Flexicon – Flex that grey matter!

Flexicon is a crossword puzzle that you can play at Club Bing. As with all crossword puzzles, you have a blank grid to fill in with words. Words go across and down, but not diagonally!

Of course, you aren’t just guessing on what goes where. You get a clue for each and every word. ^_^

How nice.

Well, it’s more like a crossword puzzle that’s broken into four pieces. Each piece connects to one long word called the Flexicon.

The picture below is all from the same puzzle, but it’s the different sections so you can (hopefully) see how they fit together.

You can flip between the sections whenever you want, so if you get stuck on one bit just move to the next. There’s no penalty!

If a clue is too vague for you, move your cursor over the clue. A little green bar will pop up asking if you want to Get a Hint or Give Up. (Tip: Don’t give up!!! You can’t earn any more tickets if you give up!) Selecting the hint will run a specific search in the bing engine below.

Oooooh!

Yup, as with all games on Club Bing, the bing search engine is always attached to the game. ^_^ Sometimes the hints are helpful, but other times… not-so-much.  If that’s the case, use the search engine to see what you can find on your own!

Some puzzles are easier than others, and clues are repeated. This just means that you’ll get faster with them over time, which is great! A finished puzzle can award up to 25 tickets, which is pretty darn good for a Club Bing game.

See! Proof!!

Oh! The one semi-annoying thing is that you have to confirm each word after you put it into the puzzle. If it’s wrong you’ll see a lovely red X. No red X means that Yay!! You got it! ^_^

 

Final Rating

Usually crossword puzzles intimidate me, but I really like how Flexicon breaks up one big puzzle into the four smaller sections. Taking things one chunk at a time makes it a LOT less scary. ^_^

I rate this 4 stars out of 5. It’s solid entertainment with enough of a challenge to keep me going back for more. Woot!

What would you rate it? Do you like crossword puzzles or do they bore you?

 

Similar Games

If you like Flexicon, you should try some of these games too!

• Crossword at Spigo – A slightly more traditional crossword puzzle, but still has some very interesting clues. ^_^
• Word Whomp at Pogo – Make as many words as possible from the letters!
• Word Chain Plus at SwagBucks – How many four letter words do you know? I bet it’s more than you think!

Club Bing – Search for the answers.

Club Bing has an interesting little history. It was created in 2007, and was originally called “Live Search Club.” Why? Well, it was designed to promote the Windows search engine, Live Search. In 2009 Windows renamed their search engine to “Bing,” and the “Live Search Club” became what we now know as Club Bing!

I love the play on words. ^_^ I wonder how many people go to http://www.clubbing.com and expect to find info on clubs!

Anywho, Club Bing is one of those rare sites where you play games to earn prizes instead of to win them. Here’s a little info on the site!

 

Layout

I dearly love a clean layout, but the Club Bing layout verges on boring. *^_^*

Zzzzz……

On the upside it’s very easy to find your way around the place! But on the downside, I never feel any excitement when I look at the site.

 

Games

Club Bing features only word and trivia games, and all of them tie into the Bing search engine.

It’s bananas!!!

I’m pretty bad at trivia, so I really don’t mind the search engine at the bottom. Although sometimes I get frustrated and open up Google instead. *^_^*

You earn tickets by playing different games, but you’re limited to 1000 tickets a day. ALSO, you’re limited to one account per person, so don’t make another account to get around the rule! It’s fraud and you’ll get in big trouble. :P

 

Prizes

I must admit, Club Bing has an excellent variety of prizes!

Whoa!

The really good prizes take a lot of tickets, of course. But it’s all free! ^_^

They also have something that I haven’t seen on another free-to-earn site, and that’s the option to donate your tickets to charity or a school. I kinda love the idea because it gives people a way to help others even if they don’t have any cash to spare. <3

 

VIP

Club Bing doesn’t have a paid membership option, but they do have a VIP status. VIPs get discounts on a few prizes and access to VIP-only prizes.

Is that… a chicken as a bouncer?!

Becoming a VIP is really easy! You just need to do two things.

1. Download the Bing toolbar. (Only works on Internet Explorer version 7 or higher.)
2. Make Bing your default search engine. (Again, has to be Internet Explorer.)

If you use multiple browsers just remember to switch back to IE before you go to cash in any tickets.

 

Final Opinion

Club Bing isn’t a bad site, it’s just one that doesn’t interest me very much. It’s probably AWESOME for wordsmiths and trivia buffs. ^_^

Have you tried it? What’s your opinion?

Seekadoo! - I see you!

Seekadoo! (what a name) is a word search game at Club Bing! I used to LOVE word searches when I was younger. Yup, little Mira was a word nerd. ^_^

If you haven't played one before, a word search is just a large grid full of letters. Your goal is to find words in the jumble! Words can be horizontal, vertical, backwards, and diagonal.

Now the interesting thing here is that with Seekadoo!, you don't get a list of words to search for. Instead you get a topic and you hunt for words related to that topic.

That sounds hard.

Luckily there are two things to help you out. First off, the list is in alphabetical order. You'll probably find a few words on your own, so look at the gaps on the word list to figure out what words might be next.

Oooh!

Also, some of the spots on the list have a tiny icon next to them. If you're stumped you can click the icon and Bing will use the search engine to give you a hint.

Say wha?

Yup, there's a search engine attached to the game. Sometimes it's handy. Other times it's annoying.

If you run out of clues you can use the search engine to hunt for more words. For the "volcano" puzzle I headed to the Wikipedia page on volcanoes. I found a few more words and learned a lot about volcanoes, which is kinda fun. ^_^

At any point in time you can click "Give Up" and you'll get the complete list of words.

Yay!!

IMPORTANT: You won't earn anymore tickets after you click "Give Up." Hold off for as long as you can!

Of course, even with the full list, you still have to find the words to complete the puzzle and get your tickets. Once you're done, the leftover letters join together to spell a phrase related to your topic.

Da..nt...es....p..e..a......k?

I wasn't speedy enough to get a second shot of the phrase moving together. But yes, it says Dante's Peak. ^_^

Tips & Tricks

Seekadoo! is tough if you aren't used to word searches. Plus, everyone sees things a little differently, so there isn't one tried-and-true method that will work for everyone. If you're having trouble try a few of these tips and find what works for you.

1. Read the lines. Seriously! Take each line of letters and slowly read it. A lot will be gibberish, but you'll find a few words buried in there. On the second pass, start from the right side and read to the left. I'll admit, I'm not very good at reading backwards, but some people can do it without a problem.

Next read the lines vertically. Start by reading them down or by reading them upwards. Whatever works for you. ^_^ Just be consistent so you don't miss anything!

2. If you know the word (or have a good guess) search for the first letter of it. Once you find it, search the letters around it for the next step. Here's an example.

For this puzzle I knew I was looking for "Hawking." I scanned the letters vertically and came across an H.

Indeed.

The next step was to look for any nearby A's.

Uh-oh. I see three!

In this case there are three A's connected to the H. The one in the bottom left corner can't be it, because there's no room for the rest of the word. That leaves me with two viable options. Now I'm going to look for the third letter.

Drat! No good!

Going up spelled H-A-V, which is wrong. One more A to try!

Victory!

This time it spelled H-A-W, so I went ahead and looked for the rest of the word. And there it is!

3. If you know the word you're looking for, another method is to search for letters that stand out. In the example we just worked through, I actually found "Hawking" by looking for a W! There's only one W in the puzzle, so I knew that had to be it.

In a previous puzzle (not pictured) I was looking for "riots." Sometimes my eyes skip right over the R's, so I looked for an O instead. It's big and easy for me to spot. ^_^ Whenever I spotted an O I would look for an "I" near it. From there I'd work through the entire word.

This is a little tougher than method #2, but if you're having trouble finding a word and you know that it's there, try looking for a different letter in it.

4. When all else fails, string together random letters until you find something that works. ^_^

With Seekado! the cursor automatically arranges the highlighted letters for you. So if you're trying to read a line backwards, just highlight it from the right to the left. The letters will look "right" now.

The French Revolution?! Crimey...

Final Rating

I enjoy playing Seekadoo!, but it definitely isn't a quick game. The Bing search engine makes it different, but it's a little obnoxious. Every time you highlight a word (or even random letters) the search engine looks for that phrase. I'd prefer if I could turn the search function on and off.

But they didn't ask me, so I'll give this one 4 out of 5 stars. What? I had fun! ^_^

What do you think of word searches? Are they challenging, or duller than dishwater?


Similar Games

If you like word games, give some of these games a shot!

• Boggle Bash at Pogo - It's like a speed word search on a smaller grid.
• Text Twist at iWon & Gamesville - Can you find the 6 letter word before you run out of time?
• Flushee at KadoKado - Just cuz it's cute and I think more people should play it. ^_^

Chicktionary - No roosters allowed.

Chicktionary is a word game on Club Bing. ^_^ Club Bing is a site where you earn prizes. The entire point of the site is to get people to use the Bing search engine, so keep that in mind.

It appears the Independence Day decorations are still up. ^_^

Okay! You're at a hen house, and each hen holds a letter.

Is "piarcvy" a word?

Use your keyboard to arrange the letters in different ways. Each letter can only be used once. If you spell a recognized word, you'll see a green check mark by WORD.

Everybody poops.

Hit "enter" to submit the word, and you'll see it appear in the eggs. If your brain gets stuck, just hit shuffle to move the letters around. ^_^

Indeed.

There's no timer, so don't rush. And if you need help there are a few hints. ^_^

You see, the full game window is actually like this.

Whoa!

Yup. There's a handy-dandy search engine attached to the game. Most of the words you submit will pop up in the search engine below. To be honest, I don't pay much attention to the results. However, if you use the hint button the game will give you a clue via the search engine. It's kind of fun sometimes. ^_^

On the downside, not every word has a hint. ~_~ Once they're done you're on your own.

When you can't think of anything else, click "Give Up." Once you give up for the round, you can't add any more words to the screen. It's a shame, because once you see some of the words you missed, you'll probably think of other ones. Ah well.

The reward is in tickets. Most of the time I average about 12. Woohoo!


Final Rating

Chicktionary is a very basic word game. However, this is one of the few I've found that don't have a timer, which is nice. The hints are another neat aspect. But honestly, my favorite part is hitting the backspace and sending the letters back to the chickens. It's a must see. ^_^

3 out of 5 stars.


Similar Games

If you like Chicktionary then you should definitely try one of these games!

• Boggle Bash at Pogo - Make as many words as you can. Don't flip out in the Panic Flip!
• Tumble Bees at Pogo - Make words to get honey for a hungry bear! (No, it isn't Pooh.)
• I Thought I'd Reviewed More Word Games than This - Doh.