Scrabulicious!
So wherein lies the fate of Scrabulous, the mega-popular Scrabble clone on Facebook? The short answer: it's fine. The longer answer: it's in for a backhanded and strange battle.
Since its 2007 launch on Facebook, Scrabulous attracts over 600,000 users per day. When Hasbro and Mattel, owners of Scrabble, threatened to shut it down over copyright infringement, users went cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs and threatened never to buy Hasbro or Mattel products ever again.
In March, RealNetworks (makers of all things "real," such as RealAudio and RealVideo) vowed to join hands with the makers of Scrabulous and save the game. In April, RealNetworks launched a new Facebook application: Scrabble by Mattel.
Okayyyy.
As of Sunday, Scrabble by Mattel had 2,000 hits. Scrabulous had 600,000+. Though it's still in beta, Scrabble by Mattel has been hounded with various complaints.
Facebook Scrabble takes a long time to load, does not always quickly update to show recent moves, and the words the game will accept do not reflect standard Scrabble dictionaries, or even the English language. In a recent game, for example, Scrabble by Mattel accepted "feen" and "ami" but not "zen." There is no way to challenge opponents' moves at this time.
So where will this go? Only time will tell. But this is a pretty clear exercise of the credo "Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer."
Scrabble Tries to Fight a Popular Impostor at Its Own Game [NYT]
NeonMadman
Posted to In the News, On Your Desk on 7 April 2008
· Comments (4)
Other stuff like this: Facebook, scrabble, scrabulous
3D iPhone glasses. Why?
AHA! So that's your game, RealNetworks. "We're going to help Scrabulous survive by making REAL Scrabble, and doing it ass backwards!" Sneaky, but effective and worthy of praise.
I refuse to play a word game that insists bitchslap isn't a real word.
/agree Dennis
I love Scrabulous. It's like my surrogate mom. It's there for me when I need it and patient when I don't. Only it doesn't put in the basement at night.