🎮 3文字限定・対戦クロスワード (Three-Character Limit: Battle Crossword)

Written by Daikon

This article was featured in our 2024 March-April issue. Check out more articles and interviews in the full issue.

I probably don't need to tell you about the appeal of crossword puzzles. People of all ages enjoy doing them for fun and as a way to keep their minds sharp. They use basic puzzle skills like thinking about how the letters should overlap and if the words can fit within certain spaces. They also naturally require players to have a large bank of vocabulary to draw from. In this sense, are crosswords not the very pinnacle of puzzles? And what better place to show off your puzzle prowess than with 3文字限定・対戦クロスワード (Three-Character Limit: Battle Crossword), the latest game from puzzle maker Motteke!

Battle Crossword is an online mobile game. When you start, you are presented with a five-by-five grid. Players take turns placing three-character words in the grid to overlap vertically or horizontally with existing characters, similar to games like Scrabble. However, unlike in Scrabble, words can be read in any direction, such as from right-to-left or bottom-to-top. After typing in a three-character word, you can rotate it around and place it anywhere, so long as at least one character overlaps with something already in the grid. Moreover, words that can be made from characters that have already been placed on the board. For example, if the characters A NI ME were already on the board next to each other but the word "anime" hadn't been claimed yet, you can use that. If your opponent cannot come up with a word to place on the board before their time runs out, you win.

Although the game is entirely in Japanese, if you are even a beginner student of the language, it can be a fun way to test your knowledge of three-character words.

There is online matchmaking, as well as matching against friends where you can set up the parameters of the battle, such as setting the time limit, amount of lives, and so on. You can also play against the CPU in both normal and easy modes. Although the game is entirely in Japanese, all of the words are written in hiragana, so this can be a fun way to study the language. (Editor's note from Renkon, whose first language is not Japanese: there is no greater motivation to learn Japanese than being able to soundly defeat L1 speakers!!)

When I played the game for myself, I found it difficult to come up with three-character words on the spot. The time limit creates a tense and exciting atmosphere, and I was surprised at how the normally quite easy task of producing three-character words was so difficult. You have full view of the board while your opponent takes their turn and can thus use that time to come up with something before your turn comes around. However, you mustn't let your guard down because your opponent might enter in something that destroys your opportunity. If you lose your chance at placing a killer word, you will probably cry out in frustration. Have you ever screamed at a crossword puzzle? That happens quite a bit in this game. (Editor's note: Yes, this did happen a lot when we played, and yes, it was always extremely funny.)

As the board fills up with characters, you can "capture" words that happen to already be on the board. Words can go either left-to-right or right-to-left, top-to-bottom or bottom-to-top.

Even after all of the squares on the board get filled up, the game doesn't end. Suddenly the game shifts to finding three-character words that are already on the board but which haven't been claimed yet. When a player runs out of time without finding a word, the game ends, and the other player wins. This fierce "sudden death" turn will leave you sweating and (sorry) at a loss for words.

Battle Crossword feels perfectly suited for smartphones, and the online matchmaking works well and is very fun. But for an extra bit of fun, Motteke, the creator of the game, distributed physical copies of the game in the form of a five-by-five grid printed on paper at various gaming events. If players understand the rules, they can play against each other using pen and paper, which is a delightfully analog way to enjoy this game.

You can set up private matches against friends, and even change the default time limit and number of lives.

Of course, playing this game in a digital environment might be more fair, since time management and checking the words against a dictionary are automatically handled for the players. But why not experience the charms of both the pen-and-paper and the digital versions?

I can recommend this game to most people, even to people who don't normally play video games, since it is educational as well as entertaining. The competitive aspect is exciting and makes me want to declare one more match. And if you don't already know a lot of three-character Japanese words, this is a great opportunity to expand your vocabulary and use them on the battlefield. If you and a friend are looking for a quick game to test your wits, why not enjoy a friendly match of Battle Crossword right now?