Customer Reviews

Milton Bradley Electronic Handheld Boggle

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This game is challenging on many levels...especially if you have a fascination with words! It even tells you the words you missed finding! Having a timed and untimed game option makes play even more fun. You can play the computer or another person. Sounds are a bit annoying, but you can turn them off. This game is much more challenging than the handheld Scrabble game. Only bad point (why I gave 3 stars for durability) is that replacing the batteries is difficult. The screw securing the battery cover panel is extraordinarily hard to remove. Other than that, it is an excellent game!

This is a great addition to any Boggle-lover's collection! Its small size is convenient to carry most anywhere. There are two basic games, timed and untimed. In the timed variation (3 minutes), two players can challenge each other. This is probably the device's strongest point. When playing against the computer, you can easily lose by 100 points or more! Unfortunately, the computer only gives you a partial list of words which it thinks you missed. But it's good practice anyway. In the untimed variation, you can only play with one player. The manual indicates that you can play an untimed variation with a 2nd player, but this is not true. The only other concern is that the screen is sometimes difficult to read - the lighting has to be just right. The screen is also not back-lit. Despite the few complaints , I still think this is a really fun gadget for Boggle lovers who would like to practice on the go!

Portable boggle unit for boggle fans. Dictionary is depressingly thorough - tells you all the huge long words you missed!

It's a little slow to enter the words via the arrow keys, if you are used to scribbling them down on paper in the traditional game. You can obviously still play that way if you like, then the advantage of the unit is that it's a lot more portable than the traditional game. If you do enter the words, it will check them against the dictionary and compute your score automatically.

They need to make a handheld version of "master boggle"; or a unit that could play either "boggle" or "master boggle".

P.S. Another reviewer said you can't turn off the sound, which is incorrect. RTFM. In the game setup screen, you hold down the "left" and "right" buttons together for 3 seconds to toggle the sound.

Overall this game is very good.
Pros: 1. Great game you can play with 2 people.
2. Great game for a challenge.

Cons: 1. Sound can't be turned off. (I opened it up and disconnected the wire)
2. Can't add words to the dictionary, the memory isn't writable.
3. When playing the computer in an untimed game, you always go first. It would be good to know how many words the computer found. I've played it for over a year and I've never beat the computer on the untimed or timed game.

I have had great fun with this toy and continue to do so as well! But I have some geeky technical complaints about it.

Words are entered by navigating with four arrow keys, pressing the "select" key for each letter in the word you are building. (You cannot deviate from allowable letter-paths.) It's slower to enter the words than with a traditional Boggle game. It IS challenging to enter in all the longer words. Unlike a "real" Boggle game, the letters are all right-side-up.

After playing quite a few times over a week, I don't believe it really has a single dictionary nor truly (pseudo-)random letter board arrangements.

1) I've seen the same letter board arrangements more than once.

2) On certain board arrangements, you are asked if you want to "override" (bend the rules) to accept obviously CORRECT words: examples include AIM, MEET, EWE. It accepts them without complaint on most letter board arrangements. The maximum score might be wrong, if it is (pre-)calculated based on the incorrect word list.

3) It runs much faster (answers & scores are instantaneous) than the Scrabble Express Handheld, so it seems like it's not doing too much computing.

These 3 things together lead me to believe it in fact contains a fixed, finite set of preprogrammed letter board arrangements, each with a "dictionary" preprogrammed list of "correct"/"acceptable" words. Otherwise, if it had one central dictionary containing thousands of words, as claims the package, why would some words be consistently invalid on one particular board, but be accepted on others?

The occasional omissions from the word lists might throw young players for a loop. Boggle diehards might start to notice the repeating boards. But I've enjoyed it a lot on the bus, on the sofa, on a lunch break!

For decades I've been a player and big fan of classic Boggle. I was excited to receive this as a gift, unaware that an electronic version even existed. But I've given this game up in frustration, sorry to have lost what I thought would be a good portable version of my favorite game.

Its drawbacks are:

The keypad, which slows down one's ability to enter a word. Writing is faster and allows the player to spend more time finding words. It is possible to turn off the timer function and play against a second player or the game itself and see who comes up with more words, but it's not the same.

Second, I'm suspicious of the game's electronic dictionary, which has come up with many "words" I can't find in a large Webster's.

As an educational game, it's not bad, but requires a curious player to actually look up unknown words if any real learning is to take place. It's not a complete failure as electronic games go, but I'm back to playing the old fashioned way.

Update: May 2010. What the @%#&??? A hundred bucks? This has got to be a typo. My game was ten and that's what anyone should pay for it, tops. It just can't be right.

I love the electronic Boggle. I have searched just about everywhere to find one. Now I see they are being sold on Amazon. What's the problem? First of all, the game runs about ten bucks. Why is Amazon selling them for $[...]? This is a simple electronic game. There is no way it should be sold for this ridiculous price.

The second problem is that the game only lasts about six months. Changing the batteries helps for awhile; then suddenly the game stops working. The buttons fall out. It doesn't help to change the batteries.

If Amazon sold the Boggle for ten bucks I would buy one. Maybe even two. But to pay $[...] for a game that is going to break in six months is unrealistic. I have never had an electronic Boggle last for more than six months.

I have played Boggle for about five years. It's a great game. I love it. But to be honest, this game is going to break in six months. If you think it's worth it to pay $[...] for a product that will last only six months, go ahead. But it's a bit too expensive for me.

BTW, I have owned at least seven electronic Boggles. Every time one broke I went out and bought another one. So I am speaking from experience. It's going to break. I promise.