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The reason for my poor record is that, like the Marlins, I lack the talent and strategy to beat my opponents. Unlike the Marlins, however, there is nothing for me to do about the “talent” part. The Marlins could spend a ton of money to buy better players. Me? No amount of money is going to make me any smarter. I’m stuck with my own stupidity. But I can get better at the strategy of Bookworm Heroes. And the game does have tons of strategy. Which is why, even while I’m sucking at it, I’m having so much fun.

So since I’ve just spent two paragraphs emphasizing my lack of skill at the game, I am now not going to offer my tips to you. The only tip I really have is “don’t listen to tips from me.” This will at least ensure you don’t get slaughtered.

What I can do, however, is provide you with a rundown of the game’s heroes — who they are, and what they’re good for. Because it’s right there in the title of the game. This isn’t just about being good at Bookworm. It’s about knowing who the heroes are, how to use them, what their signature tiles and ultimate skills are, and when to use each. If I’d only read something like what I’m about to write before playing my first game, I might have sucked like .00001 percent less. Here’s hoping it does the same for you.

(And by the way, if you haven’t played the game since launch, you should know that we now feature a different hero for free each week, and you can also buy each hero permanently for a one-time cost, which I’ll list below.)

LEX (25,000 coins)

The hero we all know and love. The star of every previous version of Bookworm. Lex’s signature tile is the Apple Tile. This tile, when used in a word, will replenish a little bit of your health. Lex’s ultimate skill is also health related, granting you bonus health for each 3 or 4 letter word you create. Needless to say, Lex is best for defensive players. You get no extra attack bonuses with him but you will have a much better chance of hanging in longer — and making your opponent have to fight harder to win.

HAMLET  (60,000 coins)

Alas poor Hamlet! First he’s haunted by his own father, now he’s stuck making words forever in a video game. He gets his revenge, though. For one, his signature tile is the Inky Tile, in which he sprays random tiles on your opponent’s board with ink, rendering them unusable for one turn. Though this isn’t a huge deal at the beginning of the game, it can be crucial at the end, especially in a close game when every point (and letter) matters. Hamlet’s ultimate skill, fittingly enough for English lit nerds, is called Sweet Revenge, which, when used wisely, can strike your opponent as brutally as (spoiler alert!) Claudius gets it in the end. With Sweet Revenge, you are challenged to spell a word with a higher point count than your opponent played on his last turn. Do so, and those points of his are added to yours for a devastating attack. Great for those with big vocabularies or cheaters using a dictionary.

RAZOR  (90,000 coins)

Like Keanu Reeves, Razor can, like, totally hack into the Matrix (that is, your opponent’s board) for brutal attacks. She’s also purple, just to be extra cool. Razor’s signature tile is the Cyber Tile, which grants huge point bonuses for shorter words. The catch, however, is that those tiles cannot be used at all in words longer than 5 letters.  This is great if you’re like me, or Keanu, and tend to not use words longer than, say, “whoa” on a daily basis. Razor’s ultimate skill is Hack & Spell, which not only lets you make longer words, but also lets you do it with tiles stolen from your opponent’s board. My personal favorite of all the hero skills, Hack & Spell can often be the single strongest offensive attack in the game, especially when used in conjunction with special tiles.

POLYPHEMUS (60,000 coins)

If you know what this name is referencing, then congratulations, you are a somewhat educated person. Me? I had to look it up on Wikipedia. Apparently, Polyphemus was the one-eyed son of Poseidon and Thoosa, and also the big cyclops that Odysseus meets in Homer’s Odyssey. It’s kind of a bummer to me that I didn’t remember this, given that I took a semester class specifically on that book, but, hey, whaddya gonna do? I was probably playing pinball during most of those lectures. In any case, here in this game, Polyphemus is also kind of a beast. His signature tile is the Smashed Tile, in which he pounds on your opponent’s tiles, lowering their point value. Polyphemus will keep doing this throughout the game, rendering your opponent’s board a wasteland of lower point values, making it much harder to score high-point words. Likewise, his ultimate skill is Tile Driver, which will smash tiles and lower their value four times in a row, possibly crushing tiles down to zero, exploding them and smashing adjacent tiles. Overall, a great hero to use against those with big vocabularies.

This is a mere overview of the heroes. This is not enough to grant you a victory, for which I am sorry. What you also need to know is which hero to counter with when you’ve been challenged, as well as which pet to pick to effectively tag team. These are subjects for another day, written by another person. But I do hope that even this superficial overview helps you understand one of the game’s fundamentals. Bookworm Heroes is more complex than it looks. The more you dive in, the better you’ll get. But knowing the heroes is important! Don’t just pick Lex every time because he’s cute. Cute only gets you so far in life. Believe me, I found that out the hard way.

Oh, and it’s also great for kids (the game’s rated for 9 years and up) — but only if you want your kids having fun while gaining word-building skills.

Now, enough reading (we’re sure, if you’re interested in a word game, you probably don’t care to read anyway). Here’s a video!

We hope you’ll go download the game and whomp a friend!

If you have an iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch, I won't be offended if you go straight to download the game instead of reading the rest of this post. If you don't have any of those devices, there's never been a better reason to buy one! Not exaggerating. Or overstating. Or engaging in hyperbole.

As you may imagine, the hard part about working at a magic rainbow and unicorn factory like PopCap is knowing something awesome and not being allowed to talk about it. For months, I’ve been sitting on this one, giddy about the fun that was about to spill forth into the world, counting the days until its release. So now, let me tell you how you’re about to spend April 18th (and beyond!).

So, fair to say, there are other word games out there. You probably play a few of them, as do I.  And one of the commonalities, I find, is how much they limit you. Sure, sure, there’s benefit to that.  There’s beauty in simplicity, and there’s a challenge inherent in doing your best within restrained conditions.

And then there's the glory of being able to spell the best word you can find, spreading your linguistic wings and scoring!

Bookworm Heroes is all about you. Choose the Hero whose power best suits your play style and personality. Are you an offensive player who likes to come out swinging? Maybe you’ll enjoy playing with the power of Polyphemus, smashing your opponents’ letter tiles to lower their value. Do you kind of enjoy rubbing your foes’ noses in your victory? Hamlet’s power actually includes adding insult to injury when you know your word is better than the one they just played!

Or are you more like me, the defensive player who just wants to make beautiful words? Razor the Cyberpunk (shown above using her Hack and Spell power) allows you to pilfer choice letter tiles from your opponent, so you can build the biggest, most perfect word you can imagine!

And don’t forget Lex, whose smile never fades as he does what he loves most — Eat Your Words. His power helps keep you going in a tough spot, regaining health through syllabic snacking.

Bookworm Heroes also has special tiles that take the game to a whole new level:

The sapphire tile offers you a coin flip chance at spelling a second word using the letters from your original word. This is a very satisfying way to lay the proverbial smackdown.

You can choose to share your proudest plays on Facebook as you go:

I enjoy going the spelling bee route, using my word in a sentence.

And if you aren’t getting enough of a challenge from your friends, try starting a game with a random opponent! Anyone out there playing Bookworm Heroes may answer your call, and you will see how you measure up in the wide world of wordsmiths.

Finally, don’t forget to “like” the fan page on Facebook and learn how you might find fame as the Word of the Day!

Yep, that's me again. But like I said, I've had a head start. Now, I am competing with the whole world...so bring it on!

Take a gander at the illustration below (once again provided by the talented hand and fevered mind of our own Nate Simpson) and add your caption in the comments. We’ll pick our three favorites later this week and then put the finalists up for a vote. Democracy in action!

Have at it.

It’s Lex – everyone’s favorite erudite invertebrate!

In addition to how super-cool Lex is (how about those Bookworm Adventures, right?), this costume had two other big things going for it: I’m much more adept with a needle and thread than with a hot glue gun, and I love neon.

A riot of color!

You will need: at least a yard of neon green fleece, a matching top (look in the athletic wear section), a red bow tie, some seriously dorky glasses, and various sewing supplies — needle, thread, one big button, and a bunch of safety pins. Oh, and a few rubber bands.

Like fitting yourself for a wedding dress... for a marriage to a Martian!

I started by wrapping the fleece around my midsection to measure where to put the button.  Place the button about an inch from the edge in each direction. Use a safety pin to mark where the button goes on the side of the fabric you won’t be cutting. Then use a second safety pin to mark where the overlapping fabric will hit the button — that’s where you’re going to make a buttonhole. It’s also where you should cut a triangular swath of fabric off the top.

Why triangular, rather than just cutting straight down? Because you don’t want this to be a straight-legged dress; it should get wider as it moves down. Also, that triangle of fabric will make you a nice scarf (if you don’t wind up with a big enough triangle for a scarf, there are other options for head decorations that we’ll cover later)!

Now sew the button on and make the buttonhole. This is simple enough, but don’t rush it, because an oops while cutting the buttonhole will be hard to fix.

A buttonhole should be just wide enough to accommodate the button. Stitch around the edges to keep them from widening.

Now, lay the skirt flat on the ground and button the button. Align the edges of the fabric from the button all the way down to the place where the triangular cut you made ends.

Starting a few inches below the button, use your safety pins to hold the fabric in this exact position.

Then take your needle and thread and make your seam along the path of safety pins.

Step back into the skirt and button it to make any final adjustments for length. With the button situated at the back, and the gradually flaring skirt dropping down, you will see that you have a long “tail” naturally forming at your heels! Gather it into a “ponytail” shape and use rubber bands to hold it in place at a few key points to better define the tail.

Thereby hangs a tail...

Once you’re in the shirt and skirt, put on your red bow tie, and your incredibly dorky glasses, then tie the extra triangle of fabric on your head like a bandana. If this won’t work because the triangle is too small, you can buy a bandana in this color, or you can try using the spray-on temporary hair color they sell at costume shops. I considered that myself, but the warning label said not to use it if you already dye your hair. (What, you thought this was my real color?)

This is a great costume — by far my favorite yet. It’s so comfortable, and the fleece will keep you nice and warm while you wander around on a chilly Halloween night! Plus, if you’re going trick-or-treating, the day-glo color is totally in line with pedestrian safety recommendations! And I kid you not, just try not to smile while draped head-to-toe in neon green. It’s impossible.

Have fun, Blog Riders and costume-makers!

Meet Mr. September

Lex, the protagonist in Bookworm, Bookworm Adventures and Bookworm Adventures Volume 2, is probably our most clever and witty PopCap character. True to his species (the bookworm), Lex is a man of letters, a bibliophile, a worm with an erudite brain.

As the Guardian of the Great Library, Lex has battled mythical and literary foes to rescue Cassandra and preserve the Great Library. Unlike some of his PopCap friends –*ah-em* zombies – who hoard the limelight, Lex prefers to remain in his Great Library quietly indulging in light reading.

Fun facts about Lex: he knows the entire Oxford English Dictionary, enjoys cinnamon-flavored letter tiles for breakfast and is anatomically larger than the zombies – well at least the zombie figures.