Ruzzle Free for Android

An engrossing crossword puzzle, Ruzzle Free features straightforward gameplay but turns out to be quite challenging, especially when you play against other human opponents. If you like words, you'll love this game.

Pros

Quick, fun, and engaging: Uncomplicated as it is, Ruzzle Free challenges you to spell as many words as possible by swiping your finger across the letters on a board, supporting all directions, so that you can come up with ten-letter or even longer words. The longer your words, and the more double- or triple-word scores you check (scores and bonuses appear at the top of every letter), the more points you get.

Interesting game modes: You can practice offline on a random board for two minutes at a time, play against your Facebook or Ruzzle friends, or search for a random opponent online. Offline practice gets you in shape for the real challenge: online games against other human opponents in three rounds of two minutes each.

Facebook integration: The game integrates seamlessly with Facebook, importing your contacts and allowing you to challenge them to a crossword game. Another Facebook feature we liked is the leaderboard with your friends' highest scores.

Cons

Online mode sometimes lags: While playing against random opponents and waiting for them to complete their round, which should not take more than two minutes, the game often became stuck on "Waiting... [for opponent to finish]." We did not encounter this issue when playing against Facebook friends, though.

Limited free version: Without the premium upgrade, you cannot check game statistics and rankings for yourself or other players or view all words on the board at the end of a match (which can up your game). Even more annoying is that with the free version, the number of online games is limited.

Aggressive ads: The free version pesters you will fullscreen video ads after almost every completed game.

Bottom Line

Crossword puzzles on Android don't get better than Ruzzle Free. It's a neat little game with a high replay value that never becomes boring. Sooner or later, however, you will have to upgrade to get rid of the ads and the other annoying limitations of the free version.