Specifications

to improve your playing style. In the other mini-
games, Maven makes up a scenario and asks you
to make a certain play - for example, to fi nd the
best place to put a word, point-wise, or to discover
anagrams within your given set of tiles. All of these
little games are aimed at stretching the dexterity
of your mind and making you a better Scrabble
player.
Appropriate sound effects (27 .wav
fi les) and smooth graphics with
sound effects (about 525 tiny Quick-
Time movies) round out Scrabble’s
gameplay. Besides needing the 262
megabytes of fi les installed on your
computer the Scrabble CD must be
inserted to play the game. Ten mp3
selections are included on the CD,
lending the game an upbeat mood
while not distracting players from
thinking. Players can also add their
own mp3s to Scrabble’s soundtrack
mix by plopping them into the Scrabble music
folder. You can even razz opponents aurally in
multiplayer, with a set of sounds that covers every
emotion you’d want to express. The game Pref-
erences feature a series of background landscapes
which the player can alter to suit his tastes. Three
board types and two tile tints are included. Every
menu, every screen has a soft, refi ned look.
Scrabble’s interface is quite simple to use. Nearly
every aspect of the game can be driven by your
mouse - laying and moving letters on the board, se-
lecting tiles from the “sack,” deciding options for
the display, and beginning multiplayer battles all
require but a click. Buttons are large, easy to press,
and give visual and aural feedback when they reg-
ister a click. Casual gamers should have no trouble
getting around the game of Scrabble.
The MacSoft CD-ROM form of Scrabble is a well-
executed product. Players of all skill levels will
fi nd gameplay can be easily tweaked and geared
for them, and care is evident in this OSX update
of a time-honored game. The requirements are a
desire to play Scrabble, alone or with others, a 400
MHz G3 and any version of OSX.
And if playing with yourself or against the
Scrabble Maven isn’t enough fun, Mac-
Soft Scrabble’s multi-player elements
make for more intense fun. If you want
to play against other Scrabble players
over the Internet, you will need to down-
load and install the GameRanger on your
computer (if you don’t have it already).
To install GameRanger, open your inter-
net browser and go to <www.gameranger.
com> . There you will fi nd all of the infor-
mation you need. GameRanger provides a
pool of opponents to choose from, casual
contestants and serious spellers alike. Up
to four players can engage at a time. The
“Read Me” document on the Scrabble CD
has all the download information you’ll
need for GameRanger.