# Spell the Beans — spilled coffee, witty wordplay

> Unique word-building game with dynamic letter placement and varied play modes. (iPhone/iPad app by Bradley Stanton.)

- Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/spell-the-beans/id1457163103 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`)
- Developer: [Bradley Stanton](https://appshunter.io/developer/1457163102)
- Category: Games, Puzzle, Word
- Price: $0.99
- Rating: 4.50/5 from 4 App Store ratings · 2 written reviews indexed
- Age rating: 12+
- Requires: iOS 12.0 · 20 MB
- Languages: American English
- Released: 2019-07-01
- Data updated: 2026-08-24
- Monetization: paid
- User reviews in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/spell-the-beans/id1457163103/reviews.md

## What is Spell the Beans?

Tired of word games that fall into the same old patterns? This game won't. Trust us.

Spill a handful of slightly magical coffee beans, and as letters come up, put them in any bean you choose. As you place more letters, you create words in every direction, including a lot you weren't even looking for. We keep track of your words and score so you can focus on where you put the letters.

Besides beans, you can drop letters into bubbles of spilled hot coffee if even more jam-packed jumbled fun is your cup of tea. Or slow the pace with colored candy hearts, where shorter words carry more weight. Our fourth variation, 8-Spot, forces you to adapt by "spotting" randomly pre-placed letters in fixed locations, taking you slightly out of your comfort zone. The latest mode, Cyrano, chooses three special random letters that boost the score of any word you put them in.

What's outside the box about Spell the Beans? For one thing, you're building words, not simply finding them. You place letters as they come up one at a time, anticipating what might come, in a randomly spilled pattern that's different every time, as opposed to facing a fixed grid pre-filled with letters from the start. This game is anything but repetitive.

The letters, hearts, bubbles and beans spill deliciously differently every time, making each game a fresh challenge. Or a sandbox of see-what-happens finger-fidgeting, if it's been that kind of day. You can play the no-look challenge and you'll be hard-pressed not to score. Or use your wits to create a web frankly teeming with words. Think as much or as little as you want. Pour spelling either way.

Spell the Beans. Come for the coffee. Stay for the play.


Features:

• Carefully roasted blend of letters – This is not your grandparents' RSTLNE. We're confident no one has quite this fine-tuned mix. You’ll love the difference.

• Endless variation in random bean, bubble and heart patterns – Never face the same setup twice. Get your cognitive shuffle here. And just leave the spilling and cleanup to us. The leading soft, absorbent paper towel not required.

• Scoring in any direction - any connected beans, bubbles or hearts can make a word. Literally lateral thinking. People love getting words they didn't even see coming. Great spelling is optional.

• Play alone or against Blu Yonder, an opponent who’ll always keep you on your toes. Sometimes beatable, often unbelievable. Always Blu.

• Fifty color schemes to choose from. Intuitive interface lets you drag anywhere to highlight word locations easily.

## Key features

- Dynamic letter placement into beans, bubbles, or hearts
- Words created in any direction
- Multiple game modes (8-Spot, Cyrano, etc.)
- AI opponent (Blu Yonder)
- Fifty color schemes
- Intuitive drag-and-highlight interface

## Recent user reviews (2 of 2)

All indexed reviews: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/spell-the-beans/id1457163103/reviews.md

### 3/5 — Fun game….when it’s not lagging

*2021-07-08*

Like the game but it has a large lag time problem,and, it just…quits working. 
I bought the game because I could, according to Apple play it offline.  But the lag time during less than optimum connectivity (such as traveling through mountainous terrain) leads me to believe it was falsely advertised.  But then again I am now traveling in an urban environment and still issues persist.
Fortunately, it cost less than a cup of coffee so, I will put up with the quirks.
I don’t think this review will be seen as it is well below 5*’s and those get buried deep.

**Developer response:** We’re very sorry the app has acted up on you this way. Just a couple of points to mention, and then a heads up to everyone on the current version.

The app does not use any internet communication at all. You’ll find it works the same in airplane mode as not in airplane mode. Please give it a try. 

What were the circumstances when the slowness happened? In particular, which variation were you playing, Spell the Beans (where beans appear), or Spell the Coffee (with spilled liquid coffee)?

The occasional sluggishness we’ve seen in testing, which we mention in both the app’s user guide and our website FAQ, has been when playing the Spell the Coffee variation.

If it happens in Spell the Coffee, it may be related to the fact that as you tap to place letters in bubbles, the app is simultaneously working to create the next game’s spill and bubble pattern beforehand so it will show instantly when you finish and press New Game (if you press New Game before you finish a game, or under certain other conditions, the app abandons the pre-creation and will start creating a new spill from scratch, which takes time). 

As yet, despite exhaustive work, we don’t know why this only happens in some instances, but we may decide to forego simultaneous pre-creation and always wait until a game is finished to start creating a new liquid spill. That would mean waiting from 2 to several seconds after every game for a new spill, but also no sluggishness when placing letters. We could also disable the liquid spill variation until we find an answer, though that would take some variety away from the game. We haven’t seen this behavior in the bean variation (the pre-creation math is simpler), so you may want to stick with the beans for now. 

At any rate, as mentioned in the user guide and website FAQ, if the app should become sluggish or unresponsive, etc., there are two options: 1) use the app switcher (drag up from the bottom of the screen, hold, and release on devices without a physical home button; or double-tap the home button on pre-iPhone X devices) to find and flick the app’s screen image upward and out of the background. This will cause the app to reopen (in the state you last used it) next time you open it; or 2) in intractable cases, delete and re-download/re-install the app (re-downloading is always free of charge). Simply tapping New Game when your letters take a long time to appear in bubbles may also help. 

As a post-script to everyone, we just tested out the latest version more thoroughly than before and find that it’s acting very erratically on both iPhone and iPad, with behavior this user (reviewer) didn’t even mention, though it may be related. We don’t know at what point this behavior crept in (these things happen despite the best of efforts. Things that were fine before stop working between versions for any number of reasons, even when the only intended change was an edit to some text), but if you haven’t updated to the latest version (1.3.9), it’s probably better not to. Just playing the bean variation does seem to be okay. Please bear with us as we try to sort this out. Thank you so much, everyone.

### 5/5 — Love it!

*2019-07-30*

Super addicting.

## Frequently asked questions about Spell the Beans

### What is Spell the Beans?

Spell the Beans is a word game where you place letters as they appear into various containers like beans or bubbles to form words in any direction. It offers a unique gameplay experience distinct from traditional word-finding games.

### How does Spell the Beans differ from other word games?

Unlike games with fixed grids, Spell the Beans features a dynamic, randomly spilled pattern of letters that you place one by one. This approach ensures each game is a fresh challenge and encourages building words rather than just finding them.

### What are the different game modes in Spell the Beans?

Spell the Beans offers several modes, including placing letters in beans, bubbles, or candy hearts with different scoring rules. It also features '8-Spot' which requires adapting to pre-placed letters and 'Cyrano' which uses bonus letters for higher scores.

### Can I play Spell the Beans against someone else?

Yes, Spell the Beans includes an AI opponent named Blu Yonder, designed to provide a challenging and engaging experience. The game is primarily designed for single-player engagement with this AI.

### What devices does Spell the Beans support?

Spell the Beans is available on iPhone, iPad, and iPod. It is designed to run on Apple's mobile operating systems.

### What is the price of Spell the Beans?

Spell the Beans is a paid application, priced at $1.69. This one-time purchase grants you access to the full game without any additional in-app purchases.

### How often is Spell the Beans updated?

The latest version of Spell the Beans is 1.7.5, and it was last updated on May 1, 2025. This indicates a relatively active development cycle for the game.

### What is the age rating for Spell the Beans?

Spell the Beans has an age rating of 12+. This suggests the content is suitable for players aged 12 and above.

## Version history (last 5 releases)

### 1.7.5 — 2025-05-01

Edited the wordlist. Welcome to, among others, scalaron, gyrotron, jouska, barndominium and ignorosphere.

### 1.7.4 — 2025-01-05

Addressed compliance with Apple changes. Please note the app no longer supports iOS 11. We also added more new words to the word list. Among others, now allowed for your scoring pleasure are wingsuiting, agrivoltaics, bargoer, churnalism, grolar, pizzly, zatrikion, hyperforeignism, kyawthuite, typosquatting, petrostate and sonoluminescence. And a pizzly in a pear tree.

### 1.7.3 — 2024-10-22

More additions to the acceptable wordlist. Recent edits added scorigami, spaving, nanodisc, kettlebell, semiquincentennial, jaffle, mukbang, glaciologist, and skyquake. Note: Version 1.7.2 may have been uploaded in a state that wouldn't open properly. Version 1.7.3 is in the proper state.

### 1.7.2 — 2024-10-16

Added new words to the acceptable wordlist, including scorigami, spaving, nanodisc, kettlebell, semiquincentennial, jaffle, mukbang, glaciologist, and skyquake.

### 1.7.1 — 2024-09-24

Besides making additions to the wordlist, we found an issue that only seemed to come up in Apple's iOS simulator, not on actual devices, but just in case, we're including a fix. It had to do with reopening the app if it left the background after a completed game. It all came down to the little asterisk you see after placing the last letter.

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## More apps by Bradley Stanton

- [Twysp](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/twysp/id6751572559)

All apps by Bradley Stanton: https://appshunter.io/developer/1457163102

## Related topics

[spill the beanz](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/spill-the-beanz)

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*Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-08-24.*