The object of War of Words is quite simple: earn more points than your opponent! This is accomplished by playing words to earn points, blowing up your opponent's words, stealing your opponent's words, and other similarly nefarious activities.
Bonus Letters are an easy way to add to your score! The game will randomly choose a letter somewhere on the board. This letter will start glowing. If you can make a word that connects to or extends from that Bonus Letter, you'll gain an extra 10 points.
The Bonus Letter is changed immediately whenever a player utilizes it. It also changes every three turns. The Bonus Letter can be any letter on the board that has at least one open space above, below, to the left, or to the right of it.
The list of acceptable words is derived from the Enhanced North American Benchmark Lexicon (ENABLE), a public domain word list. The list was originally released in 1997 and has been enhanced since then. War of Words uses a modified version of ENABLE, with certain objectionable words removed, and other words (particularly popular two-letter words) added. You should find the War of Words word list to be very similar to other word games.
Some players initially become confused by the Reverse Tiles, and try to play a word that isn't accepted by the dictionary. If you're playing a word that you know should be in the dictionary, be sure to check if you're on a Reverse Tile. If so, play the word backwards.
Troubleshooting
The game keeps crashing, locking up, or acting strangely. What should I do first?Link to this
First, try restarting your device. Hold down your device's Lock button for a few seconds until a "slide to turn off" prompt appears. Slide it, and wait for the device to power off. Next, hold the Lock button again for a few seconds until you see the Apple logo, and wait for it to start back up.
Also, always make sure you have a strong connection to the Internet before playing (preferably on wi-fi).
If restarting doesn't help, the next step is to delete War of Words and reinstall it. You won't lose any of your games when you do this, because we store them on our servers.
Still not working? Make sure you're running the latest version of iOS. Apple has an article about how to do it here:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4623
You can update iOS wirelessly right from your Settings app, so it should be a cinch.
Next up: sometimes our third-party advertising providers cause problems. Many times, disabling ads will improve performance and prevent certain rare issues with the game. You can disable ads from the Store. We recommend trying this to see if it fixes the problem.
If you still can't connect, try resetting your Network Settings. This can be done by launching the Settings app, then choosing General, Reset, Reset Network Settings.
Here are some further network troubleshooting tips from Apple:
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS3780
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1398
If all else fails, something may be corrupted on your device. The next thing to try is a full restore of your device via iTunes on your computer. Here's an article from Apple that describes the process:
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1414
If you still can't get your device to work, your last option is to take your device to an Apple store for technical support.
Sending turns and chat messages seems to take forever. Sometimes it times out. What should I do?Link to this
First, try restarting your device. If you're connected via Wi-Fi, try restarting any routers, switches, or modems on your network. If you're connected via cellular, make sure you have a strong 3G connection. War of Words will take slightly longer to send turns over a cellular connection. Also keep in mind that the War of Words servers are located in the central United States.
Where do I send a support ticket?Link to this
Send an email to
support@wolf-studios.com. Don't forget the dash! We'll get back with you usually within 24 hours.
User Names & Invites
What is my user name?Link to this
Your War of Words user name is actually your Game Center nickname (although War of Words does remove a few special characters from your Game Center nickname if you used them, namely: ~, /, \, <, >, |, and ,).
How do I change my user name?Link to this
First, open the Game Center app on your device. Tap on the "Me" tab if it's not already selected. Next, find your email address listed toward the middle of the screen, and tap it. Select View Account. Enter your password if prompted. Scroll down to find your nickname, and change it. Your new nickname can't already be in use by another Game Center user. Tap Done when finished.
Now that you've changed your Game Center nickname, you need to log out of War of Words. Double tap your Home button to bring up the multitasking bar. Find the War of Words icon and tap-and-hold it. It will start wiggling and a minus sign (-) will appear. Tap the minus to close War of Words. When you launch War of Words again, it should pick up the new nickname you chose! (Note: Any games you had already created prior to changing your nickname will not pick up the new name. Future games you create will use the new nickname.)
How do I stop getting games from random players?Link to this
On the main menu, select Settings. Turn off "Accept Random."
I have an emoji in my nickname. Can others send me games?Link to this
Yes, if they enter the emoji properly.
Gameplay & Action Tiles
It's really hard to see under the letters. What can I do?Link to this
War of Words includes a "peek" feature just for this. On iPhone and iPod Touch, tap and hold on the score area. On iPad, tap and hold the button at the top right of the screen, to the left of the Chat button.
I keep forgetting what the tiles do!Link to this
Tap and hold an Action Tile in your rack for about a second. A pop-up hint will appear with a quick summary of what that tile does. You can turn this off by disabling Tutorials in the Settings screen.
How do I shuffle my rack?Link to this
Shake your device. iPad players can tap the Shuffle button to the left of the rack.
What happens if I play a Land Mine Tile over my opponent's Land Mine?Link to this
Their Land Mine will disappear and be replaced with yours. Your opponent will see their Land Mine disappear when this happens.
How do I know which words are mine on the board?Link to this
Your tiles are either blue or green. Whatever color is in your rack is your color.
After a bomb has exploded and it is the next person's turn, can they play on the place where the bomb was?Link to this
Yes, they can! Be careful what you blow up!
If you extend a reversed word and put another Reverse Tile under one of the letters, does this make the word read the right way around?Link to this
Multiple Reverse Tiles under a word don't do anything different—the word stays backwards. It doesn't keep flipping back and forth.
What is the 11L Tile and where is it found?Link to this
The 11L tile does not want it's secret shared! It's a shy little thing. You'll have to experiment to find out...
It seems like I'm not getting enough Action Tiles. Why?Link to this
Action Tiles are mainly luck-of-the-draw! Each different board layout has a different pre-set supply of tiles. They're then given out randomly to each player throughout the game. There is some logic on the server that slightly balances out the Action Tiles between players, but it's largely up to luck.
How do I turn off the notices that my opponent has earned an achievement?Link to this
On the main menu, select Settings. Turn off "Achievement Chat."
Your Games
How many games can I play at once?Link to this
War of Words currently allows up to 30 active games at a time, including Pass and Play games. You can extend this to 60 games at once with a purchase from the Store.
Can I play multiple games with the same person at once?Link to this
Yep!
What happens if my opponent doesn't play? Will the game time out?Link to this
Games with no turns played will automatically time out after 30 days. If you don't want to wait for the time out (assuming you're waiting on your opponent to play), you can simply enter the game, tap More, then tap End Idle Game. End Idle Game is available for games where you've been waiting on your opponent to play for more than three days. When you choose End Idle Game, your opponent receives a loss, but you do not receive a win.
How do I delete games from the Finished Games tab?Link to this
There's no need to manually delete games from the Finished tab. They will automatically delete themselves as soon as you have more than 40 games in total (combining your Active games plus your Finished games). This is designed so that you can have up to 30 active games, and still see up to 10 of your finished games. The oldest games will be deleted first.
Why do people have different icons next to them in the game list? Is it just random?Link to this
Each player's icon is based on the first letter of their Game Center nickname. It's not random, but players can't control the icon unless they change their nickname.
Advertising
How does the "Disable Advertising" option work?Link to this
You can upgrade to an advertising-free version of War of Words by tapping Disable Advertising on the main menu. This is an in-app purchase that takes effect immediately. You will first be asked to confirm your purchase. You will be told how much the purchase is at that time. Next, you will be prompted to enter your Apple ID email and password. Use the same credentials you use to purchase apps on the App Store. After that, if the purchase is successful, advertisements will immediately be turned off!
If I purchase "Disable Advertising", then restore or upgrade my device, do I have to pay again?Link to this
Nope! You may have to tap Disable Advertising again if your device lost it's settings. You won't be charged a second time, however.
If I have multiple devices, do I have to purchase "Disable Advertising" on each one separately?Link to this
Nope! As long as you use the same Apple ID credentials on each device, you won't be charged multiple times. You will have to tap Disable Advertising on each device, but it won't charge you again.
Leaderboards
Where do you find the leaderboards?Link to this
On the main menu, select High Scores.
Is my Weighted Score reported to the leaderboards?Link to this
At the moment, Game Center does not support the leaderboard features necessary to incorporate your Average Score or Weighted Score. If Apple adds this feature, we'll add those leaderboards!
Why do the All Time Games Lost totals show up under the Today tab?Link to this
The Games Lost leaderboard is sorted in reverse from what it should be. This is a mistake that Apple won't let us correct at this time, unfortunately. The main effect is that you'll see more accurate Losses under the Today tab instead of All Time.
I keep getting stuck in the leaderboards! Why?Link to this
We've noticed this happening rarely (it shouldn't happen every time). It seems to be a bug in Apple's Game Center code, unfortunately. Just terminate the game from your multitasking bar if it happens.
How do I move up in the ranking on the primary leaderboard?Link to this
The primary leaderboard is based on your highest scoring game. There are separate leaderboards for number of wins and losses, highest single turn, most points stolen in a turn, number of achievement points, and number of achievements earned.
Dictionary and Definitions
Why isn't a certain word in the dictionary?Link to this
If you're absolutely positive that the word you're playing should be in the dictionary (it's not a proper noun, abbrevation, certain slang, or an offensive word), then there is most likely a Reverse Tile under it! Use the "peek" feature to check under the tile. (On iPhone and iPod Touch, tap and hold on the score area. On iPad, tap and hold the button at the top right of the screen, to the left of the Chat button.)
Remember: if a Reverse Tile is anywhere under the word, the game reverses the word before checking the dictionary!
Why are definitions only shown for some words?Link to this
War of Words only includes definitions for a small subset of words. There just isn't enough room to store them all!