Have You Played... Bookworm Adventures?

Have You Played? is an endless stream of game recommendations. One a day, every day of the year, perhaps for all time.

PopCap’s Bookworm was a neat little spelling game, a grid of tiles and a time limit, as you tried to spell out words. It was, I suppose, years ahead of Alphabear. Bookworm Adventures was that idea put through a madness machine, and what a joy.

There’s a story, of sorts, about a bookworm called Lex, who gets sucked into magical books in a library accident. He must fight the denizens of these classic works of literature by... spelling stuff. Words spelt create attacks, that biff and pow at the cartoon characters at the top of the screen, while Lex ploughs ever rightward.

As was the case with PopCap’s glory years, the game is perfectly balanced, playable by a range of abilities, allowing shorter words to be effective, while providing entertainment for the more lexicographical sesquipedalian. And most of all, is very silly.