Facebook, whose population is now nearly half the size of the US (it hit 150 million this week, according to the company's blog), is definitely different strokes for different folks. Shortly after I joined, I ran into Ruthie, an old friend from my days in England, who told me that she mainly used Facebook for Scrabulous. I looked it up and soon I was hooked too. As was my friend Judy, with whom I'm played more than one game of Scrabble "in real," both of us having been trained at our mothers' boards, she better than I. Judy is one of the truly great Scrabble players--and she's relentlessly competitive. I rarely if ever win when playing her - or nearly anyone else. For a writer, I'm really not very good at word games.
Well, that didn't last long, the Scrabulous, that is. As I reported with a long face last July, Hasbro took offense and, poof, Scrabulous was gone (see the detailed history in Wikipedia, which no doubt has inaccuracies). In its place from the same developers came Wordscraper, which for me at least didn't compare. Nor did the Hasbro's version of real-Scrabble, with a clunky interface and lacking Scrabulous's functionality.
Now today all of us Scrab-devotees received this message on Facebook from the Indian developer-brothers of this terrific time-waster.
Our game was disabled on Facebook for some time as we were engaged inresolving some legal matters. We are now pleased to provide you withan improved game - LEXULOUS - that you can enjoy in peace with friendsfrom ALL COUNTRIES for free!
Your games in progress, statistics, and messages have been preserved. Good luck, and here's wishing you a very happy 2009 :)
Warm Regards,
Rajat & Jayant Agarwalla
And so, with thanks to Rajat and Jayant and their crack legal team, I resume this game with Judy, who current score aside, will definitely beat me once more: