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Put your knowledge to the test in this game where Scrabble meets good, old fashioned trivia. You will be quizzed on a wealth of information from Aardvarks to ZZ Top.
Quizboard is an interesting and challenging mixture of Scrabble and Trivial Pursuit. On each turn, you are given seven category tiles and can only use a maximum of five per turn. Every time you choose a category tile and place it on the board, you will have 30 seconds to answer a multiple-choice question. Correct answers will win you points, while wrong ones earn you nothing. It would be wise to pick your strongest categories in order to build a streak of correct answers and earn extra points. If you are looking for more opportunities to score, you can create bonus multiplier questions by combining two questions of the same color or by landing on bonus squares on the board. You may opt to switch out up to five questions for 100 points each at any time if you don’t like the categories given to you. Once a player reaches the star at the center of the board, the player with the most points will be the winner.
Quizboard is a decent, generic quiz game for trivia lovers. It is game is good test of strategy and general knowledge. The game has more than enough questions so you won’t run into repeats frequently and the rules are simple and straightforward. Like with most social games, this one also enables you to compete against Facebook friends. The two major concerns I have with this game are the questions and its appearance.
While some require some thought, some of the seemingly challenging difficult questions are a cakewalk to answer due to the poor question writing. For instance, one question that was asked in a game was “What’s the correct name of the famous Victorian amateur detective: Sherlock Flats, Sherlock Bungalows, Sherlock Holmes or Sherlock Cabins?” Just about anyone would answer this question correctly with the given options. The question could have been better phrased: “What’s the correct name of the famous Victorian amateur detective created by Arthur Conan Doyle: C. Auguste Dupin, Sergeant Cuff, Inspector Bucket or Sherlock Holmes?” This would have been a little more challenging than the previous question.
While the gameplay is solid, the general look of the app itself leaves much to be desired. The graphics are bland and generic and there are barely any original sound effects used as well. The difference between Words With Friends and Scrabble is a prime example of how important sound effects and graphics are in a game. What makes Words With Friends more appealing to play than Scrabble is that the Words With Friends board is more colorful, uses rounded corners for its tiles and squares and its own array of glitzy sound effects to make the game stand out. Quizboard could use those improvements to make the game look more interesting to play, even though the app will give you more board arrangements to choose from if you buy the Premium version for $1.99.
Aside from the problems I have mentioned, Quizboard is not a bad trivia game for what it is. The game is easy to pick up, takes up very little room on your phone and allows you to create your own profile and password-protect it to track your progress. Quizboard is only 15MB and is free to download in the Google Play app store.
App Name: Quiz Board
Developer: Planento AB
Cost: Free ($1.99 for Premium Version)
Market: Google Play, iTunes
