Crossword – The Mathematics of Loooove (What? It’s a song! Kids these days..)

If you’ve been hankering for a free-to-win crossword puzzle, well I have good news! Spigo recently added Crossword to their repertoire of games. ^_^

 Neat!

Generally I’m not very good with crossword puzzles, but I enjoy this one! As you can see from the picture, the clues are a mix of icons and phrases. Words are spelled across, and downwards. Never backwards or diagonal!

Hah! You said “bottom!” ^_^

Every now and then when you’re entering in a word, a letter will fly to the “Magical Word” section.

Ta-da!!

By the time you finish the puzzle, the Magical Word will be complete! It isn’t an anagram so it’s not like you’ll have to rearrange anything. To be honest, I haven’t been keeping track of the magic words. *^_^* If it turns out that combining them will lead you to treasure, well, I’ll be a little miffed at myself. (The words seem pretty random, so I don’t think they really lead to any treasure. But wouldn’t that be awesome?!)

Of course, you also get a Jackpot Spin when you finish the puzzle!

Ohpleaseohpleaseohplease!!

Most likely you’ll get just Spigos, but there’s always the chance to win the progressive jackpot! ($200 max)

Alas, you can only get a Crossword jackpot spin once a week. Why? Because each week they come out with a new puzzle, and you can’t redo any of the older puzzles. :(

Part of me would like the chance to do multiple puzzles, but I semi-understand why there’s only one puzzle out at a time. It wouldn’t be hard for someone to copy the finished puzzles and have the answers out for all to see. Newer players would have a HUGE advantage since they could just breeze through the puzzles and pick up several jackpot spins in a short amount of time.

So we’ll all just have to be patient. ^_^

 

Tips & Tricks

I’m not a trivia buff, so I end up doing a LOT of research on the net for each new puzzle. Here are a few tips and resources that have helped me!

1. Roman Numerals

Sometimes you’ll get a clue that says “50” and there’s only one letter in the solution. That means it’s a roman numeral! The basics are:

• 1 = I
• 5 = V
• 10 = X
• 50 = L
• 100 = C
• 500 = D
• 1,000 = M

If you never learned how roman numerals work then you should REALLY watch this video. ^_^ You’ll be singin’ all day!

Square One is AWESOME!!!

 

2. Rhymezone.com

You probably don’t know this, but on rare occasion I write poetry. And years ago I found the awesomeness that is Rhymezone.com! In addition to rhymes (which you don’t need in a crossword) you can also look up synonyms and related words!

It’s quite useful. ^_^ You could also use Dictionary.com, but I’ve had better luck using Rhymezone for Crossword.

 

3. Wikipedia.org

When it comes to historical, geographical, or literary clues, Wikipedia is fabulous! One time the clue was “Russian river,” and Wikipedia had a complete list of every river in Russia. I just had to look until I found one that fit!

 

4. IMDb.com – The Internet Movie Database

Got a clue listing only an actor’s last name? IMDb can help! Do a search for the last name and see what works.

 

5. Google it!

This is a broader search pattern, and you may have to try a few different searches to find the answer.

 

 

Final Rating

I’ve played several Crossword puzzles now, and it’s a lot of fun. ^_^ It takes more time than most games, so I have to be in the right mood to enjoy it. But when I am.. it’s AWESOME!

Oh! If you don’t have enough time to finish the puzzle, it will save your progress until the next puzzle comes out. You don’t have to leave the browser open!

I’m rating this one 5 out of 5 stars. It’s fun and different and did I mention fun yet? ^_^

What would you rate it? Do you know of any other free-to-win crossword puzzles?

 

Similar Games

If you like word games then you might like these too!

• Boggle Bash at Pogo – Connect letters to make as many words as you can!
• Seekadoo! at Club Bing – Before you can find the words in the puzzle you have to figure out what they are!
• Text Twist at IWON and Gamesville – Jumble letters around to create new words, and fast!

Factory Balls 3 – Inspected and approved.

I haven’t played Factory Balls 1 or 2, but I had a lot of fun with Factory Balls 3! It took me a few minutes to understand what I was supposed to do, but once I got it.. Weeeeee!!! ^_^

Oh, I’m getting ahead of myself. Whoops!

You can play Factory Balls 3 at Candystand, and I suggest that you do! It’s a great puzzle game with 30 different levels.

Almost there!

Everyone has to start at level 1 and work through the puzzles. What do you do? Well, on each level you have a set number of tools and paint colors. Your goal is to make a ball to match the picture on the cardboard box.

I’m workin’ on it.

You will use all of the tools on each level. No extras!

Most patterns will seem pretty easy once you get the hang of it. But some of them…

… are really hard!

Luckily, Factory Balls 3 isn’t a timed game, so there’s no need to rush! If you mess up there’s a recycling bin so you can start the level over.

Let’s go through the first puzzle together. For this one we need to make a ball that’s half orange and half blue.

Our tools are blue and orange paint, and a hard hat. Kinda weird, but it’ll do! First, click on one of the white balls inside the giant pink cog. Drag the ball to the orange paint and let go.

You now have an orange ball. ^_^ We need to make the bottom half blue but without losing the top orange part.

Hmm. Well, let’s try the hard hat. Click the orange ball and drag it to the hard hat.

Now the orange ball is wearing a hat. Kinda cute. ^_^ Click on the hatted ball and drag it to the can of blue paint.

Ah hah! The bottom half is blue now! To finish the ball just click and drag it to the hat stand again. The hat will come off and you’ll have a perfect match!

Ta-da!!!

This is the easiest level! As you move higher you’ll have to work with belts, sunglasses, axes, stamps, plungers, flowers, and more! It’s very creative and quite challenging.

I must confess that I got stuck a few times. (#25 kicked my butt!) With a game like this I like to provide hints, but I couldn’t think of anything useful. *^_^*

Therefore, here is a link to the official walkthrough! You have the option of watching a video or reading straight text. I opted for the text, so I wouldn’t accidentally skip too far ahead and find out how to solve a level before I reached it. (That bugs me.)

 

Final Rating

I stumbled across Factory Balls 3 while I was looking for something new and different to play. This one is definitely new and different! ^_^ 

The puzzles range from mildly challenging to OMGWTFBBQ! I like having such a broad range, but the game was almost over by the time I got to the really complex levels. I would have liked maybe 5 more puzzles to wrestle with. But then, most puzzle games end too early for my liking. *Shrugs*

The only level I didn’t like was #26. (You’ll know it when you see it.) Solving that one mainly required repetition, and that isn’t very fun. But other than that, I’d say this game is flawless.

4.9 stars out of 5. Bravo!

What do you think of Factory Balls 3? Do you prefer timed puzzles or untimed?

 

Similar Games

If you like puzzle games, here are a few others that you should try!

• Jigsaw Puzzle at Spigo – Don’t let the boring name fool you. This is the BEST online jigsaw puzzle game that I’ve found.
• Picture Magic at Winster – Trade puzzle pieces with friends to complete your picture!
• Wake up the Box at Candystand – This is just a hoot. ^_^ I giggle every time I play this one!