Seekadoo! (what a name) is a word search game at Club Bing! I used to LOVE word searches when I was younger. Yup, little Mira was a word nerd. ^_^
If you haven't played one before, a word search is just a large grid full of letters. Your goal is to find words in the jumble! Words can be horizontal, vertical, backwards, and diagonal.
Now the interesting thing here is that with Seekadoo!, you don't get a list of words to search for. Instead you get a topic and you hunt for words related to that topic.
That sounds hard.
Luckily there are two things to help you out. First off, the list is in alphabetical order. You'll probably find a few words on your own, so look at the gaps on the word list to figure out what words might be next.
Oooh!
Also, some of the spots on the list have a tiny icon next to them. If you're stumped you can click the icon and Bing will use the search engine to give you a hint.
Say wha?
Yup, there's a search engine attached to the game. Sometimes it's handy. Other times it's annoying.
If you run out of clues you can use the search engine to hunt for more words. For the "volcano" puzzle I headed to the Wikipedia page on volcanoes. I found a few more words and learned a lot about volcanoes, which is kinda fun. ^_^
At any point in time you can click "Give Up" and you'll get the complete list of words.
Yay!!
IMPORTANT: You won't earn anymore tickets after you click "Give Up." Hold off for as long as you can!
Of course, even with the full list, you still have to find the words to complete the puzzle and get your tickets. Once you're done, the leftover letters join together to spell a phrase related to your topic.
Da..nt...es....p..e..a......k?
I wasn't speedy enough to get a second shot of the phrase moving together. But yes, it says Dante's Peak. ^_^
Tips & Tricks
Seekadoo! is tough if you aren't used to word searches. Plus, everyone sees things a little differently, so there isn't one tried-and-true method that will work for everyone. If you're having trouble try a few of these tips and find what works for you.
1. Read the lines. Seriously! Take each line of letters and slowly read it. A lot will be gibberish, but you'll find a few words buried in there. On the second pass, start from the right side and read to the left. I'll admit, I'm not very good at reading backwards, but some people can do it without a problem.
Next read the lines vertically. Start by reading them down or by reading them upwards. Whatever works for you. ^_^ Just be consistent so you don't miss anything!
2. If you know the word (or have a good guess) search for the first letter of it. Once you find it, search the letters around it for the next step. Here's an example.
For this puzzle I knew I was looking for "Hawking." I scanned the letters vertically and came across an H.
Indeed.
The next step was to look for any nearby A's.
Uh-oh. I see three!
In this case there are three A's connected to the H. The one in the bottom left corner can't be it, because there's no room for the rest of the word. That leaves me with two viable options. Now I'm going to look for the third letter.
Drat! No good!
Going up spelled H-A-V, which is wrong. One more A to try!
Victory!
This time it spelled H-A-W, so I went ahead and looked for the rest of the word. And there it is!
3. If you know the word you're looking for, another method is to search for letters that stand out. In the example we just worked through, I actually found "Hawking" by looking for a W! There's only one W in the puzzle, so I knew that had to be it.
In a previous puzzle (not pictured) I was looking for "riots." Sometimes my eyes skip right over the R's, so I looked for an O instead. It's big and easy for me to spot. ^_^ Whenever I spotted an O I would look for an "I" near it. From there I'd work through the entire word.
This is a little tougher than method #2, but if you're having trouble finding a word and you know that it's there, try looking for a different letter in it.
4. When all else fails, string together random letters until you find something that works. ^_^
With Seekado! the cursor automatically arranges the highlighted letters for you. So if you're trying to read a line backwards, just highlight it from the right to the left. The letters will look "right" now.
The French Revolution?! Crimey...
Final Rating
I enjoy playing Seekadoo!, but it definitely isn't a quick game. The Bing search engine makes it different, but it's a little obnoxious. Every time you highlight a word (or even random letters) the search engine looks for that phrase. I'd prefer if I could turn the search function on and off.
But they didn't ask me, so I'll give this one 4 out of 5 stars. What? I had fun! ^_^
What do you think of word searches? Are they challenging, or duller than dishwater?
Similar Games
If you like word games, give some of these games a shot!
- Boggle Bash at Pogo - It's like a speed word search on a smaller grid.
- Text Twist at iWon & Gamesville - Can you find the 6 letter word before you run out of time?
- Flushee at KadoKado - Just cuz it's cute and I think more people should play it. ^_^