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Wordwise 1 |
Wordwise 1 is a word game that, at least according to VideoBrain, will build vocabulary and spelling skills while testing your mental prowess. I must have a defective cartridge, because all Wordwise 1 did for me was make me curse the poorly laid out keyboard.
Wordwise 1 is actually a variation on Boggle (everyone remember Boggle?). The goal of the game is to spell as many words as you can with the letters given before the timer runs out. To spell words one must move the letters around using the keyboard until they line up in the order desired. This is actually more difficult to do than it sounds, thanks to the afore mentioned poor keyboard layout and odd movement scheme. To move letters the player must actually "swap" them around by choosing the position of the letter that the player wants to swap with the letter on the end. For example if the screen showed this:
DJWORFKLDE
To spell out the word WORK one would have to press 3 to swap the W with the E then press 1 to swap the D with the W. Then one would press 4 to swap the D with the O, 2 to swap the J with the O, 5 to swap the R with the J, 3 to swap the R with the E, 7 to swap the K with the E, and finally 4 to swap the D with K. Oh and then you must position your cursor so it is under the K so that the VideoBrain knows that the word is four letters. See? Simple!
Wordwise 1 is actually one of the better games for the VideoBrain, and assuming you have two people to play with, can be quite fun. Since there was no way to fit a dictionary into a tiny 2K cartridge, players must decide on their own whether or not a word is valid. Let the fist fights ensue!
It's interesting to note that out of all the VideoBrain cartridges that end with a 1, Wordwise was the only one to actually have a second cartridge released (Wordwise 2). I guess VideoBrain thought that Wordwise was just that good...
Wordwise 1 was manufactured from 3-2-78 to 2-12-79 and had a print run of 3,079 cartridges making it one of the most common cartridges for the system.
