Have you looked at getjar, http://www.getjar.com/software? They allow you to limit the number of beta tester downloads.

I haven't had them beta test anything of mine, but some developers speak highly of the service in this thread: http://www.j2me.org/yabbse/index.php?board=11;action=display;threadid=3710

You can download a trial version of Lexi from my website, or from Handango or GetJar.com. (You can play 25 games, with almost all of the functions available.)

I am not making the source code available, but I'd be happy to answer any questions about the design and coding techniques I used.

In developing my J2ME word-building game Lexi, I came up against all the questions you mention - and many others besides!

So far I have used the drawString method to put letters on the display, but for my next release I will be using an image file. The main reason is that you can get the letters to be exactly the size you want, and know it will be the same regardless of phone model. As a side-benefit, it makes the game look more distinctive. One other advantage is that you can find a font whose letters are very easy to recognize - on many Nokia phones, the capital J in the medium-sized font looks like an I.

For things like your grid dimensions, make sure you use variables rather than literals, so it is easier to change later.

You didn't mention what version of MIDP you are using or what devices you are aiming at, but I would say one of your problems if you are going to allow 5-letter words in your game might be fitting a decent word list into your JAR file.

I haven't tried mixing 1.1 and 1.4 code, but "-target 1.1" when you compile should ensure the applet can run under the Microsoft JVM.

Hope this helps.