The worst implementation of a digital game I have ever attempted to play. You get shown the 'board' so you can make your word and once you've done that you get taken out of the game, back into the menu page/lobby while the other player takes their turn. Dreadful implementation and it's such a shame because the physical version of the game is so good. Heavily disappointed. Will never play this again.

I came across this hidden gem purely by chance while randomly searching the store for card based games.

A thoroughly delightful game.
Aesthetically pleasing, simple to learn, great fun to play.
The whole theme gels together well.
This has jumped to 1st place in my top ten quick play games!

10 out od 10

This game is deeply flawed. The dictionary is arbitrary, leaving out common English words, while allowing the AI to use deeply iffy ones. The worst part is that it isn't immediately apparent, which means you don't realize it until it's too late to return it.

if this game were only single player, I would recommend it. However, the online multiplayer is so frustrating and so broken I would rather the game not include it at all. Not only did I experience error messages when trying to create rooms, but the format of the multiplayer (players cannot view the table simultaneously) seems antithetical to the fast paced nature of the gameplay. If the developers fixed this, I would wholly recommended this game, as it is, I cannot.

The user interface for this game is not conducive to playing the game. You cannot see the gamestate until it's your turn, and afterwards you are kicked out into some lobby. I hope whoever made the actual game got their money's worth, because they should not trust whoever developed the digital version.

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a good word game is hard to find. especially one that's done well, not just a good idea executed horribly, like paperback: the game. it's the digital version of a board game I haven't played, but was intrigued because I love word games (and books). online multiplayer doesn't work anymore, only local or against the ai, but they didn't even bother to remove online stuff from the menu, or at the very least add an in-game warning.

it's for 2-4 players, the ai has 3 difficulty levels. there are a bunch of avatars to choose from and rules are briefly explained in the game, with only a 'next' arrow, can't go back and forth. rookie mistake, one of many. another would be using 'tap' in the optional help messages. I'd say you can't get any lazier than this when making a pc version of a mobile game, but do read on.

cards contain one or two letters, make words with them, buy more cards with your points/money, repeat. cards available for purchase are visible on top, will be shuffled into the deck. wildcards can be used as any letter, worth nothing score-wise but have a single so-called fame point, which is what your final score is based on. fame cards with no score but a higher fame value can also be bought, and there are community cards as well. you can grab one in every turn (which wasn't clear from the tutorial) and if used in a longer word, it also gives fame. the first needs 7 letters, the next 8, but you'll get offered the same one until it's used in a long enough word.

score/cash doesn't carry over between turns, might as well spend it all. besides letters, price and a score value, cards can also have abilities. things like double word score, words with a certain score granting an extra card or more cash, trash a card at the end of the turn, etc. you can set how many of each fame-toting card you'd like in their respective decks and the game ends when 2 of the 4 piles of fame cards or all the community cards are gone, whichever happens first.

and that's it, not a hugely complex game. very basic, in fact, not much meat on the bones, but could work as a brief time-killer. there's a log of the happenings, surprisingly nice touch, but the dictionary will always be iffy in these things, with many words not recognized. however, one of the major dealbreakers is no mid-game saving. you have to play the whole thing in one sitting or start over next time. absolutely unacceptable.

graphics are is fine but the interface is very mobiley and I wasn't a fan of the jazzy music, as usual. nor the fact that switching tasks and going back to the game both reset the music. what the ♥♥♥♥ is that? a song is playing, switch to another running task and a new one will start instead of the game shutting up, and when you go back to the game, the song will change again. there are very few tracks in the game, making the situation even worse, so I just turned off the music after about a minute.

settings are practically non-existant. no speed settings or toggles for repeating animations. no full screen(!), alt+enter doesn't work either, you can maximize the window, that's it. no volume settings, only separate toggles. I was surprised to find an exit button at least. the real board game has better functionality, as you can just tell people you're playing with to act faster or speak less loudly.

I also ran into some buggy behavior, shocking. click cards that weren't supposed to be clickable or bring up an empty screen with a confirmation button. and my favorite, things keep happening over the open 'pause' menu. beyond words.

I bought it a few years ago on sale because I thought it was a good enough deal even without multiplayer (mostly because I don't do multiplayer), but after having tried it, it's impossible to recommend, free ♥♥♥♥ is still ♥♥♥♥. the devs recently re-released the same thing as 'vol. 2' with working (for now) online multiplayer, but you have to buy it (again if you already paid for this). it still doesn't have any basic functionality though, which is appalling, so don't bother with either.

If you are Scrabble fan, or a fan of vocabulary games in general, you'll like Paperback. The artwork is perfect for the game, and the rules are simple and straightforward to understand. It is quick to play and a nice well executed casual game.

The one exception I will make is that it is not clear how and when to activate some of the abilities that some cards have. For example one of the C cards has an ability that you can trash a card to gain a card of higher value. It is not clear when and how this ability can be availed. It would be nice if the developers could address this and make it clearer. The game is still playable and winnable without making use of the abilities that are not automatic, but if it's part of the game it should be clear how to use this function.

It would be nice also to be able to make the window fit the screen, so the artwork can be better appreciated, especially those clever bookcovers of the 'best sellers' that make up some of the victory cards.

Constantly crashes, minimal tutorialization, there is no way to turn the music down or speed up the AI turns. Would not purchase

Simply a great game. I really enjoy the challenge of trying to make words out of the random cards i am dealt, and the theme is great. I am really glad there is no timer on my turns as trying to make a word using all of my cards can lead me to analysis paralysis. (I am terrible at games like this, but love the challenge of trying.)

My one complaint is that there isn't fullscreen or any other options like that. I'm also hoping that expansions come to the digital version of the game.

Even if you only play games in single player, this is a great game to get if you like deckbuilding and word games.

A great little game for those who like deck builders and spelling.

The tutorial could have been a bit clearer. But once I understood the rules it is a lot of fun.