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Paperback Vol. 2

A novel deck-building game

Ratings

Age

4+

Category

Card

Languages

English

Paperback Vol. 2 is the digital evolution of the acclaimed deck-building word game. Players start with a small deck of basic letters and must spell words to earn money. This money is used to buy more powerful letters, many with unique abilities that help you spell longer words or gain extra points. Compete against an advanced AI or other players in this strategic battle of wits and vocabulary.

Dinsun Expert Review

Our Expert Score

85/100

Paperback Vol 2 is a dream come true for fans of deck-building and word games. It takes the solid foundation of the original and adds much more variety with new cards and a significantly improved AI. The loop of 'spelling words to buy better letters' is fundamentally satisfying because it rewards both your vocabulary and your strategic planning. It’s 'Slay the Spire' meets 'Scrabble.'

The art style remains fantastic, leaning into the pulp-novel aesthetic that gives the series its name. The mobile interface is clean and works perfectly for a turn-based game. It’s challenging without being frustrating, and the sense of power progression as you build a deck that can regularly produce 10-letter words is immense. For anyone who wants a brainy, deep, and polished word game, this is the gold standard.

Dinsun reviewed on: Fri Feb 27 2026

Features

1

Strategic deck-building mechanics

2

Advanced AI opponents

3

Stunning pulp novel art

4

Online multiplayer support

5

Deep vocabulary challenges

Tips & Walkthrough

Gameplays

Screenshot

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Q&A

No, Vol 2 is a standalone experience that improves on the mechanics of the first game.

Ratings & Reviews

New fonts
Thu Jun 26 2025 UncleMatch

The balloon fonts have made this game unplayable. Some don’t even fit in the card. The option ‘vol 1 font’ controls this? But can’t turn it off. Update; I contacted support about the font and not long after he made a change and the font issue was fixed. It’s back to being playable and I’ve changed my rating to reflect.

Great Deckbuilding twist
Sun Nov 16 2025 Vince Moulton

I just discovered this game, so I’m still getting used to it, but I really like it. I was looking for another deck builder in addition to Dominion and Ascension that wasn’t about combat. Like the other two games, this is all about building up the deck to purchase victory points (which in this are novels), but instead of just playing cards, it’s all about making words.

There are lots of options which change the difficulty and bring in elements that add variety, and in addition to online and local play, I love the fact that I can play a game all by myself - great practice for learning how the game works.

I want to emphasize that I’m really happy the vendor made this game work with the Mac - that’s what I actually bought it on, though of course that means I also have it for my iPhone and iPad. This is not a common thing for vendors to do, and it should be commended and encouraged.

So overall, a great game if you like deckbuilding and scrabble!

Great fun solo, but disappointed with multiplayer
Mon Apr 29 2024 Mr-Gibs

After really enjoying playing solo, I talked my wife into getting this app so we could play against each other. Rather than the engaging experience from the solo game, where I could watch every move my AI opponents would make, as they made them - multiplayer just pops up a plain text message “your opponent is making a move” and you wait, bored, until they finish. Thought it was going to be fun, instead it was dull. What a wasted opportunity.

Needs some work
Sun May 07 2023 Zheiden

Overall, I was stoked to have the implementation of expansion options, but…there are numerous crash bugs making it unplayable…70% of the time. Computer players lock up when trying to make a word. This has appeared with more cards on hand, not fewer. Computer players (smarter AI) have not made words, or have made suboptimal choices. The first is more problematic than the second. After watching them make ‘FA’ or ‘SH’, I question them missing ‘THE’ or SO’. Computer players lock up while buying letters. I appreciate being able to skip their turn, but that just gets the game moving. It does not solve underlying issues. Finally, similar to PAPERBACK VOL1., the double score adjacency bonus does not always work. Again, thanks for putting the work in. Some more tweaks will get it where it needs to be. Mike

Crashing recently
Sat Mar 29 2025 ElizabethNugent

I play the co-op game solo a lot, but recently it started randomly getting itself into a freeze state where the only way I have found to get out is to quit the app and then start a new game. (There was a different freeze it used to do that you could get out of by quitting and restarting, but that didn’t work with the new behavior.) It’s super frustrating when you are doing well and then it hangs.

Game vs programming
Sun Jan 29 2023 Solomonj555

The game is 5 stars in concept. Brilliant! Daily, the program freezes unpredictably on AI opponent “finding a word.” AI makes ridiculous fame card buying choices in coop mode, regardless of level of AI. If you set three AI to play against each other, an error occurs in every other game. Glitches are too everpresent for such a good game. I’ll revisit this rating if new versions fix things

Great Game but Terrible App
Sat May 13 2023 Zachary Apps

There are so many things wrong with this app. GUI is awkwardly laid out. Some buttons are way smaller than they should be. Push notifications don’t work for online games. Some of the effects on cards like the “Make an adjacent card wild” don’t always work. There have also been a few very legitimate words that the game rejects. Glad I own the physical game and also glad I got the app for free.

Refuses to work
Fri Jun 03 2022 J puzzle guy

I have created an account, but it will not run until I do something with a “confirmation” email message. Except that the message never arrives. Same problem for my friend; the problem is on their end. Further evidence of the publisher’s lack of programming skill: The message displayed when the app pretends to send the “confirmation” email is “password reset sent” (referring to an action button I did NOT press).

Some Youtube Videos found!

News found!

Novel word game Paperback gets another mobile game versionNovel word game Paperback gets another mobile game version

Paperback Vol 2 is a digital board game based on the card game in which players attempt to score the most points possible by creating words using the letters...

Dicebreaker Fri Jul 29 2022

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