Although not a crossword game per se, there is a game called WordLadder by a 
company called Sporcle which is quite accessible.

They've recently released an update that labeled much of the elements, and it's 
free, if you want to wait for a single puzzle per day, or purchase a game pack 
for $4.99.  This particular game pack contains 500 puzzles, but initially when 
you download and install the game/app, you get about 7 to 10 days worth of 
puzzles for free, at which point, once the free puzzles are completed, you can 
do them again, wait for another puzzle to come around the next day, or purchase 
a game pack and have 500 puzzles to choose from, while still getting your 
puzzle a day option, in other words, you're not relegated to just the 500 
puzzles.

The game is quite simple.

You're given a theme for the puzzle such as celebrities, Don't Wait, which was 
today's puzzle, or a host of other themes, then you're given a series of clues 
and you're supposed to fill in the answer to the clues, but the answers are 
single words, between 4 and six letters, and each word is one letter off from 
the previous word.

For example...

Clue=4 letter word

1. Number preceding five=four
2. Fill a glass=pour
3. destitute or penniless=poor
4. This gives you access to a place=door
5. A ponzie or victim of a scam=doop
6. Fall from a height=drop

That is basically the way to play the game.

To fill in an answer, you double tap the clue, and simply type in the answer.

Unfortunately, there are occasional games/puzzles that don't tell you the 
number of letters in the clue, but scrolling through the clues will usually 
yield an answer that gives you a precise answer to give you an idea of the 
letter count in each answer.

You can either play with a timer, where you have a limited amount of time to 
answer all of the clues, or you can play in a timeless puzzle, meaning while 
the timer is going, there is no time limit and so you can take as long as you 
want to play the puzzle,or time yourself to see how long it takes you to 
complete the puzzle.

There are sound events that tell you when an answer is correct or not.  If an 
answer is correct, you'll get a pop sound.  If the answer is incorrect, you get 
no sound event at all, and so must delete the letters you input and start 
entering the letters again, but be aware that if you're filling in an answer 
where only the last letter is incorrect, you can simply delete that last 
letter, and type in the replacement.  This goes for all the letters as there is 
an edit field just above the keyboard that gives you access to the answer 
you're typing in.

There is a quit button, at which point you're given the option of continuing 
the game, resuming the game at a later time, or quitting altogether.  When you 
quit the game altogether, you're given the answers and can scroll through them 
as you see fit.  Once the puzzle is complete or quitted, there are three 
buttons at the bottom that give you the option of doing the previous puzzle, 
re-doing the current puzzle, or doing the next puzzle in the pack.

I would say that 95% of the game is accessible, and the 5% that is not 
accessible is the labeling of a few elements, but the game play area with the 
timer, correct answers to total answers and the edit field and clue area are 
completely accessible.

When you first start the game, you're taken to a screen where you can choose to 
start playing or view more games by the company.  Double tapping the Play 
button, which is clearly labeled takes you to the second screen where you have 
the option of selecting between playing the latest released games, in other 
words, the daily puzzle component, or playing one of the packs you've 
purchased.  there are a few elements on this page that are not clearly labeled, 
such as the buttons, but directly after each button is the button label which 
is tappable, so one does not have to double tap the button itself in order to 
make your option, one can double tap the label to choose.

Once you double tap your option, you're taken to the third page with the list 
of puzzles, though these are simply labeled 1, 2, 3 and 4 and so on.  You have 
to double tap the number and check the theme on the next page.  The daily 
puzzle component, however, is labeled with dates instead of numbers, though 
each date is only given the theme on the next page, much like the game packs.

The game packs themselves are not themed, to my knowledge, and only the various 
puzzles are themed, so don't purchase game packs based on any theme you may 
like, but as the game packs are not labeled, just labeled as game pack orange, 
or some such thing, I can't tell, so if someone uses magnifier, they can 
possibly come back and let us know.

Suffice it to say, once your puzzle is chosen, be it game pack or daily, double 
tapping the corresponding number or date takes you to the next screen where 
you're given three elements, go back to the previous page, the theme of the 
puzzle, and the start playing button, though this button is not labeled 
correctly.  The go back button is obvious, and flicking to the right of the go 
back button takes you to the theme, followed by another flick to the right 
which takes you to the start playing button.  Double tapping that takes you 
directly to the game area.

The top left hand corner of the screen houses the timer, flicking to the right 
once gives you the ratio of correct answers completed and total answers to be 
found, followed by the column labeled "Clue", and another flick takes you to 
the next column labeled with the total number of letters in each answer, either 
four, five, or six letters.  I have not seen a puzzle with more than a six 
letter answer, but I have not completed all 500 of my game pack puzzles, so 
we'll have to see.

Another flick to the right takes you to the first clue.  As I said above, in 
some cases the column labeled with the number of letters for the answers is not 
often labeled, but rest assured that the number of letters in each answer is 
the same for all the answers in that particular puzzle, so, if the puzzle 
column says four letter word, all the answers will be a four letter word, as in 
my example above.  In some cases the column will be labeled with "Five letter 
word" or "Six letter word", and so all the answers in that corresponding puzzle 
will be a five letter word or a six letter word respectively.

If that particular column is not labeled with one of the labels listed above, I 
would suggest you scroll down the list of clues until you get to a clue you can 
answer easily, double tap the clue and type in your answer.  If you get the pop 
sound event, the answer will be correct, and you'll know how many letters each 
answer should be.  Remember that each answer is off by one letter from the 
clue/answer directly above or below it, hence the name of the game, WordLadder, 
spelled as a single word.

Once the puzzle is complete, and all the answers have been filled in correctly, 
you will get the pop sound event, followed by a string of chimes, and you're 
taken to the next screen with the name of the theme of the puzzle, with a 
single button.  I'm assuming, since this button is not labeled, that it's 
simply an ok button, but I've not confirmed this with anyone sighted.

I think that's it for the game and how to play, but feel free to ask any 
questions regarding this game and I'll try to answer as best as I can.

Remember that the company is called Sporcle with a C, not with a K, and they 
have more games than just WordLadder.  They also have a game called Minute 
Morsel where you have one minute to answer as many trivia questions as you can, 
Mixed Word, a game with scrambled words, and Missing Word, a fill in the blank 
trivia game.  They also have a Sporcle app, which gives you a number of themes 
to choose from, but this is mainly a trivia game app, and a few of the themes, 
like US States, or Country Flags are pictograph puzzles with icons or pictures 
in place of the clues.  In US States for example, you don't get any Voiceover 
response from the clue, and my wife has advised me that there is a picture, so 
I can only assume that it must be a picture of the state itself on a map, or 
the state flag, or some such thing.  That's not to say that all of the trivia 
puzzles are like that, as there are a few I have enjoyed playing, such as US 
Presidents and Lakes in Canada, but suffice it to say, all the game play areas 
are exactly as I described for WordLadder, and, for the most part, the game 
play area is 100% accessible.

I would highly recommend playing this game, and writing the game developers and 
reviewing/rating the game so the game developers can further make modifications 
to the game in the hopes of making it more accessible than it already is.

Hope this helps.

Victor Gouveia
Vice-President
Training Coordinator
VIP Tech
Tel: 1-(888)-737-1115
Fax: 1-(888)-737-1116
[email protected]
[email protected]
Limiting Disabilities with Limitless Possibilities

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