This program may be freely distributed for non-commercial use only. It is copyrighted! It may not be sold or included with any other software collection (CD ROMs, etc) without my written permission. Do not alter the copyright notices or any other portion of this program.

WordWar is a multiplayer Scrabble-like word strategy game. It supports 1 to 4 players.

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The Playing Board:

Shown above is the WordWar playing board ready to start a new game with 4 players. There are 100 tiles of which each player gets 7 at the start of their turn.

Since this is a multi-player game and you should conceal your letters from your opponent, WordWar will hide a player's letters until they click on the "View" button. After a player has completed their turn, they should click on "Done" to hide their letters and setup for the next player. Notice the circle located in the center of the board. This indicates a selected cell and any letters placed on the board will start there.

The board consists of bonus squares which could increase the value of the placed word. These squares are shaded differently depending on their worth (darker is worth more). The available bonus values are "Double Letter", "Double Word", "Triple Letter" and "Triple Word".

How To Play:

To view your pieces click on the view button. When starting the game, the first player to place must use the middle square. Notice the above figure which shows a game currently underway. You have the option of placing your tiles immediately or moving them around in your bin to create different words (hence the blank area to the right of the rightmost letter). There are 2 buttons at the top of the player's bin ("Place Tiles" and "Place Right"). When clicking on the "Place Tiles" button it will toggle between Place and Move. If "Place Tiles" is displayed the button to the right will indicate the direction tiles will be sent to the board ("Right" or "Down"). You must first select the starting point (indicated by a circle) by clicking on the board before attempting to place a tile. If the "Move Tiles" mode is enabled, you can move the tiles ("Right" or "Left") depending on the setting of the direction button. After a player is finished with their move, they should click "Done". At this point the words will be checked against the built-in dictionary for validity.

When placing your letters, you must use an existing letter on the board or the move is illegal.

When all 100 tiles are exhausted the game ends. The total of the remaining tiles a player has at the end of the turn is deducted from their score. The winner is the player with the highest score.

Buttons:

New Game: Click here to start a new game. The number of players for the new game along with their names can be setup under the "i" popup menu in "Prefs".

Done: Click here to end a player's turn. Words recently placed on the board will be checked against the dictionary (if this option is enabled under "Prefs").

Pass: A player may pass their turn without receiving points for that round. If a player passes, they will be given a new set of letters at the start of the next turn.

Take Back: After placing letters, the player may take all letters back by clicking on this button. If an illegal move is entered, WordWar will automatically take back the letters for you.

View/Hide: A player should click this button to view their letters. During the game the player may use this button to temporarily hide their letters (although if enabled, the timer keeps ticking away). Note: If only one player is selected, this button does nothing since the letters are always shown.

!: Shrinks the entire game board to a small icon which can be dragged about the Newton's screen. This is the only way to suspend the play clock during someones turn.

Timed Play:

Enabling the play timer restricts a players time to the specified period. If they reach the end of the time period, their tiles are automatically hidden and it becomes the next players turn.

Status Displays:

Words: The field labeled "Words:" will show the words the last player created. If a question mark follows a word, it was not found in the dictionary.

Status: Immediately to the left of the "Words:" field is the status field. It shows if the previous player passed, letter values of clicked board tiles and square values of the cell last tapped (nothing is shown if the square does not have a bonus value).

Scores: Just below the playing board are the scores for each player.

Tiles Remaining: Located in the upper left hand corner of the display is a counter showing the number of remaining tiles. There are initially 100 tiles.

Timer: Located in the upper right hand corner of the display is a counter showing the amount of time remaining (if enabled) for the currrent player before they lose there turn.

Planned Future Enhancements:

Changes found in version 1.2:

- Fixed bug when timer was disabled.
- Winner announced in status area.
- Timer disables when board iconized.
- New Game doesn't hide when iconized.
- Shrinks to notify star.
- Built-in help.
- New Game button changes to End Game during play.
- Popup list of player names.

Price:
Freeware ($0)

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