A Word Search game for the Pocket PC

WordSearch is the classic word search game, where the player trys to form valid words from the matrix of letters on the screen. The longer the word, the more points you can accumulate!

To install WordSearch, put your Pocket PC into the AutoSync cradle, and run the WordSearch.exe executable (which was in the WordSearch.zip file) from your Desktop PC. The file "WordSearch.exe" will be installed in the \Program Files\ScaryBear Software\WordSearch directory on your Pocket PC device, as well as a few entries in your registry file. Also, a dictionary file (wordsearch.dict) will be written to the \Program Files\ScaryBear Software\WordSearch directory. A shortcut to the WordSearch game will be created and placed on your "Programs\Games" screen.

When you first start WordSearch, you'll see a screen similar to Figure 1. Tapping on the screen will start the game for Player 1. A description of the menu icons is presented in Figure 2. To pause a running game, tap the Pause icon. Tapping on the screen will resume the game. To end a current game, tap the End game icon. When you are completely finished with a game (both Players if you are in 2-Player mode), tapping on the Word List icon will bring up a list of words each player has found in the game.

Figure 1
Start Screen

Figure 2
Menu icon controls

When you start a game, you will see a screen similar to Figure 3. Here you see displayed a matrix of 16 cubes each with a letter. Words are formed from adjoining letters. Letters must join in the proper sequence to spell a word. They may join horizontally, vertically, or diagonally, to the left, right, or up-and-down. No letter cube, however, may be used more than once within a single word. To form a word, tap and drag your stylus on the screen to select the appropriate cubes. Figure 4 through 7 illustrate valid word formations:

Figure 3
Main game board

Figure 4
Example 1: Forming the word "BOIL"

Figure 5
Example 2: Forming the word "SOIL"

Figure 6
Example 3: Forming the word "DATE"

After completing a game, you can select the Word List icon on the menu bar to display a list of words found by each player (Figure 8).

Selecting "Options->Settings..." from the main menu will bring up the Settings Panel as shown in Figure 9. Here you can make game adjustments such as defining the game duration in minutes, the minimum number of letters for an acceptable word, the number of players in the game, whether you want to activate the game sounds, and the names of each player in the game.

Selecting "Options->High Score..." from the main menu will display the High Scores screen as shown in Figure 10. Here is a list of the top 5 highest scores for WordSearch. Tapping the "Reset" button will reset all the high scores to zero.

Finally, selecting "Options->About..." will bring up the About screen as shown in Figure 11. Here is where you will find a summary of the point scoring, the version number of the game, and the location where you will put a valid reg code to turn the trial version of the game into the full version (after purchasing the product).

WordSearch has online help files accessible from the "Options->Help..." menu selection.

The dictionary file used by WordSearch (wordsearch.dict) is a binary file consisting of 24,131 common words.

The downloaded trial version of WordSearch is functional for 14-days after you first begin playing it. To have unlimited use, you will need to visit www.scarybearsoftware.com to purchase a full version of WordSearch. Once you made your purchase, you should receive a valid reg code which will turn the trial version of WordSearch into the full version (no restrictions).