Retrogram

I absolutely love playing word games and I ditched this app pretty quickly, before having to subscribe. The main reason is that I can’t figure out which dictionary they’re using, or if they’re even using one. There’s a lot of legitimate words that I’ve used in the New York Times Spelling Bee game that they don’t accept. For example, galley wasn’t accepted, Lily - as in the flower - wasn’t accepted. But then there are a lot of proper nouns that are accepted. It makes no sense at all and is really frustrating for someone who loves to play word games. Plus, it looks like the game hasn’t been updated in over a year so I feel like the developers have kind of abandoned it. Better to subscribe to the New York Times games package. Also, check out the app Spelling Queen. It seems to be much better.

I deleted this “free” app after playing only two daily puzzles and a round of bonus puzzles. Lasted two days before I was only given the option of paying $30 or more to unlock more puzzles. It was a fun game while it lasted.

Addictive fun for word lovers - I love beating the daily goal. There are a LOT of legit English words they don’t accept, especially past tenses and plurals, and quite a few I’ve used repeatedly in other word games. Today, though it’s glitching quite bizarrely, changing the letters every time you spin the wheel to rearrange them. Apparently you can only contact them through Apple mail, which I don’t use and don’t want, so I can’t ask them directly what is going on.

First of all, I like the look and the feel of this game. I appreciate the word lists and the handy way you can switch from an alphabetical list to a list that shows words you have recently found. The comments in the definitions are great. Who knew that Preener is one of Santa’s reindeer, and the vainest to boot ? Now, why am I confused ? I’m not sure exactly how the daily games work. Do I need to pay for them ? How about the Bonus games ? If I don’t want to sign up for Instagram or Mastadon (?), how can I get a discount ? I have been able to figure out some of this from the Comment section, but a page on the App explaining all this would be really helpful . Love this game. Keep ‘em comin’. 🙂

I had maybe 3 days with a free puzzle, now for the past four days it tells me I have to subscribe to play the daily puzzle. It’s ridiculous, it’s a word game

First of all, shoutout to the devs: I emailed them with a question and they quickly responded with a clear explanation that showed they understood my email and weren’t just brushing me off. Anyway, I’ve been playing Retrograms daily for about three weeks now. Been enjoying it as a nice spin on the word game genre. (It looks like there are some games on the App Store with the same general mechanics, but not Retrogram’s emphasis on appealing aesthetics.) The basic setup features a rotary phone-like dial of letters with one letter in the middle, seven letters in total. Make as many words out of those letters as you can. If you’ve played Boggle you know what’s going on here, except here there’s no timer. Two unique rules help keep this from being your garden variety Boggle clone: 1. Every word has to use the center letter. 2. Words have to be 4 letters or longer (ie, it cuts out the typical gimme words like “ale,” “ire,” “ore,” “bar,” etc.). Both work very well in creating Retrogram’s challenge. Also unique (at least among the non-themed word games I’ve played) is the accepted word pool seems to be curated somehow. Which is to say, if you’re used to word games that pull from the scrabble dictionary (which most word games seem to), you’ll probably be making some words that aren’t accepted. The degree to which that matters to you will probably depend on how much you lean on weirdo words that people only know because they play word games (think: “qat,” “zymurgy,” etc). I generally consider the trimmer word list a strength: Feels more like a genuine test of coming up with real words, not a regurgitation exercise. At the same time, a curation means some good words get left off (a few weeks ago I was able to play “ballad” but not “balladeer”), whether by oversight or intentional decision. Likewise, the word list seems curb the endless mileage word game players get out of endings like “-ed” and “-er,” which generally allows obvious words, but not some of the wackier morpheme combinations that have long aided Boggle lovers. The curation—while a touch too limited—is a nice change of pace. I dig it. That said, it’s impossible to talk about Retrogram without talking about its monetization. Let me be clear: I am pro-premium pricing with games. I dislike the in-game currency micro transactions that most free-to-play banks on. Retrogram avoids that and monetizes with a subscription. I won’t say that they have high prices on their subscription plans—they know mu

She said

I love this app!! I think it’s better than the NYT game because it shows you what words you’ve done as you type them + it has a super cool theme. The app developers are super nice and fun too! I appreciate the addition of bonus puzzles to make this app extra fun. :)

As a fan of this kind of puzzle, I tried this app. I love the clean layout, and ease of play. The new layout on the iPad let’s you easily see your words as you go.I LOVE the occasional definitions, side-comments and stories that randomly show up with certain words. Great addition to a classic game. Hopefully the next update will include a play history so you can see how many days you were a wizard.

I love(d) Retrogram but seeing Potter content ruined it for me as an LGBTQIA+ person. The money and visibility generated directly fuel her attacks on innocent transgender individuals and the community by validating these views are acceptable by the devs. Canceling my subscription with great sadness.