Word Search Games

Most people, at some point in their lives, have come across word search puzzle games. Generally in these games, the player is given a sheet of paper containing an array of letters arranged in a grid, and the player's objective is to find words hidden in the array. The challenge arises because words can be placed in any direction, horizontally (left to right, or right to left), vertically (downwards or upwards), or any of the four diagonal directions. Furthermore, words may overlap, and of course the unused spaces in the grid are filled with random letters, just to make the puzzle that extra bit more difficult.

In most variants of the game, players are told what particular words they are looking for, but for an extra challenging game, players don't get even get that. Instead, at most, they get a hint as to the general theme of what sort of words to look for.

As with other pen and paper puzzles such as crosswords, sudoku and kakuro, many people enjoy word search games as a leisure activity. For example, it can be quite relaxing to do them when lying on the beach on holiday, or a good way to pass the time on a long train journey. However, the puzzles can also have a serious purpose, since players need to play very close attention to the exact spelling of words, they are also popular with both K-12 and English as a Second Language (ESL) teachers.

It is possible to devise word search puzzles using nothing more than a pen and paper, but making a good one will take you a long time! A better approach is to create these puzzles with the help of a computer and special word search puzzle creator software. Simple type in a list of words, click a button, and the puzzle is generated almost instantly.