Ywis or Iwis and Crwth and Inia (the hairynosed freshwater dolphin)* (playbabble.com)

Member Name: mattygroves10

Product:	playbabble.com
Date:	25/07/06 (272 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Fun. Educational. Friendly

Disadvantages: Horrendously addictive. Site sometimes slow. One or two trolls in chat

We Babbled, then played the crwth, and iwis pleased the inia*

Are you a fan of word games? Do you play Boggle, or Scrabble? Do you enjoy chatting with like-minded people? (The answer to the last question must iwis be yes, as you have an online presence.) Given that you’re here reading and possibly writing, you probably also like words.

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The Rules of the Game
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Therefore, Babble - www.playbabble.com - is the place for you. Babble, at its essence, is a word game, much like Boggle. There's a five tile by five tile grid - on each tile is a letter, and each letter carries a point score. Moving horizontally, vertically or diagonally, you create words of four letters or more by 'connecting' the letters. You cannot use an individual tile more than once in a word. Common letters are worth one point, less common letters between 2 - 5 points. Four letter words are worth 1 x point value of the letters, five letter words 2 x point value, six letter words 3 x and so forth. The word list is generated from the Enable dictionary (more on that later), and the game changes daily (if you're on British time, it 'flips' at 6.00am).

And that's, more or less, it. OK. Review over.

No it isn't. The thing is, the 'experience' is far more than that, and it's the experience that makes the game, and the site so darned addictive.

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Registration and Description - what there is to see
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You need to register to play. There are two forms of registration - free and paid. Normally, you'd start with the free version. You're asked for a username, an email address and a password. You can then start playing.

Upon entering the site, you'll see a grid made up of yellow tiles, on each tile is a letter. Below that, you'll find the area where you can enter your words. Below that, for the first two weeks, you'll find another greyish grid telling you how many words start with the letter on each tile. You'll also find a bit which tells you how many words are in the grid.

Below that, you'll find loads of useful links to sites that Babblers have set up. Many include helpful lists, additional statistics for today's grids, icon themes (more on that) and forums.

To the right, you'll find a chat log - here you can say hi, ask for clues (though never, ever intentionally include words from the grid in the chat log!), and generally chit-chat. Do keep in mind, though, that too much non-babble related chat can get irritating. Also, 'trolling' (being intentionally rude to get a reaction) isn't tolerated, and if you try it, you'll find yourself ignored very quickly.

Above the chat log, you'll see some tabs - rankings, the entire day's chat log (that's a ditsy little rectangular icon), your 'friends' and who is online. Above THAT, you'll find links to archive, rankings (which I frankly ignore), your account and help. And finally, above that, you can log out.

Now you can start playing.

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What happened to my Stats? Or, the paid version
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OK, so you've been playing for a couple of weeks. You log in, and discover your stats are gone - you don't know how many words are in the grid, and you don't know how many words start with each tile.

If you pay a small fee ($14.95 payable by credit card or Paypal - this is a one off fee - not an annual subscription), your stats will return. You will also be able to decorate your profile (for the chat log) with an icon (either a link from the web or downloaded from your computer), a little gender marker (a ditsy little pink or blue person) and a flag from your country of origin. You can also describe yourself to your heart's content in your profile.

I've paid. It's worth it.

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Wow - there are some weird, weird words.
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Were you wondering about the title? As mentioned above, the words come from the Enable dictionary. The ENABLE dictionary is, apparently the "Enhanced North American Benchmark LExicon". And gosh, what a strange dictionary it is too.

'Babblet' is the commonly used word for words that seemingly appear nowhere else but the Babble grid.

*So - the title? YWIS or IWIS is an archaic word meaning certainly; assuredly. CRWTH is, apparently, a Celtic stringed instrument. And INIA is the ever-popular hairy-nosed freshwater dolphin. Eventually, you embrace these words, and wish you could find a use for them in everyday life. Many you find by 'monkey typing' - trying every possible combination of letters, looking for that final word.

You will often find people asking for or giving clues that look like this: "sa4/4" - this means that the word in question is a four letter word worth four points beginning with SA. There are links under the word stats that will take you to sites giving these stats for the whole grid. They can be VERY useful, though many experienced members try to avoid using them (I'm lucky if I get halfway through the grid without needing the list).

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Matty's musings…
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The Good
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I'm an addict. I've paid the subscription, and play most days. Sometimes my husband and daughter help. There seem to be nice people on site (mostly), always willing to lend a hand and have a (brief) chat. The congratulations when you finish a puzzle (and finishing rewards you with ****fireworks*****) are genuine, and the sympathy when you're stuck is heartfelt. Sometimes you're smacked with a 'wet fish' (when you find yourself needing help for very simple words), but it's all in good fun.
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The Bad
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The site is, however, not perfect. It sometimes moves at a glacial speed, and does go down reasonably frequently (though usually not for very long.) The words can be, as described above, very strange, and I seriously doubt the existence of a few. On the other hand, there are words that should be in there but aren't - such as (would you believe), internet.

You enter chat by typing in the chat box and hitting return. Hitting return enters the text into the chat for all to see. It is FAR too easy to accidentally enter words you mean to type in the grid into the chat box instead. Anyone who has played for long (and who chats) has made that mistake. As long as you don't do it on purpose, you'll be swiftly forgiven, as we've all done it.

One more thing, and I don't know if this is me, or if this is true with everyone - though the site itself recommends Firefox, I find that Babble doesn't work well with Firefox - I get a flicker and frequent error messages. So I play in IE, and use Firefox for any side sites I visit.

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The Ugly
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People are people, and internet addicts more so. The chat box can get filled with people you'd rather not have contact with. These (for me) include: children using the chat box as an MSN substitute - using text speak, talking nonsense, and giving the answers out; people (again, often teens) asking for EVERY word to be clued; trolls (people intent on just causing trouble) who swear, and are generally abusive. It happens. It's not overweening, but it's there. The time of day is crucial (but even if you think you're safe, you may find Australian Trolls, or American or whatever - people from all over the world play).


Overall, though. It's a great game, with (mostly) nice people, and horrendously addictive. Go play, and pay (support Dr_God - the inventor and administrator and deity of the site.

Recommended.

Summary: An interactive cross between Boggle and Scrabble - hugely addictive and great fun.