We Spelled This City

July 30, 2014 12:40 PM

In Lexicopolis, buildings are constructed from the letters that make them up. Construct buildings by typing words like "HOUSE," "OFFICE," or "PARK."
posted by Iridic (70 comments total)

Note: Give it some time; at first I thought the site was broken, but the game just takes forever to load after the ad plays.
posted by xedrik at 12:45 PM on July 30, 2014

does not accept "cannery". or "cemetary". or "carwash".

does accept "pier". "mosque". "nunnery".
posted by boo_radley at 1:00 PM on July 30, 2014

Does not accept "dairy" or "shul."

Does accept "yurt" and "aviary."
posted by Iridic at 1:02 PM on July 30, 2014

No "whorehouse"? Lame.

Accepted "bowling", though.
posted by Thorzdad at 1:03 PM on July 30, 2014 [2 favorites]

boo_radley: cemetary is spelled cemetery
posted by I-baLL at 1:08 PM on July 30, 2014 [3 favorites]

No "whorehouse"? Lame.

"Brothel" works. Increased my "fun" score by quite a bit, too.
posted by Ufez Jones at 1:09 PM on July 30, 2014

FUCK
posted by boo_radley at 1:09 PM on July 30, 2014 [2 favorites]

(which the game also does not accept)
posted by boo_radley at 1:10 PM on July 30, 2014 [3 favorites]

Looks like you have to think outside the box a little bit to increase your population. After exhausting my first few guesses, I found "jail" and "prison" both add to your population. How they're filling all those excess jobs, though, is anyone's guess.
posted by backseatpilot at 1:11 PM on July 30, 2014

One word: arcology.

#SimCity2K4Eva
posted by Cash4Lead at 1:13 PM on July 30, 2014 [5 favorites]

backseatpilot: "Looks like you have to think outside the box a little bit to increase your population"

Apartment. House. Farm. But not a ghetto or a slum.
posted by boo_radley at 1:14 PM on July 30, 2014

Does accept "tenement", though.
posted by backseatpilot at 1:15 PM on July 30, 2014 [1 favorite]

backseatpilot: "Does accept "tenement", though."

Looks just like an apartment. I put my tenement by the landfill.
posted by boo_radley at 1:17 PM on July 30, 2014

themepark, mausoleum, condominium.

can't think of any q words, though.
posted by supermassive at 1:18 PM on July 30, 2014

Quarry!
posted by backseatpilot at 1:20 PM on July 30, 2014

apparently just 'condo' works as well.
posted by supermassive at 1:20 PM on July 30, 2014

AQUARIUM
posted by boo_radley at 1:20 PM on July 30, 2014

omg thank you
posted by supermassive at 1:22 PM on July 30, 2014

does not accept: abbatoir

does accept: slaughterhouse
posted by Cash4Lead at 1:23 PM on July 30, 2014 [1 favorite]

LIGHTHOUSE is 1x2. useful!
posted by boo_radley at 1:26 PM on July 30, 2014

abbatoir is spelled "abattoir"
posted by Earthtopus at 1:26 PM on July 30, 2014 [1 favorite]

"Square"
posted by Iridic at 1:26 PM on July 30, 2014 [1 favorite]

Does not accept Ashram.

I feel cheated.
posted by The Confessor at 1:27 PM on July 30, 2014 [1 favorite]

abbatoir is spelled "abattoir"

thank you!
posted by Cash4Lead at 1:27 PM on July 30, 2014 [1 favorite]

you can put a lighthouse by the pier to keep airport traffic (or your base by the barracks) running smoothly at night.

The Confessor: "Does not accept Ashram.

I feel cheated."

Pagoda?
posted by boo_radley at 1:27 PM on July 30, 2014

Stupa?
posted by Earthtopus at 1:28 PM on July 30, 2014

Airport
Apartment
Apothecary
Bakery
Bar
Barn
Bridge
Butcher
Car Lot
Chapel
Church
Club
College
Condo
Convent
Diner
Dump
Factory
Ferris Wheel
Fountain
Garage
Garden
Gym
Hospital
Hotel
Hut
Lake
Library
Lighthouse
Motel
Museum
Planetarium
Pond
Pool
Post Office
Quarry
Salon
School
Shack
Shed
Statue
Theater
Track
Yurt

It took pagoda, but my town is too full to drop it anywhere.
posted by box at 1:29 PM on July 30, 2014

Does not accept Ashram.

It does, however, accept "pyramid" and "ziggurat".
posted by Cash4Lead at 1:30 PM on July 30, 2014

duplex for those xes.

oh my god, this game is complete nerdnip.

hangar
silo
synagogue
posted by boo_radley at 1:32 PM on July 30, 2014 [1 favorite]

Stupa!
posted by Earthtopus at 1:34 PM on July 30, 2014

I love that this game is apparently set in a world where there are no zoning laws and NIMBYs do not exist. Put a prison next to a school? Sure! Encircle a mosque with breweries, or a cathedral with brothels? Go for it! Put a mansion next to an airport? Knock yourself out!
posted by Cash4Lead at 1:35 PM on July 30, 2014 [6 favorites]

university
planetarium
skyscraper
mountain
forest
preserve
zoo
court
gallery
forum
temple
camp
fire
cabin
hydrant
tower
ranch
winery
posted by Cash4Lead at 1:38 PM on July 30, 2014 [1 favorite]

beach
lab
posted by supermassive at 1:40 PM on July 30, 2014 [1 favorite]

I went with the aesthetically smart, strategically unsound move of crowding my MARINA, PIER, LAKE, POND, POOL, BRIDGE, and AQUARIUM in the same quadrant.
posted by Iridic at 1:40 PM on July 30, 2014

dock
posted by supermassive at 1:41 PM on July 30, 2014

box: "Ferris Wheel"

rollercoaster!
posted by boo_radley at 1:44 PM on July 30, 2014

TARDIS works.

TARDIS, people!
posted by tonycpsu at 1:44 PM on July 30, 2014 [3 favorites]

tent
posted by Adridne at 1:47 PM on July 30, 2014

helipad
diner
restaurant (same thing)
depot
station
subway
train station
bus stop
posted by Cash4Lead at 1:49 PM on July 30, 2014

mall
lot
yard
field
posted by Cash4Lead at 1:51 PM on July 30, 2014

"Trailer" is nice and skinny. So is "clocktower."
posted by Iridic at 1:56 PM on July 30, 2014

My palace overlooks the arboretum and the menagerie.
posted by Iridic at 1:59 PM on July 30, 2014 [1 favorite]

My piazza is between my igloo and my teepee.
posted by tempestuoso at 2:04 PM on July 30, 2014 [1 favorite]

'Bench' is 1x1!
posted by supermassive at 2:09 PM on July 30, 2014

Also, 'arcade'.
posted by supermassive at 2:10 PM on July 30, 2014

This is interesting. A while back I had an idea for a 3D FPS game (not necessarily a shooter), that used a rendering engine that used words as the textures. The words would change depending on zoom level - that is - if you're looking at forest from far away, you see "forest over the whole thing - then zoom and see "trees" and then closers, trunk, leaves, then closer - branches twigs, etc...

I imagined some sort of play around Platonic idealism and Logos. Not sure how it would play, and I think it would be a herculean task to properly pull it off in a way that makes sense and is expandable enough to allow for a wide range of objects and expandability...
posted by symbioid at 2:26 PM on July 30, 2014 [3 favorites]

These worked for me:

bungalow
cottage
orchard
court
arena
cinema

marina and port maps to the same image
posted by julen at 2:40 PM on July 30, 2014

a station is 2x1
posted by boo_radley at 2:41 PM on July 30, 2014

Geez, no manor?
posted by tonycpsu at 2:44 PM on July 30, 2014

skyscraper is tall and skinny.
newsstand
cart
phonebooth is 1x1 (and is different than tardis!)
racetrack (same as arena?)

doesn't like disco, colonial, or rave.
posted by ApathyGirl at 2:45 PM on July 30, 2014

hovel
posted by ckape at 2:45 PM on July 30, 2014 [1 favorite]

Windmills...

Such sublime spinning.
posted by PROD_TPSL at 2:45 PM on July 30, 2014

My town is sorely lacking in fun.
The brothels aren't helping enough.
Why doesn't VEGAS work?
pls halp.
posted by ApathyGirl at 3:27 PM on July 30, 2014

Looks like you have to think outside the box a little bit to increase your population.

'Flat' works.
posted by ultraviolet catastrophe at 3:27 PM on July 30, 2014 [1 favorite]

Castle!
posted by queensissy at 3:34 PM on July 30, 2014

I'm fashioning my city after Le Corbousier's criminally under-appreciated Plan Voisin for the leveling and rational reconstruction of Paris.
posted by Flashman at 3:41 PM on July 30, 2014

The amazing thing about an arcology is that once you can build one, they're so large as to guarantee the letters to make another. They're almost self-sustaining.
posted by boo_radley at 3:54 PM on July 30, 2014

My town has a cyclotron, so it is obviously superior to your town.
posted by ckape at 4:04 PM on July 30, 2014

I rooted around and found this page that has a pretty extensive list. I quite liked maze.
posted by msbutah at 4:10 PM on July 30, 2014 [1 favorite]

Arch
Colosseum
Courthouse
Dam
Dorm
Fair
Loft
Market
Playground
posted by julen at 4:14 PM on July 30, 2014

Knacker's Yard!
posted by Flashman at 4:31 PM on July 30, 2014

biodome (fair warning, it's quite large)
posted by Tsuga at 4:46 PM on July 30, 2014

Amusement Park
Golf Course
posted by ob1quixote at 5:23 PM on July 30, 2014

castle.

It is across from the royal forest and right around the corner from the brothel.
posted by tivalasvegas at 7:10 PM on July 30, 2014

Biergarten works!
posted by annekate at 7:27 PM on July 30, 2014 [2 favorites]

This is awesome, thanks!

I'd be interested to see a listing of how much each of the various buildings are worth. Finding the most efficient combination of buildings would be a fun challenge.

For example park+condo+museum+castle+office gives you a nice balanced 30 each of pop/jobs/fun, and a decent spread of letters. But 3 Cs out of 27 letters probably isn't sustainable.
posted by equalpants at 9:55 PM on July 30, 2014

more: cave, mine, fort, chalet, flag, opera, gate, dome, trail, casino, plant and power plant and mill, bookstore, inn, estate, hall, mint, junkyard
posted by julen at 2:45 AM on July 31, 2014

Yeshiva also works, and it gets rid of some less common letters.
posted by jonp72 at 4:37 AM on July 31, 2014

Heh. Quonset.
posted by Iridic at 9:12 AM on July 31, 2014

Don't think I've seen circus (good for fun, I put mine next to the military base and the orphanage) or villa.
posted by Athanassiel at 11:52 PM on August 1, 2014