Games for Word Nerds

The workload as a legislative proofreader is inconsistent to say the least. Some weeks we have work to do from the second we arrive until it is time to leave in the afternoon. We have also worked the occasional weekend or evening. My record is 8am to 9:30pm during one particularly busy week. I've even seen people tracked down in the bathroom because of some desperate situation or other.

Other times we sit around for weeks with no work to do, waiting on the next step of the law-making process to begin. We often have way too much free time on our hands and have gotten pretty good at finding things to do so our heads don't explode with boredom. Hence my blogging at three o'clock in the afternoon.

One of our early favorites was Merriam Webster's word games. These include your classic flash word games such as crosswords, jumbles, and my favorites, cryptograms, but there are also less common games such as a mah jong-inspired game in which you clear all the letter tiles by spelling words and letter rip in which you try to find all the words that can be spelled with the given letters. These games can be addicting and a good way to improve your spelling, vocabulary, and logic while wasting some time.

One of my long-time favorites is Free Rice, a vocabulary game that also works to feed the world's hungry.  For every question you answer correctly, you earn more grains of rice that are given away by the UN World Food Programme (WFP).  This is a great cause and a great way to improve your vocabulary.  I highly recommend you check it out!

I also love Bookworm, a game similar to Boggle in that you spell words with tiles in a grid-like formation, but there are also bonus tiles and the threat of fire to add excitement.  It's another addicting game that helps you learn new words.