By Tara Richter…
I have a confession to make – I have a new addiction and it’s called Letroca, a smartphone game created by the founders of Fanatee. The goal of the game is really quite simple – score the most points by coming up with as many word combinations as possible, in the provided time, by rearranging the letters provided. That’s it. If the race against the clock isn’t enough competition, you can also connect via Facebook to compete against friends!
After downloading the app on the App Store (for FREE I might add), I got down to business right away. The app is extremely user friendly and easy to navigate. I soon discovered that there are three game modes to Letroca: Classic, Half and Zen. On Classic, the objective of the game is to find the largest word in less than 2.5 minutes. On half, you need to find half the words in less than 2.5 minutes and on Zen mode you have as long as you want to find the longest word.
I could actually ‘feel’ my brain working hard to figure out these word puzzles to rearrange letters into words. I have to admit the first couple of times I played I felt like a complete idiot. After the 2.5 minutes expired all the possible words appear. I was amazed at how few words I was able to come up with. In the same way that a cross-word, word search or puzzle provides great mental exercise – so too does Letroca. I was surprised after playing just a few rounds how much quicker my brain started to recognize words with seemingly less, and less effort.
At one point in the afternoon, (yes I may have played all afternoon – I told you – addiction), my dear son (age 10) came over and asked what I was playing. Together we started to shout out the words we saw, and before I knew it he had taken over my phone, claiming ‘rights’ to it being HIS turn, (the nerve right?). It proved to be a really fun afternoon creating and re-creating words in this game. I think the highlight was when I heard my son full-out belly laugh that “TIT” was a word.
I find I pop open this app whenever I have a few minutes of time that I’m “waiting” for something; drying my hair, waiting for a ride, waiting in the doctors office, or just at random times throughout the day. It’s a great way to both have a break, and gives your brain a good dose of mental exercise.
Letroca is available for a FREE download on Android and iOS (for iPad and iPhone) and is available in English, Portuguese and Spanish. Letroca was selected in Latin America by Apple as one of the BEST of 2013 by the local App Stores who select the best apps launched in the specified year. Given the fact that there are hundreds of thousands of apps available, this is quite the accomplishment. You can find more information about this great game by visiting www.fanatee.com/letroca or their Facebook page at www.facebook.com/letroca. After giving this game a try – you just may find yourself with a new word addiction….. (add, nat, cat, ion, dad…)
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