Aword game that’s actually fun? Colour me surprised! Before Wordle came into the picture, the only other word games that truly stood out to me were Scrabble and Bookworm Adventures. Gubbins thankfully breaks the streak.

Gubbins is an interesting, easy-to-play concept. In the game, you have a bunch of lettered tiles — some single-lettered, some letters coupled — that you can
place on the board to form words. While there’s no “winning” the game, the goal is to form the longest words possible (and get the best score possible) before placing the “FIN” tile.

The catch lies in the Gubbins themselves mischievous critters that modify the gameplay in some way, either as a hindering challenge or as a cool tool to help you get out of a rut. So more than a simple word game, it doubles as a casual puzzle game.

The scoring is a mixed bag; it’s a bragging right amongst your friends at best. No leaderboard system exists to pit you against the world or any online friends. But by today’s standards of interactive entertainment, a system like this just isn’t doing it. Even so, the game itself is fun enough to keep you coming back for more.

As you play and finish games, you unlock new Gubbins as part of your collection that slowly introduces complexity to the gameplay. With enough Gubbins, the unpredictability scales up, keeping the game fresh each time you play a session.

The game is also accompanied by bespoke jazz music and comically wholesome art that never fails to make you smile, further making the game feel more premium than it has any right to be! For a free-to-play game, the level of quality in the visual and aural presentation was completely unexpected.

The only downside is how the game restricts your gameplay sessions. You can resume the same session you began. But you cannot start a second, new session after finishing your first until 24 hours later.

This restriction has its ups and downs, though personally, I commend the developers for establishing healthy boundaries to stave off potential addictive behaviours among players. (Apart from it being a smart incentive to purchase the full version that lets you enjoy limitless sessions.)

VERDICT: Gubbins is the most refreshing entry in the word game genre in years, finally scratching that itch for original word games with its brain-teasing gameplay, pleasing music and wholesome art. I rate it a 10 out of 10.