Words of Gold

Words of Gold is a scrabble puzzle game released by Brazilian[1] studio Cupcake Entertainment in November 2014 for Facebook and in early 2016 in iPhone and Android. It has over 360 levels. The game is periodically updated, adding new "episodes" and levels.

Words of Gold
Words of Gold icon
Developer(s)Cupcake Entertainment
Platform(s)Facebook, iOS, Android
ReleaseFacebook:
November, 2014,
Android:
December 14, 2015,
iOS:
February 11, 2016
Genre(s)Puzzle

Gameplay

General

This game is a variation of word puzzle scrabble games such as Words With Friends. Each level has an empty game board with a starting point for words, and might contain obstacles. Random letters available to form words are placed in the bottom, and the user needs to drag them into the board. The player can create words horizontally or vertically.

Each level contains a certain objective that must be completed in a given number of moves (or on a time limit); some levels require clearing "moss" off the board by making matches on top of them, reaching a certain score, getting top hat items to the bottom of the board, or having to clear a certain number of Words.

Levels may also contain blocks to make them more difficult, such as boxes or bombs (which end the level if they are not matched before they go off), multi-layered moss blocks, and others. Boosters can be earned or purchased to provide assistance during levels.

Letters

Additional letters are placed in the pile by matching a combination of 5 letters. Blank letters show up randomly and allow you to choose what letter you want it to be, helping you form words.

Some letters might have a special value, that will give the user more points are marked with a small number in the down-left corner of the tile. User might also get “Illusion” letters. These are purple tiles that change the letter they are after each new round.

Boosters

The player can also use various Boosters before or into the level to attempt to win levels more easily or extend play after a lost level; Hint shows a word, Shuffle reorder all of the Words in the board, Wand turns a letter indo colored letter (blue or green), Hammer clears a single piece from the board, Rainbow explodes all of the colored Words on the board. Extra Moves or Extra Time can be purchased if running out at the end of a game.

In-app purchases

The game is primarily monetized through in-app purchases (through Facebook credits).[2] Players begin with five "lives", lost whenever a level is failed. This applies to all of Cupcake’s games. When they are exhausted, users can either send requests to their Facebook friends for more lives, wait for them to replenish themselves (a life is restored every half-hour), or purchase them. At certain points, primarily at the start of new "episodes", users must also either purchase, or receive a request from at least three friends before they may access the next set of levels. Boosters, to make the levels easier, can also be bought using in-app purchases. The game also includes in-game advertisements to monetize on users that don’t spend money into the game.

While the game includes freemium content, just like Candy Crush,[3] 97.7% of people playing the game are playing for free, while only 2.3% pay.

Passing episodes

Once all levels in an episode are completed, the next episode (starting at episode 2) is locked and the player must either get three friends on Facebook to send them "tickets" to unlock the next episode, it can also be unlocked directly through the in-game store. Other than waiting the time period until mystery quests are available, using in app purchase is the only way to unlock episodes.

Characters

Throughout the game, the player solves puzzles so that the 6 colorful Tamarins can beat the Evil Owls. Characters also include tutorial guide Mr. Caco.

Reception

Words of Gold has over 150 thousand players and around 5 thousand active players every day. The game received particular mention in Brazil media, due to its popularity in the country.[4] Cupcake Entertainment, developer of the game, is a Brazilian company.

Prequel

In October 2013, a sequel titled Letters of Gold was soft launched by Cupcake Entertainment, with a similar design but different gameplay dynamics, bringing its challenges to word puzzle engine similar to Candy Crush. As of September 2015, there are 440 Letters of Gold levels. Its mobile version is reportedly under development.

gollark: Is "why" even a real word?
gollark: It would take at least three seconds to stop them conflicting in a few ways.
gollark: In theory, I could run the ABR source code on Epicbot.
gollark: One thing per guild.
gollark: They can do that?

References
  1. https://www.pocketgamer.biz/profile/63041/cupcake-entertainment-on-risking-it-all/
  2. "4 Ways In-App Purchasing Will Change Mobile". Mashable.com. Retrieved 2015-05-30.
  3. Candy Crush Saga players spent £865m on the game in 2014 alone. The Guardian. 13 February 2015.
  4. "LETRA DE OURO". jogosdaqui.com.br. Retrieved 2015-05-30.
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