How well do crossword/Scrabble-type games work in Japanese?

[javamex]

I have developed a word game for iPhone/desktop machines and am interested in finding out how well it would transpose over to Japanese.

The game centers around a grid of interlocking words, a little like the arrangement of words you'd find in Scrabble or in a UK-style crossword grid. In "Western" languages like English, French, Spanish, German this works quite well: the writing system provides enough combinations that you can take, say, the 10,000 most common words in the language and generate thousands and thousands of possible grids very easily.

But I wondered how this would work in Japanese where-- as I understand it-- the writing system is syllabic. How do Scrabble-type games work in Japanese?

To give a more specific idea of the concept, you actually like to download the game and try it-- the game is called LetterMeister and is currently free in the iPhone App Store (App Store - LetterMeister) and a free desktop version is also available here.

So... any feedback would be appreciated on how well the game might work or not work in Japanese! Mamy thanks!

Neil

 

[LouisvG]

Coincidentally I asked my Japanese colleague just recently, and she said there is no Japanese scrabble. I would love to see this proven wrong...!

 

[Mike Cash]

No Scrabble that I am aware of, but Japanese crossword puzzles are common enough that monthly magazines of crossword puzzles are published here.

 

[ronyeh]

Most words are written using a mix of kanji/hiragana/katakana, so it would be very hard to make a Scrabble-like game.

However, if you stick to just katakana, or just hiragana, you can make a fun learning tool for people!

Let's say I drew 7 tiles, and was able to make the word oishii (おいしい). The next player could then add a single tile to assemble the word sushi (すし). I think it'd be fun!

 

[eeky]

The fact that there is no Japanese Scrabble makes me wonder if there is some reason it wouldn't work well. Someone must have tried it, right? (Obviously it would be hopeless with kanji; I'm talking about a kana version.) Would there be too many problems deciding what counted as single "words" (e.g. with compounds and concatenations)? Or, with a reasonable limit of about 100 tiles, are there are too many distinct characters even when using kana?

 

[Mike Cash]

The blindingly obvious problem is: What do you do with the issue of small kana and other diacritical marks?

 

[Glenn]

Yeah, it could suck being stuck with っ, だ, ず, and ゃ, for instance.

 

[eeky]

Would it be too odd to use the same character (presumably the big kana) for both big and small? I believe I remember reading that historically they were not distinguished in writing.

 

[Glenn]

Yes, it was the case in older writing. I wonder about that too. How would that feel to a Japanese person playing Scrabble?

 

[eeky]

Also, I believe that on old computers the diacritics were actually typed as separate characters. Adopting that idea would reduce the character set a lot... but again I don't know if it would seem too odd to Japanese speakers.

 

[Mike Cash]

Having them separate makes the most sense....but then what do you do when placing them on the grid? Do they have their own points? What if it is a bonus points square? Does it count only for the large characters? Should they be small tiles placed on the corners of larger tiles? Should the tiles be reversible so one side is し and the other side is じ ? What about は行? Have は on one side and both ば and ぱ on the other? Perhaps with a diagonal line separating them and turn the tile to indicate which is intended? What about small っ ?

 

[Toritoribe]

There seems to be a game for little children, called もじぴったん.

『ことばのパズル もじぴったんDS』

 

[Glenn]

Only 大和言葉 are allowed (like how only nouns are allowed in 尻取り). haha