The puzzle game Colorwood Words, developed in 2024 by the Ukrainian IT company Burny Games, has rocketed to the top of the game charts in Ukraine’s App Store for iPhone — surpassing global hits like Among Us and Roblox. Notably, this success came shortly after the game was fully localized into Ukrainian. At the end of June 2025, Colorwood Words was neck-and-neck with the legendary Among Us for first place. Burny Games shared the news with Scroll.media.

«We’ve seen elements of our games pop up in competitors’ projects — and we’ve always taken it as a compliment to our team. Although, of course, our lawyer had a different opinion,» says Burny Games CEO Anatolii Henis. «But topping the Ukrainian App Store and landing in the top 5 on Google Play speak for themselves: players see us as a quality product. That’s what drives us. We put a lot of love into creating the Ukrainian version — and it paid off. I hope our example inspires other Ukrainian developers to make games for Ukrainians too.»

About Colorwood Words

• Colorwood Words is a cryptogram-style puzzle game with a warm wooden visual style and an educational twist. Players decipher sentences by inserting missing letters.
• The game was recently fully localized into Ukrainian — from the interface and marketing assets to a huge dictionary packed with memes, idioms, and local cultural references.
• According to the developers, the magic is that the game «speaks» Ukrainian — with humor, familiar expressions, and deep cultural context. Players can decode meme quotes, discover Yevhen Klopotenko’s borscht recipe, or even pick up a few choice swear words — all in a light, gamified format. Modern symbols of Ukrainian irony make appearances too, from the infamous orgy on Shchekavytsia Hill to the iconic «Putin — khuylo.»

Burny Games credits this thoughtful Ukrainianization as a key factor in the game’s success.

• As of July 2025, Colorwood Words has been downloaded nearly 2 million times. Just weeks after the launch of the Ukrainian version, downloads in Ukraine hit 70,000. The most active cities include Kyiv, Lviv, Dnipro, Odesa, Kharkiv, Vinnytsia, and Ternopil.
• Interestingly, the game’s main audience is still international with top players in the US, Germany, the UK, Canada, and France. Although the Ukrainian market is rarely seen as profitable due to its low ARPU, Burny Games says this story proves that when content is hyper-localized, it resonates.

«Content is everything — it decides how fun the game is and whether players want to come back. The Ukrainian version sparks strong emotions because it’s filled with things that feel real to our players. Colorwood Words is balanced in every way: thoughtful, uncluttered design, our cheerful assistant Nana Banana, and seven original ambient tracks to enhance the experience. The results — and that number-one spot — show that focusing on quality was the right move,» says Mariia Myronenko, producer of Colorwood Words.

• Next up, the team plans to adapt Colorwood Words for new markets. Localized campaigns for Turkey, Spain, and other countries are in the works — each version will «speak» the local language, tone, and vibe.
• Colorwood Words was built in a record-breaking 50 working days, and since its launch, the game’s retention rate has doubled. The team keeps things fresh with new events, special levels, and timely content updates. Each language version now has over 1,000 levels; the English version boasts more than 2,000.
• The game is available on the App Store and Google Play.

About Burny Games 

• Founded in 2022, Burny Games is a Ukrainian product company specializing in mobile puzzle games. Its flagship title, Colorwood Sort, has racked up 26 million downloads with over 50% first-day retention. Other hits include Colorwood Words, Colorwood Blocks, and Playdoku.
• Since its founding, Burny Games has become one of Ukraine’s most dynamic mobile game studios. As of May 2025, the company’s total downloads exceeded 48 million, with 5 million monthly active players. In 2024 alone, revenue grew fivefold. The team now numbers 120 specialists.
• Earlier this year, Burny Games held an internal AI-powered prototype hackathon, producing 21 new game prototypes in just 14 days.