WordTag: Guess words with friends 120 characters at a time

While there are plenty of competitive word games available on both Facebook and mobile, most are clones of Scrabble or Boggle but Juxta Labs' new offering, WordTag, plays more like Taboo, as players are given a word that must be described to another player without using key words in the process.

Available with complete cross-platform play, WordTag players can jump into games on iOS and Facebook, and can take their games from one platform to another without losing progress. On each turn, players can choose from multiple words (or short phrases) based on difficulty and will then be given 120 characters to work with, describing their key word in as much or as little detail as they'd like, again, without using key words. For instance, if your word was "spinach", you would need to describe spinach without using words like "green", "leaf" and so on. If your opponent guesses the word correctly, you'll both earn coins that can be used to purchase power-ups.

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These power-ups include the ability to unlock words that are otherwise illegal for use, the ability to blow up unnecessary letters when you're trying to guess a clue, ones that will give you the first letter of a key word and so on. You can also unlock themed badges with sets of words in specific categories (holidays, animals, etc.).

Both versions of the game unfortunately come with plenty of bugs in this early state. Whether it's the app crashing when attempting to play a game on iOS, or the game automatically logging you out of Facebook in the middle, the mobile experience isn't so hot right now. On top of that, the free version comes with terribly annoying advertisements. These aren't just ads that appear on the screen for a few seconds with a conveniently placed "x" button--these are 30 seconds commercials, with sound, that can't be skipped or muted within the app. If you don't want to hear them, you'll need to manually mute your entire device from the multitasking bar.

Needless to say, when you get into a loop of app crashing and ads before you can even play a game, the experience grows downright horrible. The Facebook version of the game also contains ads, but we haven't run into any that were quite so annoying just yet. There, though, you might have a game freeze entirely as you try to submit your answer, only to have that word and round completely eliminated when you refresh the game.

There's a lot of potential within WordTag to be something entertaining, as it forces you to "think" much more than a typical competitive game, like Draw Something or SongPop. Still, both versions of WordTag need a lot of work before they can be instantly recommendable. Thankfully, you can test both versions of the game for free to see if you have better luck.

Play WordTag on Facebook Now >

Download WordTag Free on iPhone Now >

Have you tried WordTag? Do you think this virtual tag on the taboo tabletop game? Sound off in the comments! Add Comment.