Letterpress

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Game description

Letterpress is a word game for smartphones. Two players take turns making words using letters found in a 5 by 5 matrix of tiles, attempting to surround consecutive tiles so as to protect them from their use being counted by each opponent.

The app is available for iOS: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/letterpress-word-game/id526619424

The game is developed by atebits: http://www.atebits.com/letterpress/

Example games

Here are some examples demonstrating various strategies and outcomes. I believe I am always represented by blue. A graph below the word list shows the amount of letters each side has during the game. Click on the board to advance one move and see the game progress.

You can beat a cheater

http://replay.letterpress.atebits.com/#22acb2276327f08e232be7eeba248826

My opponent learns that using a computer to find big words doesn't guarantee a win.

Tenacious G

http://replay.letterpress.atebits.com/#0ef717cc16315adbfbe3455ec137cd2b

It is possible to beat Shawn

http://replay.letterpress.atebits.com/#35ac4d5aaa1a7a97f0e2c63b5866fddb

Own the tough corner

http://replay.letterpress.atebits.com/#d9b543a77c06354092cd8e740d87343e

I chose to go with the tough letters instead of taking many turns to try to wrest the easy-lettered side from my opponent's control.

You don't always need a strong defense

http://replay.letterpress.atebits.com/#31e3eeeed0cd424ba26d08ec320bc980

As long as there are enough letters unprotected, a sweep at the end will do.

A very long game

http://replay.letterpress.atebits.com/#c9f1fc595ff83404833f3ae66ceb93d3

Fastest win ever, and I went second

http://replay.letterpress.atebits.com/#86e70f7df34ae29a07133fd7a30a2d00

I often put a word out there, then see if I can add prefixes and suffixes before submitting it. That really helped here. My opponent must have thought I was cheating, though, because winning with two words is quite rare.

From behind all along to a win

http://replay.letterpress.atebits.com/#199879b822600cf97ac9f557f7b38fc5

This game is interesting in that my opponent does almost everything right, and commands one or two corners for most of the game.

Slightly shorter words can still win

http://replay.letterpress.atebits.com/#678d614ea9a48b980f840fcadf58345d

Perseverance

http://replay.letterpress.atebits.com/#8704a669d84f8555fbf99eac4e26a042

They held me back for a long time. I notice that the replay never shows the taking of the bottom K. Unknown Atebits bug.

Things can look bad

http://replay.letterpress.atebits.com/#3376dbf36279ceef5b1b00275cd5fe70

ing crazy

http://replay.letterpress.atebits.com/#1ca9b79611d3799537d0cda9cfffb749

Drawn out

http://replay.letterpress.atebits.com/#94bc3b8a99c63563925686b83b7acbc9

Seemed like a long game, but actually only 24 words.

Closely matched

http://replay.letterpress.atebits.com/#fcf54b28d4b8d7274955fafde43a7a45

How to win quickly

http://replay.letterpress.atebits.com/#d95895aa868a73ddec6d2e23b2e3048c

Just 5 words.

90 word game

http://replay.letterpress.atebits.com/#4e8a33330c6c7ff28aeafc4efd9daed1

They went first, had longer words, played excellent words without cheating, and really hung in there for a long time. But they didn't employ a strong defense in the first few moves.