Year: 2012
Genre: Word Game
Platform: iOS, Mac
Creator: Solebon LLC

I’ve downloaded many, many word games for my smart phone and this is the only one I’ve kept for any length of time.

A two-player game (that can be played against friends or random internet people) that reminds me of Reversi/Othello, in that your job is to flip as many tiles to your color as possible. Only rather than just flipping pips, you have to make words to steal tiles from your opponent. Given that there’s only 25 words per board, there’s a surprising amount of strategy involved; the decision to play offensively or defensively can change several times per game. I’ve had games end in four moves, and some last 30 or more with both players playing endless defense.

There’s a nearly identical version of this game on Android called Letterplex, though they are two separate games and cross platform users cannot play against one another.