Letterpress is a new Words With Friends-style game that threatens to take over your life

Letterpress is out now on iOS devices for free, and if you have even the slightest affection for words, then it's most definitely worth your attention. Frankly, you should get it immediately.

But, before we explain why, it's worth pointing out to you the fellow behind this new iOS word game.

You see, Letterpress has been developed by Loren Brichter, the man who created the Tweetie application for Mac and iOS.

Twitter was so impressed by Brichter's Twitter client that the microblogging site bought the Tweetie apps in 2010 and converted them into the OS X and iOS apps you use on your phones today.

Brichter then left Twitter to work on his "backlog of ideas". And thank goodness he did, for the excellent Letterpress is the first fruit of his solo labour.

Letterpress works in a similar way to Zynga's incredibly popular Scrabble-esque title Words With Friends. So, it's an asynchronous multiplayer experience - powered by Game Center - in which you play against friends (or strangers if you don't have any).

You are presented with a 5x5 grid of letters from which you can freely pick to create words, in a similar way to Boggle or Scramble With Friends (Zynga's other addictive word game).

However, the main - and it is genius - twist is that the letter you use is marked with your colour on the grid after you choose it. The player with the most coloured tiles at the end of the game is declared the victor.

All letters are up for grabs, unless you cannily manage to entirely surround a square with your designated colour, thus rendering it unusable by your opponent.

It's highly strategic, and if you insist on picking out the biggest, most complex words with no regard for tactics, then you will probably lose... regardless of your anagram-solving prowess.

In addition to boasting more-than-solid gameplay foundations, Letterpress is rather easy on the eye. The menus are sleek and simple, and are accompanied by the sort of gentle pops and clicks that will definitely satisfy your button-pressing desires.

All of this is available for free, although you can pay 69p to unlock more pretty colour themes and, more importantly, to gain the ability to play more than two people at any one time.

If you're anything like us, impatience will see you reaching for your virtual wallet in no time, but it's nice to have the choice.