Import
Load a PDF, docx, ePub, LaTeX or plain text file.
The material stays on your computer, and is processed faster than an AI service can do it.
TickWords reads your chapters, finds the key terminology, and creates a crossword you can play or print. No cloud service or AI subscription required.
Do a crossword and get in some revision without the stress.
$24.99 USD once. No subscription. Windows, Linux and SteamOS.crosswords ready to play, with 12,000 clues written for them
terms in the dictionary, with 11.4 million clues behind them
of study music, 150 tracks, made to sit under your reading
cloud accounts, uploads or language models. It runs on your machine
Play, learn, remember
Comprehensive fact mining software that runs on your own PC. No subscription, no AI.
Load a PDF, docx, ePub, LaTeX or plain text file.
The material stays on your computer, and is processed faster than an AI service can do it.
The word extraction is flexible.
Play the game, with hints and multiple clues.
Print it out and do it on the train or the bus, or just take a digital detox.
Share the puzzles with friends, or export images you can post in Discord.
A revision crossword feature lets you revisit the words you skipped, flagged or got wrong.
Spaced repetition replays the difficult words with different clues, timed to when you would otherwise forget them.
Playing with clues
Every screenshot and clip is in the screenshot gallery, the gameplay gallery and the print and export gallery.
See it running
See the software in action. It is a polished, careful game built for quiet study sessions, and very different from the noisy edutainment that is neither fun nor educational. There are no levels to chase and no rewards to collect, so you can just concentrate on your study.
Nothing to import
Anatomy, accounting, aerospace, ancient history, architecture, and onward. Written and checked, sorted by subject, ready the moment you install. Twelve thousand clues across them.
Behind that sits a dictionary of 2.7 million terms and 11.4 million clues. It is an impressive collection of human knowledge, sourced legally without web scraping, book harvesting or AI generation.
Click the stack to turn a page
Paper still works
Print to paper or to PDF. It is a good way to take a digital detox.
You can also export high quality images suitable for sharing on social media. If you are a teacher, they make good laminated activity sheets.
Nothing to import, nothing to prepare
Search by tags such as geology, pharmacology or Shakespearean, and the dictionary tells you how many terms match. Set spelling difficulty, word rareness and how many words you want, then generate. A fresh crossword, drawn from 2.7 million terms and the 11.4 million clues written for them.
Useful when you have twenty minutes and no chapter in front of you.
A hundred and fifty tracks across fifteen albums, composed by Joel Steudler. The game lets you choose study soundtracks from lo-fi, solo piano, acoustic guitar, ambient and zen.
Natural language processing versus AI
We do not push an anti-AI stance. We simply have a better, faster and cheaper product without generative AI, so we use the right tool for the job.
Why it costs what it costs
It is priced so a high school student can justify it out of their own money, and still be using it in their final year of university. My business model is not the bank accounts of concerned parents.
Educational software usually positions itself as being cheaper than a private tutor, and prices accordingly, because it knows a parent will pay for results. This is a fraction of that, with no monthly fee, because the student is our customer.
It is not gamified homework and it is not a substitute for a teacher. There is no classroom licence for the same reason: a crossword is a tool that helps a student organise and perform, not a way to buy back contact hours.
It sells on Steam because the refund policy is generous and the regional pricing is equitable, which keeps it affordable for students all over the world.
Dr Warren Creemers, former lecturer and developer
once, with regional pricing on Steam
On a Mac? A macOS build is on the way. Join the newsletter and you will hear the day it lands.
PDF, docx, ePub, HTML, Markdown, RTF, ODT, LaTeX and plain text.
The same terms with harder clues, so a chapter is worth revisiting.
Revision grids built from what you got wrong, timed to when you would forget it.
Clue sheets and answer keys, in a layout meant to be written on.
No account, no upload, no language model. Your notes never leave the machine.
Colourblind safe palettes, a high contrast mode and dyslexic font support.
Handhelds included. One purchase covers every platform, and macOS is coming.
GLSL shader visuals with quality settings that keep a laptop quiet.
One purchase, on Steam, with regional pricing,
backed by their generous
refund policy.
No subscription. No ads. No account.
Press and media kit
Logos, key art, the trailers, every screenshot and a one-page fact sheet, all cleared for editorial use. Review keys on request, and there is a person on the other end of the email rather than a form.
Fact sheet