Word Rescue

Word Rescue is hangman with the gallows taken out and a hot-air balloon put in its place. The hidden word stands in the foreground grass as a line of cream cards. Tap a letter and every card carrying it turns face up. Tap a letter the word does not have and one sandbag slips its rope, thumps into the meadow, and the balloon lifts a little further from the ground, shrinking into the sky as it goes. Six wrong letters and it drifts off the top of the screen with the kitten still aboard. Finish the word and it comes down gently, the sandbags settle in the grass and the kitten waves a paw.

Over a thousand plain English words sit behind it, sorted into six categories: animals, food, places, sports, science and everyday things, or take them all at once on Mix. Everything is ordinary language a child would meet at school, and longer entries with spaces break neatly across two rows of cards. A hint will turn over a letter for you when your brain has run out of ideas, but it costs a sandbag, so it is a real decision rather than a free pass.

There are three ways to play. Solo deals a fresh word whenever you want one and keeps a streak of rescues going for as long as you keep winning. Daily gives everyone the same word for the day, seeded from the date, with its own streak beside it. Two players draws a stage curtain across the screen so one of you can type a secret word without the other seeing, then hands the phone over. Streaks and best runs are saved in your own browser and nowhere else. Type letters on a keyboard or tap the A to Z board, H for a hint, N for a new word, P to pause and M to mute.