Lexgrid
Lexgrid is a bit like evil Boggle. You are presented with a grid of letters, and in that grid is the word you’re looking for (not all in one row like a word search puzzle, but you’ll select one letter then the next by moving the cursor up, down, left, or right). You’re given a clue and, usually, a small symbol. But you’re not told what the symbol means! Sometimes it means “synonym” or “antonym,” but other times it’s “rearrange the letters to make a new word” or “add/remove a letter to make something else.” As you get more symbols, the puzzles build on each other and get more difficult, and it forces you to go back to earlier levels to recall what each symbol means.
There’s no time limit, which is good for me. I don’t know if I’ve stared off into the middle distance while playing any Playdate game this much ever before, trying to figure out that exact word I need. It’ll be great for the crossword puzzle crowd, because you’ll be trying to figure out if the game is looking for the synonym of “name” when it’s used as a noun or a verb. So many options!
I only made it about halfway through the many levels – without a hint system of some kind, I eventually just wasn’t smart enough to proceed. (Quick update: there IS a hint mode in the system menu that will give you the first letter of the word! It’s out of the way enough that I totally missed it while playing.) But it’s fun to stretch your brain in new ways. Most of the time, when I did actually figure out the puzzle, it was an “OOOOOHHH” moment. Rarely was the answer a word I’d never heard of or some curious British-ism I wasn’t familiar with. It feels very fair, but I was still pulling out my thesaurus for help sometimes.
Lexgrid feels like sitting down with a word or logic puzzle book in the library during the summer when you don’t have school. It believes in you and knows you know that word, if you’ll just let your mind wander through its imagination for a bit. In a world where all the stuff happening on the internet and in the world daily seems to be bad, it’s important to unplug a little bit and sit with your thoughts and your Playdate sometimes. Lexgrid gives you that chance.
(Released September 30, 2025, on Catalog and Itch. Copy provided by developer.)