Nashville, Tennessee – Mercury Intermedia, one of the world’s leading mobile development and design agencies, today announced the launch of Crossly, a free competitive crosswords game for iPhone and iPod touch. Crossly marks the first direct-to-consumer release for Mercury Intermedia and combines the classic crossword format with head-to-head competition, as two players race to occupy the board with each correct answer.
“We’re thrilled to release Crossly for iPhone and iPod touch,” said Stephen Tallent, President and CTO, Mercury Intermedia. “Crosswords is already the most popular and well known word game in the world, and Crossly’s easy gameplay and friendly competition will endear the game to a whole new audience.”
Crossly leverages Apple’s Game Center to connect players with friends, and draws from tens of thousands of clues curated by respected crossword constructor Ben Tausig to randomly generate unique boards on the fly for optimized replay value. Crossly’s clean design and fluid animations, along with the following features, create an experience that word game enthusiasts will love:
Penciling: Penciling allows players to work on the board at any time, changing answers and adjusting their strategy as more words are completed. All penciled words are saved, even when the app is offline.
Peeks: For hard-to-guess clues, players may use one Peek per turn to reveal a letter of their choice. That letter is only visible to the player who initiates the Peek. Bonus Peeks are awarded for completing games and sharing Crossly via social media, or Peek Packs may be purchased in-app for Crossly’s most avid fans.
Steal & Taunt: When a player misses a word, their opponent may choose to steal for an extra turn and the chance to send a personalized photo Taunt. In the interest of privacy, Taunts may only be sent between Game Center friends.
Passing: If a player gets stuck, they may choose to pass their turn. In order to advance gameplay, a single letter is randomly revealed on the board to both players when a turn is passed.
Accessibility: Apple’s VoiceOver technology is fully integrated into every aspect of gameplay, making Crossly one of the most robust crossword experiences for people with visual disabilities.
About Ben Tausig:
Ben Tausig is the author of Penguin Classics Crossword Puzzles, Gonzo Crosswords, and Crosswords from the Underground: 72 Puzzles from Alternative Newspapers. He is a freelance puzzle constructor living in New York City. He creates a weekly feature called ‘Ink Well’ distributed in alternative weeklies across the continent in addition to editing the weekly American Values Club xword (avxwords.com). He has a PhD in Ethnomusicology.
Device Requirements:
* iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch
* Requires iOS 7.0 or later
* 10.1 MB
Pricing and Availability:
Crossly 1.0 is Free and available worldwide exclusively through the App Store in the Games category. Users may play as many games as they want for free, or upgrade to the ad-free Premium Mode for the “pay what you want” price of $.99, $1.99 or $2.99. Premium Mode also includes 15 additional Peeks and access to colorful themes to personalize the Crossly game experience. For additional information, visit their website and follow them on Twitter or Facebook.
Mercury Intermedia
Crossly 1.0
Download from iTunes
Screenshot
App Icon
Press Kit (zip)
Mercury Intermedia builds mobile applications and platforms for commercial media, retail, enterprise and higher education institutions. Clients such as Comcast, USA Today, Fox News, Showtime, Urban Outfitters, SAP and University of Mississippi have relied on Mercury to create top-rated mobile experiences for iOS and Android. Frequently featured and highlighted on the App Store and Google Play, Mercury’s apps have been downloaded more than 85 million times and are consistently ranked #1, receiving accolades from the media and users alike. Powering these apps is Mercury’s M3 content engine, which has served billions of requests and notifications to date. Founded in 1995, Mercury is headquartered in Nashville, TN. All Material and Software (C) Copyright 2014 Mercury Intermedia. All Rights Reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, iPhone, iPod and iPad are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries. Other trademarks and registered trademarks may be the property of their respective owners.