Wordly

In another era, Wordly might have been a beloved board game, causing family tiffs at Christmas and played in parks, cafes and hipster bars from Williamsburg to Wexford. But this is 2013, and such games live in the app store, pored over on commutes and in queues. The layout is nifty: There's a gridded board comprised of letters and you take turns using as many of these letters as possible to form a word. Conquer the board by using and taking more letter tiles than your opponent. In a neat twist, you can take points from your opponents if you used letters they have already used. So it's like a cross between Scrabble and Othello. The micro-transactions are maddening as always, but that's the price you pay for a top quality "free" app. And it is top quality. Wordly might be the new Words with Friends, so don't be surprised if you hear about Alec Baldwin yelling at airline staff for asking him to stop playing.