Bookworm is sort of like inverse solitaire Scrabble. You start with a board full of tiles, and the object is to spell words by connecting the tiles. You can only connect two tiles that are adjacent to each other, but with each tile you add you can pick a different direction to grab the next tile from. If you find yourself on a dead end path, click the tile you started with to break the chain, then click it again to completely deselect it. Or if you're just off by the last letter, simply click the letter before it to remove it from the chain. In the upper left corner of the gaming window it displays the letters you've collected, and if it any point they spell a word the Bookworm recognizes it will show the score for that word below the letters. When you're satisfied with the valid word you've spelled, click the word Submit on the screen, or at least on my device (a Verizon XV6700), I can click the left menu button.

That's really all there is to it. But what would a puzzle game be without specials? Bookworm is no exception to the rule. As you spell longer words you will be rewarded with green, gold, diamond and sapphire tiles. If you can use the letters on these tiles you will get bonus points for your word. Also, from level two onward there will be a bonus word under Lex the bookworm. If you can spell that word with the tiles you'll get a bonus as well. On the other hand, if you spell too many short words you'll start getting flaming tiles. These tiles will burn away the tiles below them until they reach the bottom of the board, at which time they'll burn down the library and the game will be over. Special tiles will slow the fire tiles' progress, but you must use them in a word to get rid of them before they reach the bottom. Finally, if you are really stuck and there are no fire tiles on the board you can click Lex, and he'll scramble the board for you. Unfortunately, this increases the chance that you could see more fire tiles in the game.

There are two modes in the game: classic and arcade. Classic mode is for the casual player. You have plenty of time to try and spell the biggest words you can, and flame tiles only eat up a tile below them when you submit a word. In arcade mode the flaming tiles are coming at you constantly, and they don't wait for you to spell words to head to the bottom of the screen. You can have more than one flame tile in either mode, but expect to frequently see several flame tiles in arcade mode. My biggest problem with either mode was the pacing. Classic mode was a bit too slow, and there was nothing driving me to complete words. On the other hand, it was very rare for me to level up more than once or twice on Arcade mode. The flame tiles came too quickly - and on the first level no less - so I never really got a chance to build up any momentum in this mode. They really needed something in between these two modes for people like me.

Controlling the game wasn't too bad with the stylus, at least in classic mode. In arcade mode, however, it was easier to select all the letters with the stylus and then submit with the left menu button. It just took too much time trying to click the Select button on screen with the stylus. It appears that there is some way to click on the letters to submit them as well, which I stumbled upon accidentally during one game session, but that feature was almost a negative for me. On more the one occasion, I found myself submitting a word that I wasn't done with.

The graphics in Bookworm Deluxe are good. I particularly liked the images that went along with the descriptions when you leveled up. I imagine some of those characters would have been really amusing to watch in little animated segments. I also appreciated the little touches like seeing Lex cringe and sweat when a fire tile got too close to the bottom of the screen. The tiles were all crisp and easy to read, so you can't use the argument "I didn't know what that letter was…"

The sound effects are fine. My favorite was hearing Lex burp when he ate a word that contained a fire tile. There's no music in this game, during the menus or otherwise. That's particularly disappointing coming from Astraware, because if nothing else you can almost always count on them having rockin' tunes with their games.

I have to admit that I'm finding this whole genre of spelling based puzzle games a lot more compelling than I thought I would. Bookworm Deluxe didn't hold my attention quite as much as Bubble Babble or Aero Frenzy (a game from BapSoft), but it was still fun to play, and the idea of feeding a bookworm was cute. I will say that this is probably the most challenging of the spelling games that I've played since I started reviewing, and that might turn off some of the more casual players. If you like this style of game, though, Bookworm Deluxe is a good one for your collection.

Overall Score: 7/10
Product Page: Bookworm Deluxe Page
You can try or buy the game for $14.95 here