Word Golf: Fairway Clash Review

Scrabble With a Twist

Word Golf: Fairway Clash sounds exactly like its name. So, let’s say you like words. You like letters and you absolutely love etymology. Chances are, you have heard about the household game called Scrabble. I loved Scrabble, but an introvert like me was usually not keen on playing it with others. So, all I needed was a solitary Scrabbles game. And that’s where Word Golf: Fairway Clash comes in.

Developed by TERAHYPE, Word Golf: Fairway Clash is a casual experience with some RPG elements. While it follows the rules of Scrabble, there’s a new twist to it. After you arrange three rows of word tiles, you set yourself for a golf shot. Their score determines the strength of the player’s shot from placing the letters. The better word you form, the more you score, and that’s how you align for a good shot.

Fresh Grass, Twittering Birds and Lots of Words

Word Golf: Fairway Clash’s direct similarities to Scrabble include squares within each row of tiles. These are special squares that offer multipliers. These multipliers are for DL (double letters), TL (triple letters), DW (double words) and TW (triple words). There are also competitive Leagues for players. You can enter them as soon as you start performing well. The League allows you to play against other players and compare your scores with them. The game is also available in seven languages: English, French, Dutch, Italian, Polish, Portuguese and Spanish,

Grass Is Not All Green Though

Now, the golf part within the gameplay might seem a bit off for some people. Honestly, I didn’t understand why this game has golf in it. It serves no purpose to the main element of Word Golf: Fairway Clash. However, the reward of a better golf shot might be incentive enough for players to do better with the letters. But this can be seen as a moot point, since we already score points by arranging the letters.

To play devil’s advocate, golf could be the developer’s attempt to create something attractive and engaging. Especially for players who need something extra to improve their vocabulary. Word Golf: Fairway Clash is also a very soothing game, featuring calm music with leaves gently rustling and birds chirping. The background sound was the highlight because it helped me focus on the letters.

For the Love of Words

Next to the whole golf thing, Word Golf: Fairway Clash has in-app purchases. I couldn’t get rid of ads, and there is no way to get more tickets to play. The tickets help with swapping letters, and you are required to purchase them. I can generate tickets by playing, but it’s never enough to land a good set of letters. Since the game offers players limited tickets, they can be exhausted quickly. Ideally, nobody is going to purchase them if they have been initially offered tickets as a daily reward to play Word Golf: Fairway Clash.

Without the tickets, the gameplay becomes repetitive and boring unless you enjoy creating words with the provided letters. I didn’t mind playing only with a few tickets and not scoring well. However, that might be because of my love for Scrabble, words and etymology in general. It was more about the words for me than it was about the next golf shot. So the casual RPG features of Word Golf: Fairway Clash is intriguing with its main scrabble elements. However, it can be a hit or miss, depending entirely upon preferences.