Scribblenauts

Write anything and it comes to life. That simple sentence sounds like every child's dream, and Scribblenauts turned it into a genuine playable mechanic. You take the stylus, write a word in your notebook, and the game instantly conjures the object right into the game world. Need to cross a chasm? Write „bridge“. Or would you rather have a „jetpack“? Or straight up a „dragon“ to fly across on? The possibilities are dizzying.

At the heart of the game is a giant database of thousands of nouns that can be created and used to solve puzzles. Each level presents a logical riddle whose goal is to obtain a star called a Starite, and there are almost infinitely many ways to solve it. The game actively rewards creativity and experimentation, and it even offers challenges where you must beat the same level three times in a row without repeating the same object.

Scribblenauts was developed by 5th Cell and published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment in 2009. At the heart of the whole project is a proprietary database of terms called „Objectnaut“, which allowed the game to recognize a staggering number of words, including mythological creatures, animals, tools and more abstract objects. It was precisely this breadth that made the game a phenomenon even before release.

Culturally, Scribblenauts became one of the most talked-about games at the E3 show, where it earned several awards and enormous attention from a media fascinated by its interface. After release, part of the criticism did point out the sometimes clumsy control of the main character's movement, but the central idea itself was received as ingenious. The game kicked off a whole series, including the improved sequel Super Scribblenauts and later entries.

What makes Scribblenauts unforgettable is that pure sense of childlike wonder when you discover that the game really does know even the unexpected word that just popped into your head. It is a toy and a game at the same time, a space for experimentation limited only by your imagination and vocabulary. In the DS library it represents one of the most original ideas of all.

Why play: A brilliantly creative puzzle where you conjure any object you write and solve the riddle in literally infinitely many ways.