This “puzzling” word game creatively puts a spin (no pun intended) on the classic format of Wheel of Fortune with unique categories and power-ups. What’s The Phrase has similar attributes to Zynga’s Scramble With Friends such as the same three-round setup and the accumulation of bonuses with each additional round. In the game, each player on their turn will have an opportunity to take three spins on the wheel, place up to three letters on the puzzle board and have the option to solve or pass it to the other player. If you are having trouble with a puzzle, you can purchase vowels, extra spins, free letters or even place point-penalty booby traps on your opponent’s keyboard with your coins.
But, be cautious! While they are not present in the first round, with each turn you take, you are endangering yourself of either losing a spin or losing your points to the game’s villainous, monochromatic mascot, the “Blist”. Its role is similar to the Whammy on Press Your Luck or the Devil on The Joker’s Wild. The good news is that once you land on one of the penalty spaces on your turn, it disappears until your next turn. I like the developers’ originality of creating a mascot for the app; although, I am curious as to how they came to a consensus on the character’s name and appearance.
One problem I did run into while playing this game is that this app would have tendencies to open itself without warning, even if you force quit the app in the task manager. If you ever come across this issue, don’t panic and simply uninstall and reinstall the application. While doing this, you will not lose your progress of any of your games in session. Other than the weird aforementioned glitch, the only other improvement that needs to be made is to tweak the bonus round by adding a bonus puzzle and spin, instead of mundane present one, where you have to select a bonus from one of three safes.
Overall, this is another fun and impressive word game created by Zynga. As a bonus (for a small coin payment), you can even create your own puzzles to pass along to your friends and other opponents. Of its roster of “With Friends” mobile games, this would definitely be in my Top 3 Zynga games to download. Like on every other Zynga game, you can login by using your Facebook account, play against Facebook friends and play against random opponents if none of your friends are up for the challenge. What’s The Phrase is a mere 24MB to install and free to download. If you want the app-free version, it will cost you only $1.99 USD.
App Name: What’s The Phrase?
Developer: Zynga
Market: Google Play
