Adlib: A Child-Friendly Game (Review)

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With children spending more and more time online for entertainment, it’s important to have a list of child-friendly online games. There are several free online games that focus on words. This is a review of the game, Adlib.

You (the player) and your brother have come across a magic spell book which you had to peek into (of course). An errant spell transforms your brother into an owl and it is up to you to master the spell that will set him free.

As you progress in levels, your title (seen above the owl on the top right-hand side of the screen) will change. Once you’re reached “Master Magician”, your brother is freed from the spell.

You are given a wall of tiles with random letters on them. Drag the tiless around on the screen to spell words with 4 or more letters. Or, you can match three of a kind. The word can be vertical or horizontal. Once the word has been formed, it lights up and the tiles disappear, freeing up space on the board. The tiles above the ones that disappear cascade down, giving you new letter combos. You have to be quick, though! New rows of letters appear, bumping the wall of letters higher and higher. If the wall reaches the top of the screen, the game ends.

As you advance, you will be met with different challenges, such as “black magik” tiles which cannot be moved. You have to find a way to move letters around it to either encompass it in a word or keep it moving down the screen and out of the way.

You also receive bonus tiles. When you create a word with 5 or more letters, you earn a green or gold tile. When used in a word, these special letters give you bonus points. The blue ones freeze the board when used in a word, giving you more time to create words and free up space. Red tiles bust the tiles around them when used.

As you progress in levels, your title (seen above the owl on the top right-hand side of the screen) will change. Once you’re reached “Master Magician”, your brother is freed from the spell … theoretically.

In actuality, the game continues with your owl-brother still cheering you on. I like this “glitch,” because it means that the game never really ends … well, I’ve only made it to level 62, so I don’t know if there is a maximum level.

The player must have enough word skills to be able to create words with four or more letters.

Adlib is one of the many free educational games offered by Dictionary.com, developed by Alex Schearer. I like that it sharpens your word skills and keeps you on your toes as you have to increase your speed with each level. It also challenges you with those black tiles so that you have to either work around them or figure out how to incorporate them into a word to be rid of them.

The music can get annoying after playing for a while, so I often turn it off to play.

I like the “glitch” that allows the the game to continue past the brother’s freedom. It’s a game that never ends … well, I’ve only made it to level 62, so I don’t know if there is a maximum level.

All-in-all, a fun game. I highly recommend it for those who like word games.