Were you ever one of those kids who invented your own alphabet or language? If you were, then prepare to take an unexpected trip down memory lane. Decoder Ring is a crossword type puzzle game where players must decode the strange glyphs and symbols into letters to form words.

You’ll use a small rotating decoder ring to match up symbols and letters in the puzzle. You’ll be given a few letters on the board to get you started and from there it’s a case of trial and error to see if you can solve the puzzle. Players can also check their answers or reveal an answer at the cost of additional time being added to their total puzzle time.

The game’s presentation is simple as is the minimal amount of game sound; fortunately players are free to use their iPod during gameplay. At the end of each game, players are given a total time based on how long it took to solve the puzzle and time penalties if they used any hints, but this score is shown once and that’s it. There are no local highscore boards or online leaderboards to keep track of your progress; which is a real disappointment.

Decoder Ring’s concept is solid but like most word based games, suffers from a poor word bank, leaving players with some frustrating gameplay to say the least. The game itself plays fine, although the spin sensitivity of the letter rings can be a bit iffy at times, but as a whole, the game feels like it would benefit from a bit of tweaking and an update or two to iron out some of the annoying kinks.