Double Quotes
NB: This is a highly strategic word game, specifically designed to challenge upper-percentile word gamers. If you can’t spell, this game will only frustrate you.
I’m pleased to introduce Double Quotes for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. It requires iOS 5.0 and an internet connection.
I designed Double Quotes as the crossword-style game that I wanted to play. I’ve had some fun with the main players in the genre, but on the whole thought they fell short in a few areas. For example, I often found games dragging on too long. Or felt slightly robbed when a blank didn’t actually score points.
Most of all I disliked the tolerance for misspelling. What I was finding, and I couldn’t resist doing it myself, was that the game was degenerating into randomly rearranging letters on the board in order of highest score and pressing “play” over and over until I got one to fit. I don’t know about you, but that’s not very satisfying.
So I set out to make a game that fixed these issues. And to add more spice; to make me feel that I wasn’t just treading water time-wise whilst playing it, I incorporated wise quotations into the gameplay. So each game I played exposed me to some of humanity’s better, more noble thoughts. These quotes made the game a lot of fun to make and have made a lasting impression, on me at least. For example, often when I meet people now, the following quote rises to mind:
Always meet each other with a smile for the smile is the beginning of love ~ Mother Teresa
If you are a fan of crossword-style games, and in particular if you are one of the higher percentile players looking for extra strategic depth and a new challenge, then I think Double Quotes will be a game you’ll enjoy.
Got a question? You might like to view the FAQ.
Features
★ Tiles can be placed on existing tiles, but only to a maximum height of two – i.e., they can be “doubled”.
★ Best game and best move leaderboards
★ Wise quotes that when played, double your total move score.
★ Very high move bonuses. A 12x word bonus is possible if you are good enough.
★ It’s Zen. If it’s useless, wobbly or fluffy, it’s absent.
★ It doesn’t hold your hand. If you misspell, you forfeit your turn.
Initially, you begin each game at -20 points. Purchase “parity” and your next game begins at 0. Double Quotes has no ads and no nag screens.
Rules
- Tile letters are drawn from the quote being played, quote author inclusive. If a letter is not in the quote, it won’t be in the tile bag.
- There are 70 tiles in total.
- Play begins by forming a valid word that covers at least one of the center 4 squares on the board. These 4 squares each carry a 2L bonus.
- All words in the current quote are playable, including quote author name.
- Subsequent words must either: adjoin an existing word or overlay one of the center 4 squares.
- You may play a tile directly on top of another tile – but only if you or your opponent have not already “doubled” this particular tile.
- You are not allowed to double a tile of the same letter.
- A misspell forfeits your turn.
- There are 2 blanks. Each player always begins the game with a blank. Blanks are worth the equivalent score of the letter they are transformed into.
- If there are sufficient tiles in the tile bag, you may swap tiles once per game. You cannot swap a blank. Swapping forfeits your turn.
- You may pass by playing no tiles. Your highest value tile will be removed from your rack, and its value deducted from your score.
- Word score bonuses are multiplicative. If your word overlies both 2W and 3W squares, you will receive 6W bonus.
- Play all the tiles in your rack in a given move for a 50 point bonus.
- Playing a word in the quote (of 2 letters or more) doubles your move score. This doubling is calculated after all other bonuses, including the play-all-tiles bonus.
- The game ends when a player has no tiles. Any tiles left on the opponent’s rack are deducted from the opponent’s score.
Special thanks to Justin De Candia for the background music, an original composition titled “union”.
Double Quotes is a very attractive game indeed, both visually and gameplay-wise. It is a fresh new take for us word-gamers who have already played a lot of Words With Friends and Wordfeud. It is nice with the leaderboard feature, not found in the other two games. For a non native English-speaker, like yours truly, the misspell = forfeit is a big challenge! However Double Quotes seems to be home to some very sluggish players, and this inactivity is a bit of a nuisance. A timeout (auto-resign) for players who do not move within 72 hours, or perhaps subtraction of x points every y hours might speed things up a bit – or perhaps the option of timed games.
Hi and thanks for your comments. I think what Double Quotes really needs is more players! But it’s early days yet. In the meantime, maybe just start more games – i.e. have more games open and once you do find an opponent who moves within a reasonable timeframe, befriend them at end of game. That way you can easily invite them next time you start a game. Or perhaps just send friend invites to the top 5 players on the hiscore table – the best players play more games, and hence move more often.