Red Herring Reviews

Within the first set of free puzzles, there’s a lot of confusing puzzles that just don’t make sense. Like for instance, I’m on a puzzle right now where one of the categories is bovine (cow). For options if answers, there cow, zebu, yak, bison, and ox. But somehow, ox isn’t an answer. Even though an ox is bovine. And in the same puzzle, precipitation is the category with the possible answers of drizzle, sleet, snow, hail, and rain. But somehow, rain isn’t an answer. When rain is literally water falling from cloud, the most well known word relating to precipitation. I’ve noticed a lot of these instances in just the free version, where there are answers that clearly fall under the category, but they’re the red herring words. I also find it very odd that each puzzle onward costs $2. I’ve never seen a game put such a high price point. Usually games will have a free version, and a $5 version. I just don’t see how they’d expect people to pay for +$40 for the full game.

I got this because I find these types of games really enjoyable! However, I was really dissatisfied after realizing that I only get ONE pack of puzzles for free, and the other 37 packs cost 1.99, which yeah is not that much but after downloading a FREE app I didn’t expect to only be given ONE free pack and pay for the rest.. They have bonus packs for free IF you purchase more puzzles first. Really, why market something as free when nothing in-app is free? Just make people buy the game to begin with. Although, I find this aspect of RedHerring very disappointing, it is the best and most easy to use categorical game I have come across. Would love to give five stars, but really just kind of disappointed by the developers. Kind of a dick move.

I enjoy red herring and feel that it is a great idea for a game. The reason for three stars is the following. I get that game development is expensive, but I am getting both ads and pay in app expenses. If ads are going to be included then they should either disappear when one makes an in app purchase or there should be more puzzles offered for free.

One place where the free puzzle platform could be expanded is on the daily puzzles. I note that one gets the last thirty days if one buys a pack of older daily puzzles. But what about allowing us to just have access until the puzzles are posted as older daily puzzles? There are several years that are not listed. You could let us keep the puzzles we’ve completed and as those puzzles become older remove them and place them in packs. As it is, even if you purchase one of the packs, you only get the last thirty days. It would be fun to have the last 6 months up until they get “packed”.

Another problem is that sometimes the developers have incorrect information. For instance: Twice now they have had the category “Big Cats” and have included cats that are wild cats but are not big cats (no, ocelots are not big cats). This is just an example, but maybe you need a consultant in the life sciences?

I know the second point may seem to be quibbling, but it is only one example. There have been several gaffs of this sort.

Recently the ads in the. Free version are almost impossible to stop. If I hit the X in the corner it takes me to RedHerring Store so I can install some antimated game I don’t want. I can go back to the prior screen but cannot get into the daily game. It’s becoming more trouble than it is worth.
If you are going to offer a daily free game, it is nicer to be able to download it than waste time figuring out how to escape the other game ads... or is escaping the ads the real game? If so, no thanks

Its very difficult, but much of the difficulty comes from obscure and sometimes archaic words that don't appear in youthful vernacular. This makes the difficulty feel artificial. The concept of the game is very simple and doesn't introduce much variety besides the words or categories themselves. Every puzzle you either know or you don't, and thinking longer doesn't feel rewarding compared to other puzzle games.

By far the worst part is the hints require ads or money. It does allow you to just retry the puzzle at a lower difficulty, but that does trivialize the puzzle. But it's also a somewhat ugly game with a few bugs (such as tiles getting stuck). If you're looking for a word game, I'd recommend sticking with word cross.

It’s a challenge to figure out how some words are related, which is why this game is fun. But it’s less fun when the challenge is to read the minds of the designers. For example, there might be five words that fit a category accurately but you need the specific four the designers have in mind. That just takes stupid repetitive switching rather than using your brain. I suggest the designers work harder at finding four great matches and one that SEEMS like a match but cannot be.

In my opinion, Red Herring is one of the best apps around. If a game gets too difficult, the player may go to an easier setting. I often find myself looking on the Internet for the meanings of specific words in order to try and figure out what other words it might fit with to make a category. I wish there were other apps like this that don’t waste your time, but help you to learn something.

2022 The accolades below are still true years later. But I now understand red herring needs two versions. One would be a mostly trivia version featuring movie stars movies songs etc., and the other would be largely wordplay and logic. I have no idea how to name them differently. 2019. There are no other word games out there like this. Exercises your thinking in a different way from other word games: you have to think in categories rather than in simple definitions. I've been playing for years and I enjoy it as much now as I did years ago.

Update! Just got an update from the developer, and it’s just great to know they took the time to respond to my note below. Back to 5 stars all the way!!

I love RedHerring. Some categories are obscure, but that’s just a way for me to learn. The reason for only 4 stars is because with the latest update, you can only see the daily puzzle for the current day. In previous releases, you could work the last 3 days, like Monkey Wrench and Seven Little Words. I’ll continue to play the game, hopefully daily. But I guess I’ll just miss the days I miss, & be glad there’s one free puzzle per day.

I loved playing this game for the first 30 or so levels, but after I played through the first pack I found that I have to pay for the rest of the packs. There is a free daily puzzle, but one game a day to me is hardly worth opening RedHerring for. This game is fun and challenging and I recommend it to anyone that likes word puzzles and doesn't mind paying for more puzzles. For me, though, this was merely a teaser for a game you actually have to purchase, so three stars because after an hour of play the game is virtually obsolete for me. This truly is a very fine game. I wish I had more disposable cash for more packs.

Haven’t played in a couple of months or so, and was very surprised by the change in difficulty. The puzzles were so easy, in fact, that I was sure that my categorizing couldn’t possibly be correct! I’m sure that you’ve gotten complaints that the puzzles are too obscure or difficult, but I liked them because they were a challenge and I could learn things. Now they’re made for a 4th grader. I hope making the puzzles that easy was just a knee jerk reaction to the complaints and that the puzzles will once again be challenging.

This is one of the only games I can say I’ve played consistently for several years now. I always loved ‘Mailboxes’ in the Penny Press magazines and this is the closest I’ve found. Sure there’s scattergories but it’s timed and you have to compete with other people. Ugh. Give me one player games thanks. Nobody I know likes the same stuff as I do and I hate playing against strangers.

Won’t open today’s game for some reason but I’ll try again tomorrow.

I loved playing this game. However, after the first tier of games it costs $1.99 for each tier after the first one. I do not have even that small amount to keep playing. The people working have extra cash at hand and may be able to continue playing, but not Elders on Disability or SSI. That's a shame. You have to provide for yourselves, I understand. This game could keep elder minds sharp (if we could pay for it.....) The sudden increase in prices last month, (September 2022) has left me with no extra money and hard put to pay my normal bills. I am sorry to have to leave this game.

What happened to the three daily games? Only one day is available to play now. There used to be three days available to play which was great, especially if life got busy and I missed a day or two. I could always go back and catch up on the previous two days' games. Very disappointed that you took away that feature. Dropping my rating from 5 stars to 2 stars. You were always my go-to game. Not so much now.

I play this game daily and after one of the most recent updates the format for daily free puzzles was changed. I took issue with that change and let the developer know that I was not happy and changed my review of RedHerring to one star and heaped scathing ridicule on them. They assured me that the format would return to its original form and it has. Therefore I hereby declare “ I LOVE THIS GAME “ and will continue to play it daily. Thanks guys!!

For a great brain tune up I do the free daily puzzle faithfully. I prefer the hard mode and really appreciate the fair “unlimited hints” option. A friend opens Red Herring on her iPad giving us a big screen to play RH together brainstorming aloud and laughing a lot. Especially appreciated is the response comments on Facebook elicit from the game developers. And not just tech support, they listen to my occasional quibble over an answer. Long live Red Herring!

This used to be my go-to game but its become too frustrating to use lately. Sporadically it with lock up where instead of being able to move the words clicking on them will cause them to rotate slightly and then become immobile.
Hopefully there is a fix for this on the way.

I love Red Herring. Useful for passing the time when I have 10 minutes or 60 minutes to spare.
Sometimes I’ll get stuck on a particular puzzle and come back to it months later with a fresh perspective and solve it instantly.
I do wish there was a night mode/dark mode. I’d like to be able to play in the evening without looking at a bright light.

Red Herring leverages words with multiple meanings or usages to add a difficult twist to a game of categorization. Three levels of difficulty are provided by allowing the user access to
some level of pregrouping and category names. Lateral thinking is one of those high level skills used by inventors and punsters alike. Current thought is that exercising lateral thinking skills can help maintain mental function for the elderly.

You start off with about 20 free puzzles and then get one free puzzle a day. The words are such that 1or2 may fit in two different columns, so that adds extra challenge. I like working in “hard” mode. If I need a hint, I restart in “easy” mode. - Unexpected plus is seeing words that I never heard of. I look them up in search engine and end up learning something new to me. - At my age, this is a challenging game without being so hard that it frustrates. I feel it keeps my mind sharp as I age.