HANDMARK Scrabble for Windows & Palm
Now you can play Scrabble, one of the most popular and beloved word games, on your Palm OS device! Designed to play like the board game, you select tiles using drag-and-drop functioning. This version also offers an intuitive interface, a built-in Official Scrabble Player's Dictionary, and automatic scoring for every game. It even saves partially completed games that can be continued at a later time. Practice your Scrabble skills against the automated computer opponent; choose from beginner, novice, intermediate, or expert levels. Or, play against up to three opponents using just one device. The program even hides your tile rack automatically. You can also play against others using multiple Palm OS devices with infrared (IR) beaming. This lets you study your tiles while your opponents take their turn, just like playing the board game. Play in either Friendly or Tournament mode. Friendly mode plays like a casual, low-stakes Scrabble game: no stress, no tension; you can accept or reject entries outside the rules and use the clever Suggest Move option. Tournament mode, however, is a different beast. It plays by the classic rules, includes challenges, and even checks words against the Official Scrabble Player's Dictionary.
HANDMARK Scrabble for Windows & Palm Accessories
HANDMARK Scrabble for Windows & Palm Reviews
On the other hand, with top-level play chosen, using a Windows PDA, it plays low expert-level Scrabble at good speed, it gives hints, and it includes the definitions: if you're carrying a PDA anyway, there's no need to carry the official dictionary (except of course for new and "dirty" words). Serious club and tournament players will also be annoyed that it uses the official dictionary and not the club/tournament word list. I do wish there were a new version. Handmark has not updated this to the new dictionary and when asked said it has no plans to do so.
It's also better that most casual players at finding places to create multi-word combinations. It knows that a well-placed 2- or 3-letter word will often score higher than a larger word somewhere else. Very enjoyable, so long as you understand that the computer opponent plays differently than a typical human opponent. But it's still beatable and fun, and it will probably help make you a better player. Even when you set the opponent's level to "Novice", it will frequently come up with obscure words like "xu", "jiao", "tyee" or "aioli".
I was very happy with the Palm OS Scrabble game until I discovered that MANY words were not included in the game's dictionary. daydream/daydreams). I also found that a word would be considered right for the Palm, but wrong for the player. I would love to see an expanded and accurate dictionary created soon. Often, words were not cross-checked, so that a word, acceptable for the palm, when made plural, would be counted as wrong for the non-Palm player, even though it was correct in a regular dictionary (e.g. This was frustrating and discouraged further play.
USELESS Well, it's NOT. In some places, it says WIn 95/98/etc. This is ONLY for the Palm OS.
It does not use OWL (Official Tournament and Club Word List) but some version of OSW (Official Scrabble Words) or OSPD (Official Scrabble Players Dictionary), the combination of which is usually called SOWPODS. Not only is the color usage great, but fitting everything onto a small pixel screen is amazing. So, on some words that I know are words accepted in professional play, I end up hitting "accept word" after I get the popup saying it is not a word. Perhaps when I upgrade my PDA I will add in the defintions.Complaints aside, this is a great implementation of a great game and have it on my PDA. Definitely a five-star game. Grrrr. You should, too.
[edit: Turns out to be OSPD, which is still quite limiting]The latest version has the definitions, but I don't care for that. I either know the definition or don't care, but I do not have the memory space in my PDA with all my other applications. I never feel that it is too small, though.My only complaint is the dictionary. I think this game is great and the implementation on PalmOS PDA is fantastic. Many people will, though, and it is a great feature.
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