Playing games that are challenging and also can improve your skills in the process are just a few of the reasons why word games are so much fun. There’s something new to learn every single time you play and expose yourself to new words that will be forever engraved in your brain. With all these online games that seems to appear left and right, getting complicated by the minute, simple word games tend to be one of the best ways to slow down.

That being said, here are a few word games you shouldn’t dare to miss:

Scrabble

An all time favorite, Scrabble is one of those games that never gets old and is loved by both adults and youth. You’ll be surprised to know that with technology advancements, UnscrambleX.com is about to become your favorite Scrabble tipster that will help you beat your greatest opponents. Helping you find the highest word scores with the tiles you have at hand, you’ll finally find new words with those Zs, Qs, and Xs helping you get the ultimate score. And the best thing is, it’ll be even easier for you to know if you have a bingo at hand and can make up words using all 7 tiles to get those 50 bonus points! With word games as fun as this, it’s a great way to spend your extra time with friends, challenge your language skills, and constantly look up new words in the dictionary to check if the words you’re creating actually exist.

Boggle

This exciting game is a whole lot of fun to play, especially if you’re competitive. With a timer included, each player has 3 minutes to try and make as many words as possible until the time runs out. The key is to try and raise your score by using long words in any direction as long as the tiles are touching. Trying to rack your brain and connect the letters together to form words horizontally, diagonally, or even backwards will keep you on your toes for those three minutes. Once the time is over, the winner is the one who has not only created the most words, but who has created the longest words with the highest score.

Taboo

One of the things that makes this game so special is that it forces you to get creative. With the objective of the game being trying to explain to your team members what a word is without using specific words, it becomes not only difficult, but also extremely fun to see how the player manages to get the task done. When you receive a card, there is a word that you should be describing to your team members with a few words beneath it that you are not allowed to use. But the main problem is, once you’ve read those words, they’re right there on the tip of your tongue, making it harder for you not to use them. You and your team need to be fast, creative, and guess as many words as possible to beat the opposing team. The best thing about this game is that even if it’s the opponent team’s turn, you’ll have so much fun just watching how they manage to describe the words or what guesses they come up with.

Crossword puzzles

If you’ve never done a crossword puzzle, then you’re definitely missing out. Those black and white squares were very popular back in the day, but will always be one of the best word games to exist. One of the advantages of crossword puzzles is that they really improve a person’s vocabulary. Whether it was identifying a certain bird species or identifying the capital of Mexico, whatever the clue, this would start an entire research until you figure out the missing word. If this is your first time to play, then a tip you need to know is that you should always answer a crossword puzzle in pencil because as you start solving certain words, you will realize that you’ve possibly made a mistake once a connecting square doesn’t make sense. Crossword puzzles were so popular that the entire family would sit together and solve one on a regular basis, but you’d gain so much general knowledge, vocabulary, and improve your spelling with every puzzle you’d play.

The best thing about word games is that you get a whole lot of skills out of them while still being able to enjoy the essence of gameplay. From language skills, vocabulary, and even general knowledge, your brain not only recognizes words but also stores them for future use and improves your cognitive abilities in the process. So, what are you waiting for? Let’s get playing!