I didn’t truly appreciate Facebook applications until a few weeks ago. With the first applications I was interested but skeptical. I installed a few and ended up deleting most after discovering they were either pointless, or just didn’t work.
That is, until I found Scrabulous.
To give this some background, a few months ago Atari games sold the digital rights for Scrabble, Monopoly, Battleship, Boggle and Yahtzee back to Hasbro for 19.5 Million dollars. Most users of the site and games didn’t care about the money – all we cared about was that we could no longer play the games online. Many players were just like me – we only played Scrabble. Yes, I am a nerd. After work, I thoroughly enjoy watching the news, eating dinner, and playing a game of Scrabble.
Though it wasn’t heard by many, the Hasbro deal caused significant uproar in this particular gaming community. Users went through withdrawal – the comment threads were filled with anger and disappointment.
But now, the Facebook application “Scrabulous” has muffled those mutterings of disappointment. Though it is not perfect, by Facebook’s own admission it is probably one of the best and most popular applications available. I enjoy it for a few reasons: you can play with anyone -- friends or strangers; you, or the other user(s) don’t have to be online to be participating in a game, and finally, there are three speeds – slow, medium, and fast. "Slow" is perfect for users like me who only log on to Facebook once or twice a day. So you can log on, make a move, and log right back out. You can also play as many games at once as you like!
There are still a few issues with it, namely this screen that appears quite often when you try to go to an active game.
But after refreshing, it usually connects with no problem. It is easy to use, fun to play, and connects people, both strangers and friends, in a great way. I am actually amazed at how many friends from high school, whom I haven’t spoken with in years, have recently challenged me to a game of Scrabble.
So I have found at least one Facebook application that I know I’ll keep. Hopefully the developers will fix the few bugs to make it even better. And to all of you word lovers out there, I say bring it on!
