They're all over America. Hiding out in local libraries, or huddled in the darkness?frightened of the light. -People who play word games; the rare and talented individual who actually delights in the flirtation between language and entertainment. But who are these demented people? Why do they play these word driven games? And are the rest of us in any real danger?

Word games have been around for a long time. Searching for words in a series of mixed up letters has been a pastime since civilizations have been able to put pen to papyrus. Anagrams, palindromes, lexigrams, and puns have all wormed their way into our lives at one time or another. People like being able to engage their minds while being entertained. Of course, there are some people who prefer not to be bothered with ?Intellectual stimulation? during their entertainment. -And those people watch ?Cops.?

For some time, games like Boggle, or Scrabble, did seem to fade into the distant haze of our early childhood memories. And it was true, that during the immense growth spurt of the video game industry, puzzle games, in general, officially lost favor with the public nation wide. But recently, with the influx of imported board games from countries like Germany, board games have been through a renaissance of sorts. Sales of board games in general, and more specifically, word games, have increased dramatically.

Online, the situation is no different. Downloadable games continue to find their way into almost every American household. And it is in this respect that word games have really found their niche. Computer gamers have spent thousands of hours online stimulating their little brains till their heart's content.

Take for example the game ?Love Letters,? a title available on Jenkat Games. (www.jenkatgames.com) The game combines the flavor of Scrabble with the framework of your typical video game experience. Released just in time for Valentine's Day, Love letters allows players to search about in a box of candy hearts, searching for the proper letters to spell words provided them on a list. The farther you progress, the more words you have to assemble.

Word games are making a comeback. And in many ways, they never left us at all. Many individuals have found that word games have increased their ability to focus, and concentrate for longer periods of time. Gamers have shown their love for word games in all of its incarnations, while game manufactures attempt to feed the growing demand. Word games are not only a big part of gaming as a whole, they are a growing part of video-gaming as well. -And that doesn't seem to be changing anytime soon.