This is a great word game for those who like to be challenged! The common word is not always apparent, and you sometimes have to really think beyond the obvious elements of what may be pictured. There have been plenty of sets that had me scratching my head, and sometimes I could figure out the hard ones right away, but overall this game will make you think. My main problem with the game has to do with how quickly the 10 second timer expires when you do the 10 in 10 second challenges. It can be maddening when you absolutely know that you solved a set in 4 seconds, only to not be rewarded the point! Other times, it does count your 9-second response, which comes as a surprise, so there is no consistency. Maybe there needs to be a time bar that reduces in size as the seconds count down, so it keeps it fair? Right now, without fail, I end up doing 14 to 18 puzzles, with one or two that I know took longer, and 3 that I know should have counted :-(. Overall, 4 Pics 1 Word is a fun game!

I used to love this game. So many changes later - I’m about done with it. I’d played for so long I had worked my way to get frequent hints when a puzzle sat unsolved for even a day or two - now that feature seems to have nearly disappeared, which felt like losing a status is built up over a few years. The rules governing hints no longer align with indicators that a user actually would benefit from a hint. I sometimes get a hint within minutes of opening a new puzzle, while other puzzles can sit for weeks with no hint given. That change alone really decreased the enjoyment for me - who mostly plays casually in short spurts just to take a mental break from other things. The latest intro of the Puzzle IQ is completely unnecessary and irritating to me. No way to turn it off. What’s the point of this? Were users begging for a chance to track something called IQ points, which of course don’t really reflect a player’s actual IQ at all? Why add these kind of “features”? Very often - simpler is better.

I’ve been playing this game off and on since 2016. Just recently, my family spent the evening playing the game together and had a great time. I just opened the game up and was forced to go through a Puzzle IQ demonstration and started to wonder if this is something that players asked for or if it’s something that the developers came up with to junk up the game. Honestly, it aggravates me when a developer takes a simple game and keeps adding junk to it. I used to play one game and it was a simple word game and the developer added one thing after another and the game eventually became unplayable. The additions, used to try to make money, took over. If this is the way this game is going, then I’m glad I’ve used it for this long because I’m less likely to play it now. Hope the changes are more profitable for you because I’m done!