All writers need to exercise their ability to find the right word....here is the game to help you in that task (and maybe it will warm you up for the Spirit of the Library contest too): BOOK WORM This may be the most addictive game on the net. The object of the game is to prevent the red tiles from reaching the bottom, or the library will catch fire. Link letters together to make words. Then click submit! When you have entered a word with a Green and gold tile, you receive bonus points. Advance to harder levels the farther you can make words with the surrounding letters. For clues, look at the book worm and he will give you ideas of words to look for. Get ready to be addicted! http://www.popcap.com/gamepopup.php?theGame=bookworm A little diversion for the weekend. Hope you all have a good one!

Ohhhhhhh that is so much fun! I play Text Twist on shockwave and on Yahoo Games too. I really enjoy that one.

I purposefully let the library burn just to see what would happen...pretty funny. Poor book worm! Glad you enjoyed it. :)

Just what as ADD like me needs - more distractions! :-( Okay, what's everyone's highest score? I'll post mine after I get another game or two out of the way. Cheers! (And thanks, although I REALLY didn't need yet another distraction!) ;-)

Okay, my best score so far (which I just made): 112690 with a rank of Librarian (how predictable).

Well, I quit at 138,000 (with no reds on the board). Seems like the game can't beat you. Highest single score was 2700.

Well, Chuck, you're such a show off. The game can beat you if you end up with red letters surrounded by nonusable consonants (which happened to me). But I guess I'm just a sore loser. ;) Congratulations, Chuck? Anyone going to take on the Prince of Words?

Well, I had to see if I could lose, so I finally did. Yep, I scrambled and was greeted with too many red ones. I was amazed I lasted as long as I did, but I had two red ones at the bottom and both had words...but you just can't make two words at once...LOL. So, you CAN get beat. But a new high score (and image for proof). Have fun if you try to best it. Also, BTW, new single high score of 3800.

Oh, it can beat you. It can chew you up and spit you out. My highest score, so far, is 311,280. My best word - 3 gold letters, was QUAINT at 13k. (I don't remember the exact number.) The dictionary is a bit odd. It wouldn't accept VANITIES but did accept VANITY. QUA is a word, QUO (as in status quo), is not. Time to go waste more time again ....

Darn, Cres! NICE bonus score! Of course, you know I'm mad at you! I got a message and clicked on the link with my game at 323,???. Of course, one can't click on back after that! UGH! My highest bonus paid off at 40,000. But I had only one red square showing! And I didn't get to copy it for show and tell..LOL.

Could never get the bonus for "BOFF". Got three others that paid off at 50,000. Hard with four letters. Not a big work bonus like Cres had. Now, all who know me know I don't brag much. BUT....this is a pretty awesome score! I can't believe how many times I had red squares at the bottom and I saved the game. My poor wife...had to rush in and see that I had cleared them. She's a good sport. Anyway...I'll quit now and assume I am boss-hog unless I see a pic of a better score. PS: Need REST! LOL

I think you should go Pro, Chuck!!! :D

LOL...no, it's TOO adicting and takes TOO long. But, I have to try to win at something, right, Tres? It'll never be writing. Or Poser. Or art. So, I have ALWAYS been a game player. Played two times in the All-Army Chess Tourney. Played on the winning league of a Bavarian (German) league. Hearts, Pinocle, Eucre, and just about any strategy game made for the PC (MOO, MOO2, and SE4 among the tops). But don't ask for art or pretty words. That's just a fantasy I enter once in a while.

Awwwwwww Chuck, you do much better at words than you will let on. Several things you have written formally have touched me, and I am always eager to read your comments because they are always entertaining and constructive. You have a knack for informal writing that many would envy.

And if he is good at strategy games, he has an aptitude for plotting as well. I don't think we should let Chuck get away with this "I'm not a writer" song he's been singing. For that matter, he's not telling the truth about his art either...he has some beautiful graphics posted in the galleries. I agree, tresamie, with everything you said about his style.

Jeez! And I was getting excited at getting to 362,000! I had to take a break when I hit 362,000 - family commitment - and when I got back, my modem was dead, so now I've lost the game! ARGH! Well, if my cable connection isn't up tonight, I'll finally be able to get a little writing done, at least. (After Buffy, that is.)

I admit I tried it too... I reached the incredible amount of 104200! And satisfied with it, in spite of your bigger number... :) Do not believe that, for a Non English speaker, it's so easy... I could have built a lot of long and valuable Italian words, bud it didn't accept them :(

jgeorge, I'm sure you did MUCH better than I could have done in German, the only other language that might be considered at all a second language. Good job! The real trick is to get all those bonus words.

Jeeze, I feel so inferior now. ;-) Won't say what my highest score was, to embarrassing. This was an evil thing you did dialyn; it's just to addicting! :-) jon

Attached Link: Fairy Tales for the Erudite

This may be a less stressful diversion for the wordsmiths among us: Fairy Tales for the Erudite http://www.physics.sfsu.edu/~senglish/page_1.html Test your vocabulary with The Basilic Paludal Denizen (otherwise known as the Frog Prince), The Minikin Incarnadine Cowl-Titivated Gamine (bet you can figure that one out), and The Elves and the Shoemaker.

Great! I was expecting something very difficult but... Even if I didn't know there were such words in English, most of them were for me perfectly understandable (aaagrh! not sure this last word is English, I hope you'll understand) I think it's because they have Latin roots for the most part... And Italian is not so far from Latin...

I almost cracked 1 million points, but lost it at 976,230. I got a bit tired and cocky at the end. Don't ask how many hours of playing it took to do this!

Wow....!!! There's nothing more to say. That's awesome, Crescent. Congratulations!

Holy Mother of Jugs ! Hey, were's an emoticon for "hats off to ya"?

Hmmm, I will not ask how your wrist feels!