{"id":679,"date":"2023-11-28T16:10:10","date_gmt":"2023-11-28T17:10:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ballpeenhammer.com\/?p=679"},"modified":"2025-07-02T18:38:37","modified_gmt":"2025-07-02T18:38:37","slug":"gubbins-its-a-word-game-review-sometimes-the-extra-gubbins-make-the-difference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.ballpeenhammer.com\/index.php\/2023\/11\/28\/gubbins-its-a-word-game-review-sometimes-the-extra-gubbins-make-the-difference\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Gubbins \u2013 It\u2019s A Word Game\u2019 Review \u2013 Sometimes The Extra Gubbins Make The Difference"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Is that the full title then? Gubbins \u2013 It\u2019s A Word Game<\/em> (Free)<\/a>? I\u2019m just going to call it Gubbins<\/em> from here on out. If I need to talk about normal gubbins, I\u2019ll write it without the capital letter G like I just did there. But I don\u2019t have an old brown sofa, so the odds of me needing to talk about gubbins in the course of any given review are fairly low. The odds of me needing to talk about the Gubbins in Gubbins<\/em>, at least for this review, are rather high. Sorry, I\u2019ve reviewed a lot of word games on iOS in my time, and these intro paragraphs don\u2019t get any easier the fiftieth time. Should we move to the actual meat of the review?<\/p>\n

Anyway, Gubbins<\/em>. It\u2019s a word game, that\u2019s no lie. Letters are distributed to you in some manner or another, and you need to flex your vocabulary skills to try to make big, fancy words in exchange for big, fancy points. This was one of the more obvious kinds of games to put on mobile phones, so it\u2019s not surprising word games came in early and strong. There are absolutely tons of these available, and a lot of them are very good. So how can a new entry stand out from the pack? The answer, I think, comes down to two things. You have to have a twist or gimmick that actually works, and you have to bring your A-game to the presentation. Anything less and people are just going to keep playing Spell Tower<\/em> or what have you.<\/p>\n

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I\u2019m going to do the less obvious thing and touch on the gameplay features first. You\u2019ve got three modes to play, though if you opt to go free-to-play you can only choose one to play per day. The mechanics are similar between the three, with only a few different points. Classic mode is the normal game, and I\u2019ll explain what that means soon. Pencil mode removes all but one of the Gubbins from the game, turning it a relatively pure word game. Daily mode gives you the same set-up as every other player on that day, with particular words laid out and certain rules in effect. There\u2019s a reasonably-priced IAP if you want to unlock everything, by the way. I recommend doing it if you like the game. Studio Folly seem like decent folks, and the game is good.<\/p>\n

Okay, you\u2019ve selected your desired mode. You\u2019ll now have a board in front of you with a little tray of letters, and you\u2019d be forgiven for thinking there\u2019s something awfully familiar about all of this. But some of the letters are stuck together with other letters, and there are letter tiles behind the letters. It\u2019s like some sort of bizarre solitaire game! If you want to see what\u2019s on those tiles, you\u2019ll have to play the ones on top first. That\u2019s just how it is. You can place them anywhere on the board, and you don\u2019t have to worry about them crashing into other letters or anything. You can rotate them between vertical and horizontal alignments, which is nice.<\/p>\n

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Once you\u2019ve made something resembling a proper word on the board, you just run your finger along to submit it. The tiles will will be cleared, you\u2019ll get your points, and everyone goes home happy. Keep on playing those tiles until you reach the one at the bottom that says FIN, and when you\u2019re satisfied that you\u2019ve done all you can, play that tile to finish the game. It\u2019s like every game is a fancy little French film. Classy as heck<\/em>. Your score will be displayed along with all the nifty words you made, and you might even unlock some achievements. If you\u2019re the sort that shares your score, this is where you can do it.<\/p>\n

The tile stack is an important feature of this game. It\u2019s not unusual for a game like this to keep which letters are coming next a surprise, but you can clearly see which tiles are blocking the next batch and are nudged towards using letters you might otherwise leave behind. It\u2019s a good set-up that gets players to use new strategies. But it lacks that sizzle, doesn\u2019t it? We\u2019ve got tile stacks! No one is throwing down their wallets for that one. We need some extra gubbins in here. We need some\u2026 Gubbins<\/em>.<\/p>\n

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In Gubbins<\/em>, Gubbins are special tiles that will show up randomly as you\u2019re playing through your stack. Some of them will help you, and some of them will hurt you. At first there will only be a few kinds of Gubbins, but as you play you\u2019ll unlock more of them. One of the IAPs also adds more Gubbins to the game. Each Gubbin has its own specific effect, and you\u2019ll generally be given a choice between two of them when they first appear in a game. Some will let you move letters around. Some will move letters around on their own. Some will add useful tiles to the board. Others will add largely unwanted junk tiles.<\/p>\n

Bad Gubbins will play themselves once revealed, while it\u2019s up to you to play the good Gubbins whenever you think it\u2019s best to do so. It\u2019s an interesting random element that gives the game a lot of its mechanical flavor, and it\u2019s why I tend to prefer Classic mode to Pencil mode. You might feel differently of course, so it\u2019s good we have the choice. The thing about the Gubbins though is that they also give the game a lot of its aesthetic flavor, and that\u2019s how we move into talking about the presentation. That\u2019s the kind of smooth transition you get from a twenty-five year veteran of the trade.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

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