Scrabulous returns as Wordscraper (allegedly): it looks awful!
With Scrabulous (North America) pulled from Facebook this week, the creators have returned with Wordscraper, which bears a passing resemblance to the original tile-based word formation game.
According to creators Jayant and Rajat Agarwalla, Wordscaper is “the only game on Facebook that allows you to play the game the way you want to! With Wordscraper you can build your own board and try out whacky combinations with special high value squares.
The game is turn based, so you need not be online for very long periods. Plus, we also give you the option to store a board layout. This saves time when you want to play new games with the same layout.”
(Screenshot from Software Headlines)
The first thing that comes to mind — or eye — is that it looks horrible. I’m sorry, but in an effort to differentiate it from that other game that’s causing all the legal problems, they’ve created an eyesore.
The idea of creating your own layouts isn’t bad, granted, but I’m betting that the main reason for adding these new features is to further separate it from the game that used to be produced in the UK by Waddingtons.
For now, it’s the only way to play pseudo-Scrabble with North American friends, though us Europeans can still play Scrabulous, and enjoy the original knockoff in all its glory. The brothers don’t appear to be cross-promoting the new application in Facebook, as this could be used against them in court. Instead they’re relying on all this media attention, and it seems to be working.
It’s an interesting new twist on the whole saga, but I can’t help thinking that if Hasbro hadn’t been such [seven letter word, starts with W, rhymes with another word for a group of city financiers] we could have had a decent online version of the original SCRABBLE (there, I’ve said it… sue me) without all this fuss.
Wordscraper (via Yahoo!)
Related posts: Scrabulous removed from North American Facebook | Scrabble versus Scrabulous
6 comments
The design is not breath taking but I enjoy a game or two every night after work.
My results the first day I played were pathetic. I have forgotten to use my brain.
It was difficult to get used to the board at first but the game is good.
Too bad I don’t visit Facebook often. I love that game.
I prefer to play in the old-fashioned way – on a bog board on the floor.
It would be good to be able to make my own lay outs, though it’s hard to look at it for a long time.
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