Babbling is a particular Joy to me. I had been playing various word games to try to restore some verbal recall that was damaged years ago in a car accident, when my darling Tom discovered Babble touted in an online ‘zine of some sort. That was in March 2006.
Not only is the word game itself fascinating (a cross between Scrabble and Boggle), but the people who play regularly and chat are very nice. Mostly. The people who enter the chat log to harass or make trouble rapidly find themselves ignored (if they’re not completely horrid) or booted when they are reported to the owner of the site. Because the owner and players take such care to keep the chat “safe” from bad language and other trollish behavior it is one of the few places I really feel confident sending other people.
In the sidebar are some blogs and websites associated with this game, either as help or community builders, or the people themselves who populate “Babblonia” also called “Babbleland.”
Other (free) online word games I play…
- Yahoo Word Games I enjoy Text Twist and Bookworm the most, but also like Literati when people I know want to play. There are options to purchase offline editions of most yahoo games as well.
- Boxerjam has some nice word games. It is a commercial site, so the free games are limited, but they’re still a good way to while away a long wet winter day.
- Quote Puzzler Again, a commercial site, but three of the games are free. They don’t take long, and are a quick “pick me up” when I don’t have time for a longer game. Many of the consistent daily winners are Babblers!
- Quiddler A fun word game based on the card game of the same name. Again, doesn’t take too long, but it’s fun. Additional games on this site include “Set” and “Xactica”
- Jumble This is an online version, pointed out on Journey Woman’s blog.
- Free Rice, a word-association vocabulary-building game that donates rice for every word you get correct.
As a side note, the word games helped!