Lexter

Version: 1.0.3 (changelog)
Last released: 23 Mar 2001
Requires: Curses, GNU gettext (optional)
Download: lexter-1.0.3.tar.gz (317KB)
Package (external): FreeBSD

Lexter is a real-time word puzzle for text terminals. Arrange the falling letters into words to score points. Lexter supports internationalization and multiple dictionaries. The package contains English and French dictionaries, but needs a French gettext translation for the in game text.

If anyone would like to translate Lexter to another language I'll include any "po" files I receive in the next version.

Lexter dynamically calculates word scores from the dictionary contents. The format is plain text with one "word" per line and can contain just about anything. They could be topical like place names or even famous number sequences. Although it might make for a very difficult game ;).

The Lexter archive also includes an RPM spec file. RPM users can build a binary package ready to install by running:

rpm -tb lexter-1.0.3.tar.gz

You will find the binary rpm under /usr/src/rpm/RPMS/i386 or /usr/src/redhat/RPMS/i386.

In game screenshot

|                              |        Lexter v1.0.1
|                              |
|                              |        Dictionary: en          Blocks: 123
|                              |        Next: [y]  Words: 16    Score: 4450
|                              |
|               [d]            |        Pts:  Found:
|                              |        263   oars
|                              |        237   case
|                              |        206   errs
|[r]                           |        262   toss
|[y]   [y]                     |        360   again
|[a]   [s]                     |        295   gain
|[e]   [e][s]   [t]            |        335   brag
|[r]   [u][f]   [c]            |        335   garb
|[i]   [i][s]   [e]      [i]   |        245   neon
|[a]   [s][i]   [e]      [u][e]|        253   pets
|[n]   [s][r][i][k][c][l][i][y]|        253   step
|[t]   [t][c][n][i][i][b][m][a]|        313   rout
|[g]   [w][l][r][r][b][g][s][i]|        287   lids
|[p][t][g][n][s][p][a][a][s][v]|        263   pate
|[l][m][a][s][g][f][a][e][r][d]|        272   tart
+------------------------------+        271   lair

Found 2 words for 543 points.

High Score screenshot

#   Name       Total   Words   Blocks   Dictionary   Date
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1   mark       18098   65      438      en           Sat Mar 17 18:43:36 2001
2   matt       14535   55      371      en           Sun Apr 15 16:32:19 2001
3   matt       14144   49      378      en           Sat Mar  3 15:32:23 2001
4   mark       13127   47      372      en           Thu Feb 15 12:59:47 2001
5   matt       11503   40      342      en           Thu Apr 12 14:42:29 2001
6   matt       11177   37      229      en           Wed Apr 11 14:44:41 2001
7   matt       10679   35      206      en           Sun Apr 15 16:53:10 2001
8   mark       10052   37      343      en           Wed Feb 14 14:51:15 2001
9   matt       9154    28      285      en           Sun Mar  4 11:07:59 2001
10  mark       8999    33      325      en           Wed Mar 28 18:00:32 2001