until each settled into its own separate crevice. Instead of numbers, the dice had letters on each side. The game then was to find the most and longest words that could be made with the letters in a particular grid. Connections could be made in any direction - across, down or diagonally. However, the same dice could not be used twice in one turn.

The grid below, for example,

CWLR
YHPE
TOAR
SISN

could produce the word "HOPE" as these letters are all next to each other. However, "HOOP" could not be made as it's not permitted to stand on a letter. By the way, the longest word I can find in the above grid is "PERSIST." Points are scored in this game depending on how many words you get that are different from those everyone else gets (no points are earned if you get a word someone else found, too.) and how long those words are. There is a time limit on each game of three minutes.

Well, Boggle on the computer works the same way, but now it gets much better. There are several variations on Boggle in this game pack. Each comes with a regular version and a master version. This means that as you get better, you can raise the level of the challenge. For families, it means that kids can play at an appropriate level and so can adults.

The game I played in high school is the first of several variations. It's called "Classic Boggle." In the regular version the minimum word length is three letters and the grid is the standard 4x4. In the master's version, the minimum word length is 4 and the grid is 5x5. You can play this game by yourself, against other real competitors, or against computer competitors that range in skill from beginner to "Mr. Boggle." The time limit is still three minutes although the options allow you to adjust to a two minute game, too. The words you enter appear on the right hand side of the board. At the end of play, the computer generates scores for everyone, shows you all the word lists including a list of all possible words. The game gives the option at this point of also adding new words to its dictionary if you've used a word it doesn't recognize. aaaOf the games on the CD, this is the only one that can be played without having the CD inserted.

If the program stopped here with this one game, it would still be a winner. The programmers haven't stopped however. There is a version called Break Away. In this version, a cube of 4x4x4 floats in the air. Your job is the same as before, to make words. As you use the cubes, they break away (hence the name) to reveal others. You can rotate the cube as you go and realign the cubes to get a better feel for what's left. This is quite challenging, though my favorite as I like to see the whole playing field. This game also has a time limit of three minutes.

If you've got someone to play against (although you can play the computer if you wish) there is Battle Boggle. In Battle Boggle the letters are split up between two players who must then place them into a 4x4 grid. As the letters are placed, the player whose turn it is may make words with the letters that are down. Again, words must be at least 3 letters in length. The difficulty here is that you are playing against the clock. Each player has three minutes of play time. Take too much time making words early, and you won't have time later. Don't make the words when the opportunity comes up, and your opponent may.

My least favorite of the alternative versions is Space Boggle. In this version, the dice fly at you looking like a slow motion version stars in hyperspace in Star Wars. Here, you move your mouse and click to select letters as they fly by to make words. This might be more fun if I didn't play on a laptop with a built in mouse. As you pass through different levels, the letters move faster. The letters here do not have to be adjacent. You just have to be able to click them before they fly from the screen. To complete each level requires finding five words in a minute or less.

My favorite of the Boggle variations is In Your Face. In Your Face starts like regular Boggle with either a 4x4 or a 5x5 grid. As you use letters, the dice break off. After a set number of seconds, another set of cubes raises whatever cubes you haven't used one level The trick is to keep the stacks of dice from getting too high by using the top blocks. There is a limit to 10 blocks in a stack. If any stack reaches 11 high, you lose. The game is made more difficult because each round becomes a second shorter. Rounds start at 30 seconds. By the time you get to 15 second rounds (if you get to fifteen second rounds) things are much more difficult.

All of these games can be played off line, or if you are a total lunatic, you can go to the Boggle network and play against real people. The only problem I had here is that the "host" assigns which game is to be played. As I don't particularly like Space and Break Away, I'd rather play on my own. On the other hand, you can chat here while you play, though I'm always so busy typing words that chatting is hardly likely while Boggle-ing, at least for me.

Game options with Boggle allow you to check a dictionary for the meaning of words, to set the type of music and volume of music, sound effects, and the background colors. Options can be set on a game by game basis or globally across all the games. If you need additional help, you can reach Technical support at http://www.hasbro.com.

All these versions of Boggle are fun. I play most of them at home in the Master mode. My students enjoy playing them when they finish their work in the regular mode. These games are all addictive and I constantly have to remind myself that "one more game" means "one more game" and not until my eyeballs dry out. I find this far more stimulating than any of the computer card games on the market, and I often feel like I learn something here. Learning something and having fun is a lot to ask from a game, but Boggle delivers.




Basic Minimum Requirements are:
Windows® 95
CD ROM
12 Mb RAM
11 MB Free Hard Disk
DX2 66 MHz Processor
1 Mb SVGA card
SoundBlaster or 100% compatible