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Punlock: festive word game with a twist

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The holidays are here, and what better time to crack out the word games?

Punlock, released just a month or so back, is a clever puzzler that fits a series of letters onto a padlock and tasks you with spinning the chambers until a word lines up from left to right. You’re given a vague hint (animals; desserts; science) and have to find words that match.

It’s an incredibly simple concept but the puzzles are harder to solve than you might imagine. Punlock offers the same quickfire hits of pride and satisfaction as all the best word games, and spinning the concentric letter rings gives it a kind of tactile feel to boot.

The game’s developer describes it as “ideal for very brief play sessions like avoiding eye contact in an elevator”.

It’s a free download, with extra packs of clues sold as in-app purchases – but for four days only, as a festive treat, the app has gotten a winter makeover and is offering bonus Christmas-related puzzles completely free. They’ll be changing every day this weekend so we encourage you to check out the free content if you like word games!

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