Wednesday, March 9, 2011

WOW (World of Words)

WOW is Ken Fisher's word game that is a follow-up to "Wizard";
A prototype of the packaging is shown below.



You might well ask, "Why another word game?".
WOW is not "just another word game". Most other word games, including "Scrabble" generate words no longer than 5-6 letters. Such a restriction eliminates a huge portion of the words in the English language. WOW provides for the inclusion of 3 and 4 letter words but emphasises the use of words of 5 letters or more, while words of 9 or more letters receive bonus points.
With WOW it's possible to generate words like "wheelbarrow" and "congratulations".
Is WOW educational? A resounding "YES" is the answer. To be successful players need to know how to use prefixes, suffixes and compound words. For example the word 'light' can be transformed into the compound word 'highlight' then further lengthened using a suffix into 'highlighted'. The ability to make such transformations is one mark of an educated person.
What is the target market for WOW? It's designed for players 10 and up. WOW can be played with as few as 2 players but can also accomodate groups of 8 or more. It's fast paced and everyone participates at the same time without waiting to take a turn.
Is WOW fun to play? This is the most important question and again we can answer in the affirmative. But, of course, the only way to find out is to play it.

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