Zen Word - Relax Puzzle Game Reviews

I just removed two stars after I got a "developer response" to this suggestion. It was the same blather they paste as a reply to any comment or review we make. "We need the Ads to bring you a better experience". Blah blah blah. Of course we can PAY to have ads removed. But are we guaranteed that ALL ads will be removed. And the last time I checked, we had to pay for ad removal a WEEK at a time!

I started out very optimistic, particularly when I was given the option to skip the early easy games! 👍🏼. But then the Ads started … an avalanche of them and they’re LONG. And why ads so unsuited to people playing word games. We’re not interested in “popping” games. The latest annoyance is a very rude prompt reminding that the puzzle we’re working on “is three letters” … or “four letters”. We KNOW that and we’re just hesitating over typing a letter. It’s rude and very irritating. Just make the letter boxes shake or the edges turn red as a warning. I’m getting disappointed after such a promising start!

I enjoy the weekly contest, but I wonder if everyone is doing the same puzzles. I understand the difficulty increases the more one plays. Are players at different levels competing against each other? Also, when I try to end the ads, each ad has a different technique to end the ad. I find myself clicking at different places on the screen and getting frustrated. I like the type that uses a circle that shows the time running. I would suggest that you use that consistently.

After using ZenWord quite a bit, I’m stuck on a page for a PayPal rewards page. I’m sure it’s bogus, so I don’t want to click on it. But there’s no way to continue.

While this game has pretty visuals and has calming music, it is like any other word game… that’s all it is: just like all the other ones. Nothing about the play in this game makes it stand out from the others. The ad shows the levels being lengthy and challenging by having you come up with all the words possible to make given the letters provided, which is why I even downloaded it in the first place. This game is not that. There are too many “extra” words. They are not challenging in the slightest. I made it to level 200 and I’m still waiting for it to make me think for more than 5 seconds. I will give them credit for the pretty visuals and calming music, but that’s it… the only reason it’s 2 stars and not 1.

I will be 75 in September. My neurologist recently diagnosed me with “early stages of dementia.” I am a retired news reporter with a local newspaper. I am sure this game will help me and many others! Thank you so much for providing it. I’m sure many will benefit from it.

While I really enjoy playing this game, I find there are too many questions to make it satisfying. There are so many little icons, but they don’t tell you what they do. Like those butterfly ones. what does clicking on that get you? The frustrating thing is that it just keeps going and going and the only way to make it stop is to close out the game. I will keep on playing because I really enjoy it, but I’m just going to start ignoring the other little icons along the side. Useless as far as I’m concerned. If you’re going to have them, you should at least tell people what they do.

I liked ZenWord for the calming sounds and pretty poetry besides the fun game, but I didn’t like hammering my brain for some word that isn’t an everyday word. I’ve had to resort to using up my coins to use the hints buttons, and one time it was for a person’s name. Word games should not use personal names, sounds, acronyms, and shortened versions of words. But I’ve yet to find one that follows any of these rules. So I’m removing this game. Just wanted to let you know your game is not calming - it’s frustrating. I wish someone who has a good knowledge of English grammar would create a good, online word game like board games we used to buy in America.

This game is advertised as challenging however, like all these games, you have to start at kindergarten levels and stick to it for weeks or months to get to a challenging game!
I got a great response to this review by the developer. What a shock! I appreciate you taking the time to respond to me individually! Yes, I will be patient and understand that people of all levels play this game. I’m happy to hear from you and will certainly work on the virtue of patience from now on! Thanks again!

I am so tired of games that don’t play as advertised. You see one game board in the ad, but you never see that board in the game. It looked different from other word games, but it is just more of the same. The main reason I downloaded this game was because the preview said “No ads”. Totally false. If anything, there are more ads than in similar games I’ve tried. There are ads after almost every game board. The ads are longer than it takes to play the game board. Why can’t the creators give us what they advertise?! I’ve already deleted this game. What a waste.

The amount of ads in this game is astounding. There is a constant ad banner at the bottom of the screen. There are also extremely long ads after ever other puzzle and sometimes even after just one. The game COULD be great if they cut down on the ads, chose less lengthy advertisements or allows you to skip part way through. I played through over 200 levels in about a week but I can’t take these advertisements anymore so I downloaded a different game.

This game potentially could be great with a few changes. Faults: 1. All valid words should be accepted, but you could come up with several words that it won’t accept & is categorized as “extra”! Don’t make a pre-arranged list! 2. Don’t accept abbreviations! Vet is an abbreviation for veteran or veterinary and not a word! 3. If a clue is needed, lower than tokens to buy one from 80 to 40 or less. 4. Just have the word game and get rid of the stupid butterfly/chrysalis nonsense !

Looking at my Apple receipts, this game cheated me by charging me 5 times for purchases of a “piggy bank” $1.99 on one receipt. And I have repeated receipts for this charge. The game only allows you to buy the item when it is filled, and it takes several completed games to fill it. It also allows you to get free spins daily to collect coins. Only now it seems these spins are not free. I only have purchased anything rarely, since I can get through the levels without it. If it’s doing this, the game is a rip-off!

I was getting a scam ad continuously pop up into a separate browser in the middle of a level. Not only was it disruptive and a fraud scam, but it didn’t even populate in the game but opened my phone’s browser. I contacted support with a screenshot per their help section and received no response and it just kept happening. At this point it’s hard to tell if it’s because they are benefiting from the scam or if they just don’t care. Either way, I removed the game and it is not worth playing if that is going to continue.

The game doesn’t give you a chance to enter other words once you’ve completed. Not fair. How do I know if the last word, for example, is angle or angel. Once you put it in game ends. Not fair. Lose extra word points. Otherwise so far a fun game. Of course too many ads and long ads so I’ll probably end up deleting once it gets too annoying.

I enjoyed the game when I first started playing. Ads were manageable and not so bothersome. Around level 80 and up ZenWord started glitching and the screen would go to a nature scene with no way to get out of it without closing ZenWord down and restarting it. If it doesn’t resolve with the new iOS update then it’s not worth trying to play anymore. Hope they fix it, because it WAS fun to play.

After reaching a high level, the game offered $750 to be deposited in my PayPal account. I found that very, very odd. I had to force the game to quit to get past this. I played up to level 100 to see if this “offer” would appear again. I found the game was too easy. Even levels labeled as hard were easy. It was fun but I deleted it. I didn’t like the money offer for information I would never give.

I love playing this game. It gets more challenging as you reach the higher levels. My only complaint is that if you watch an ad for more coins, half the time it doesn’t work. You either get a black screen and nothing happens or you see the ad, and never get the coins. It is annoying as you are wasting time and getting nothing.

So you earn these coins but what can you use them for? I see nowhere you can buy anything with them. No shop except one where you have to pay to buy packages which include more coins. I was motivated at first to get them, but there doesn’t seem to be a point. Spelling is easy and I’m in the 300’s now. I like the messages and visuals.

If the ads actually went away after you finished and didn’t require a full reboot of your device to continue it might be “ok”. Mostly a scam to force “in-app purchases”.

Because the developer openly admitted they wanted to force a sale - instead of of correcting how adds lock your device - I’d give it NO STARS if Apple would let us reconsider after response. No Zen Here when you have to shut down & restart your device unlock it

The developer’s response: “ads give you a better experience” is a load of crap. I would rather not have the ads so I could have an outstanding experience! But I get that you need to make money. I’m also aware that I can pay for no ads. However, this game does not warrant any payment on my part.

I deleted the game after 102 levels.

If are thinking of downloading this game, be aware that there are a lot of ads.

I love this game, however, it is far from relaxing. There are so many advertisements that this forces on you that it actually stresses me out. I tried again to play and I have decided that it’s not worth it. Too, too many ads. The ads are very long and it is just too much. It’s a shame because I love this game!😞

I was excited about this game at first. No time clock, lots of words to find (as opposed to too many “extra words”), relaxing music, and the option to pay to remove ads. I was about to pay to remove ads, especially because it was only $.99! But then I noticed it’s only for a week at a time. That’s unfortunate. I would have been happy to pay a higher price to remove them for good, instead of having to pay every week. It’s basically a subscription to remove ads. I don’t fault the developers for that, it is a business after all. It’s just not for me.

Forget this game because it’s not what you think it is. It might be fun if it wasn’t for all the ads, but of course you couldn’t remove the ads for $.99 a week which is absolutely ridiculous. Downloaded it. Played it for an hour and deleted it. The only thing I regret is the hour that I played it.!

Your response in my email was ridiculous. “it ONLY costs $4.99…“ maybe you’re Aton of money and consider this some small amount, let me be the first to enlighten you then that $4.99 is a lot of money these days for people who can’t find jobs that’ll pay more than “minimum wage!” You are most certainly out of touch with reality! Maybe look at how many people aren’t happy with your game could be a start.

An quit eliminating reviews like mine so you look better!

The game should be called “A Bunch of Ads With a few Games” as it takes longer to watch the ads than it does to play the game. You know what that is? It is frustrating, which is not zen at all.

It is not relaxing at all to have to watch the same ads over and over again. Yes, I know there is an option to pay to remove the ads, but the sale is so badly worded that I am not comfortable giving them my money. Sure it is $.99 for a ad free week, which would be lovely. However, after that it says $4.99. Is that for a week? Not going to happen. Is it for a year? Possibly would have happened if I don’t delete the game before the 48 hour sale is over.

It doesn’t love me. I understand that you have to make money but having ad banners up so that it blocks the game is counterproductive at best. I’ve added a screenshot so you can see what I’m talking about. I apologize for writing this in a review but because of the ad banner I couldn’t tell if I could give any feedback in app.

I discovered this fantastic game while looking for something great to occupy my time. ZenWord has rapidly become my favorite. The number of ads is reasonable and the level of difficulty is ok.

I paid $0.99 for their ad-free version because their ads were annoying. However, they didn’t make it clear that the $0.99 is only for ONE WEEK! And, to my surprise, they kept charging me $0.99 EVERY WEEK without my consent. I just realized, after a couple of months, that they have automatically deducted $0.99 every month from my Apple account in the past many weeks! It is a ripoff for an app this kind if you add up the weekly cost, $52 an year! Steer away from ZenWord!

I’m deleting ZenWord due to the overuse of ads. I tried to let them know ahead of time. It is overrun with ads. It really could be a cool game too! The pictures and quotes are nice. The games are fun. But it takes longer to watch an ad to get to the next level than the actual level takes. It is 100% not worth that. In this day and age, everyone is super busy. We cannot be wasting all this time on ads. It stated you can remove them for a week if you pay them. Like what? I have other games with ads and I don’t mind them. I understand it’s a way to make money but ZenWord is doing way too much with the ads. You can’t even sit for ten minutes and play without watching at least two. I just logged in and got hit with one. Also the ads placed in the game are like a minute or more long. Most ads in games I’ve seen are 30 seconds. You’re not giving people the chance to even like the game as much as they could before bombarding them with ads.

This could be a fantastic game. It’s very well developed and fun. Stop being so greedy. For the record, I downloaded it from an ad I saw in a game I’ve played for years. Maybe adopt farm heroes placement of ads. 🩷

I finally found a word game that fit me personally and as a player. Unfortunately as many games tend to do. The developers apparently had an “update” they were trying to pitch and relentlessly pushed City Word on me to download every time I tried to play. The vibe of Zen Word was calming, beautifully designed and good exercise for the brain, and pushing another game on a player so aggressively is counterproductive to the whole point of Zen Word.
I’m not willing to change from a game that meets my needs to one that does not. If Zen Word has actually been replaced by City Word, I really don’t get it. If City Word is just another game developed by the same folks I should just be able to say “No Thanks” to their pitch to download another game they have to offer and let it go at that.
I am tired of fighting it every time I play so have finally given up and deleted Zen Word.
It was nice while it lasted… 😟

I’ve been playing quite a bit recently and must tell you how much I enjoy the pictures, the poems and affirmations. But I just had to let you know that the chapter that has level 259 in it gets a smile and a giggle from me every time I see the video of what appear to be penguins swimming at the ocean surface. Seemingly in a hurry to get somewhere they move with the grace and beauty of dolphins and porpoises but, unlike the dolphins in the short poem at the beginning of the chapter, they have no dorsal fins.

First, overall I found this quite easy. Which I guess is good if you want to relax. However, it is so easy that it gets a bit boring after a while…it would be nice to have levels that are a bit more challenging. I’m on level 115, and I have only hit two times that I puzzled over words.

In Level 114, there are 5 letters given. But the biggest word there is space for is a four letter word…oops! And really, to have levels with only seven words, at this point in the game??

What is the point of the airplanes we collect? They do nothing as far as I can see…

I do like that you can collect words which are not on the list. But on levels where there are no 3 letter words on the list, why won’t the ones you find go into storage, as they do in other levels. They are still valid words…

Overall, I do like the game. I just wish the levels labeled as “hard” were more challenging…

Daily Puzzle, when you hit Play, there is a buffering issue and video will not play. Also Gift Box Coin X30, has a buffering issue and video will not play. Other then that the game is very good to play. I’m using a 9th Gen iPad.

I absolutely love to anagram! English is my college major, and this fame gives me time to chill, and keep my mind agile. However, when I come into a tournament, and usually see the “same” players in first place before the tournament barely begins, that’s suspect! I have actually only taken 1ST once, and I think it was because I had more than enough hours to take over that position. However, when one is already so far ahead-it’s quite impossible. This last time I played every waking minute, and still managed not to get first place. (It was a test)
I don’t think cheat boys should be able to be used! Just saying-Is that winning? How about allowing the people who actually play for real to win? Then you’ll get a 5* from me!

I’ve played over 1500 of their puzzles, so I’ve obviously enjoyed ZenWord. I have a large vocabulary and enjoy being challenged. BUT, putting words in puzzles that only a botanist specializing in Cambodian flora would know, or obscure units of currency from Botswana (just two examples among many) is obnoxious and an obvious attempt to get people to spend money buying clues. Using obscure jargon that only a minuscule handful of people might use is off putting and will cause people to remove ZenWord . In addition, if you expect people to know words that your own dictionary is unable to define, you need to revisit your algorithm.

Been playing this for several months, in spite of the ads that last way longer than in any other game I play. It’s not so much the frequency of the ads (although I resent having to watch an ad if I stop playing for just a few short minutes); it’s the length of the ads. Some of them literally just show a single screen for close to a full minute! No way would a download an app with such an annoying ad, so I don’t understand their inclusion in this game.

But now I am deleting ZenWord because I’ve finally proven beyond the shadow of a doubt that the “Zen Tournament” is a complete scam. I’d long suspected the other “competitors” were just a fabrication from the game, and it was finally revealed that this is the case.

I abhor being lied to, especially by an app claiming to be “Zen”, and I’m certainly not going to watch endless extended ads in the process. I realize that most “competitions” within games are fabrications, but I hoped these developers were above that reprehensible practice.

I refuse to support liars, so ZenWord is gone for good!

Ads for this game state there are “no ads”. At first I was excited because there were no ads popping up, only a bar at the bottom which is kind of annoying but not that bad. After a few levels in, the ads start playing in between each level just like every other game. Very annoying and by reading others reviews, doesn’t sound like their options to remove ads are that great either. Great game otherwise but most likely won’t keep playing because of the stupid ads.

Really enjoyed this game so tried several times. The ads eventually freeze it every time. Don’t plan on playing it unless you buy it the ads Update, I got a response from the developers and the game seemed to work for two days. Now I am blocked again by a June’s Journey ad. It went to it’s finish and has a closing “X” in the left upper corner but it does not work, stuck again. I do really like the game if if would keep functioning. Less ads would be nice but…….

It unfroze two days later and stayed good for about a day. Now is in a strange setting, it opens with an ad but when I close the ad I get a black screen. Wish it would work consistently.

I like this game a lot, especially their use of relaxing music. However, it wouldn’t accept the word “AND” as a word. Game developers, please fix your programming and make it error free. You have a good thing on your hands and I would hate to see it go to waste.

Another thing is that it is not written very well instruction wise. Maybe popups when a person clicks on things? Or an introductory lesson that explains everything. Seems the game developers were quite lazy in putting together their product. I hope that they can continue to work and make it better. But the idea of combining it with relaxing music to make it relaxing is awe inspiring!

The game is fun, or it would be, BUT a video ad plays every two levels you complete, and each one requires at least three steps to get past and back to the game. At early levels, where it takes seconds to complete, this is extremely irritating. Altho they’re currently running a sale, apparently the regular rate to go ad-free is five bucks a WEEK. That’s the most I’ve ever paid to go ad-free permanently on any game, so not something I’ll be doing. More likely I’ll end up deleting it, since this just makes it too slow and boring to play.

Maybe my review will get posted this time but doubt it. Tried once before. Not only are the ads all the time now (they weren’t in the beginning), but two words in one of the last games I played were awful. I was also getting tired of other negative words that were in every other puzzle. For a Zen game, they were not Zen words. How about try more positive words related to the word Zen! And yes I know why you have ads so please don’t use your same response you give everyone. Improve the ad time, have decent words, and maybe just maybe people will stay. I have deleted ZenWord from my phone and will go back to one that has no ads and luckily doesn’t use awful words. And get more sleep now too :)

The game is okay, some words it doesn’t accept even though they are in the dictionary and even very common. The biggest thing is between every level there is an ad that is usually for some clickbait cure-all thing or a new game that when you click to exit it tries taking you to ZenWord Store or to a website that you didn’t give permission to open so you have to close that, go back to the game, exit the first ad page again, hope it actually exits it, and wait for the ads second page to let you exit it where it can also lead to you opening another thing. The game also has timed challenges against other players that is affected by what ads you get and where you are in a level. If you are going to the next stage you have to sit through a poem you can’t skip and loose a bit of time and probably the challenge. It’s an okay game to pass the time but it’s cons outweigh its pros for me and I will be deleting.

I love word games and this one looked very interesting, but it was very disappointing. I was looking for the board that was used to entice the download which shows a large amount of words to guess on one level. Got to level 20 and no such board. I found the levels with about three, four or five words boring and was looking forward to the challenge of 20-30 word levels. I never hit it and frankly don’t think it exists. This happens a lot with ads to play games. I call it bait and switch. They show something that never happens as a game experience. Also, there are too many ads and expensive to opt out of as it is a weekly charge. Sorry to say that I am deleting the game and will try something else.

So I fully understand that ads help games to be free, and if I don’t want to be bothered with ads then I can purchase the ad-free version. That is not my issue here. My issue is that the types of ads that are allowed and won’t go away. Lately the only ads I’ve been seeing have been for 18+ adult themed “novels”, something I’ve never shown interest in and won’t read because of how badly they’re usually written (thanks to AI). I cannot play this game with my kid anymore because I don’t want him to see smut on the screen and if that means I delete ZenWord then I guess that’s what I’ll have to do… do better, dev team.
Edit from dev response: they still don’t grasp the fact that I don’t care that ads play within a game I downloaded FOR FREE. They gave me the same canned response here that they did in my private message to them, despite the fact that I showed them several (10 or more) of the adult-themed ads I saw on a game rated for kids. I deleted ZenWord and will not bother with anything from this dev ever again.
0/10 don’t recommend at all

If you’re looking for a word game that is perpetually at like a 2nd or 3rd grade level, then this is for you! I’m on level 102. Finally giving up on this game getting more challenging or, at the very least, more interesting. Many 3 and 4 letter words to find are repeated over and over and over. The ad for this game shows two columns of about 7 words each and says level 10. Playing over 100 levels and I have yet to reach a level that is comparable. You will inevitably and literally spend more time tolerating the ads then playing the game itself.
False advertising. If you have to entice people with ads showing a game that the player never reaches. You do not have a good game to start with.

Yes, this is the greatest word game ever. And no annoying ads! We’ll, it does have some ads, but they’re not too annoying. We’ll, in reality they are pretty much ALL annoying when you think about it. Really, really, REALLY annoying ads! Thanks for wasting my time watching them!! The ad states that the spokesman’s brain is getting sluggish as they get older. I say the sluggishness is a result of TOO MANY ADS!! 😉