Apparently, back in the day, people used to fill in these things called “Crossword Puzzles” that were printed in these other things called “newspapers”, instead of playing solitare or Snake or Tetris on their mobile phone. USA Today, one of these “newspapers”, and a quite large one at that, appears to be attempting to drag aficionados of these paper-based games into the modern era by bridging the gap between dead trees and phones with a word game based on the letters on a phone’s keypad.
I’m sure this is the sort of thing that’s been available in other countries for a long time, since, you know, we’re still using cans with string over here, but I thought it was sort of interesting nonetheless to see it in the country’s most widely read newspaper, on a page whose readership probably skews towards the geriatric.
From mobile to print is interesting, since the usual flow is print media turns to mobile marketing for wider audience. Having games like this proves how texting or SMS mobile marketing has become part of every country’s lifestyle and culture.
Hi
I am the creator of the Txtpert puzzles and I was interested in your thoughts. Certainly all our research shows texting continues to grow and maybe the puzzle will let people have some fun too!!! Good luck, Rich Coulter
Hello Mr. Coulter,
I recently discovered the txtpert puzzle when staying in a hotel on business. I do not text with my phone much at all,not into it, but I did love the puzzle. I was very disappointed that the only way to subscribe was through the phone, if I could have downloaded to my pc, I would have bought it. I would also buy a book of these puzzles, but I won’t subscribe to USAToday just for this reason. I’m looking forward to a wider form of distribution soon of your creative and entertaining game.
Hi, Ruth-
In partnership with Mr. Coulter and the fabulous people at Games Play UK, we are working on extending Txtpert to many other platforms, including books, online, etc. so stay tuned! –Christy Hartsell, Director of Licensing, USA TODAY
[...] present, the most influential mobile marketing tool is SMS or texting. So powerful that a USA Today published a crossword puzzle designed after mobile phone [...]
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