Zynga launching Words With Friends on Facebook

By Mike Flacy August 1, 2011

Words-With-Friends — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Makers of the extremely popular FarmVille, Zynga is bringing the mobile gaming hit Word With Friends to audiences on the Web. Extremely similar to Hasbro’s Scrabble, Words With Friends is a relaxed version of the word game with built-in chat functions similar to the recently launched Hanging With Friends. The mobile version of the game allows players to sync Facebook accounts to the in-game friend list and players can challenge people on the list to play a quick match. The Web version of Words With Friends allows for cross-platform play as well as trading comments about the game on the Facebook wall.

Players also have the ability to send notifications to other players when waiting on a player to take a turn in the game. Players can be involved in up to 20 games at a time simultaneously as most matches typically take ten to fourteen days to complete. While Words With Friends hasn’t launched on the PC platform yet, it’s rumored to roll out within the next two weeks. It’s also likely that another update to the mobile software of the game will roll out to allows for Facebook notifications. Anyone interested in the game can “Like” the official Words With Friends Facebook page to receive a notification of launch.

It’s possible Zynga will come under the same scrutiny as another company that built and launched Scrabulous on Facebook on 2006. Before FarmVille was launched, Scrabulous was often referred to as the most popular game on Facebook with over 500,000 active players each day. During the height of its popularity on Facebook, the game was generating $25,000 a month in advertising revenue. The popularity caught the attention of Hasbro, the makers of Scrabble. After a lawsuit in 2008, Scrabulous was forced to shut down. The owners of the application and website relaunched under the name Lexulous, but didn’t regain the massively popularity of Scrabulous.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics

Contributing Editor

By day, I'm the content and social media manager for High-Def Digest, Steve's Digicams and The CheckOut on Ben's Bargains…

Gaming

NYT Strands today: hints, spangram and answers for Wednesday, May 22

Strands is a brand new daily puzzle from the New York Times. A trickier take on the classic word search, you'll need a keen eye to solve this puzzle.

Like Wordle, Connections, and the Mini Crossword, Strands can be a bit difficult to solve some days. There's no shame in needing a little help from time to time. If you're stuck and need to know the answers to today's Strands puzzle, check out the solved puzzle below.
How to play Strands
You start every Strands puzzle with the goal of finding the "theme words" hidden in the grid of letters. Manipulate letters by dragging or tapping to craft words; double-tap the final letter to confirm. If you find the correct word, the letters will be highlighted blue and will no longer be selectable.

Gaming

NYT Connections: hints and answers for Wednesday, May 22

Connections is the latest puzzle game from the New York Times. The game tasks you with categorizing a pool of 16 words into four secret (for now) groups by figuring out how the words relate to each other. The puzzle resets every night at midnight and each new puzzle has a varying degree of difficulty. Just like Wordle, you can keep track of your winning streak and compare your scores with friends.

Some days are trickier than others. If you're having a little trouble solving today's Connections puzzle, check out our tips and hints below. And if you still can't get it, we'll tell you today's answers at the very end.
How to play Connections
In Connections, you'll be shown a grid containing 16 words — your objective is to organize these words into four sets of four by identifying the connections that link them. These sets could encompass concepts like titles of video game franchises, book series sequels, shades of red, names of chain restaurants, etc.

Gaming

NYT Mini Crossword today: puzzle answers for Wednesday, May 22

Love crossword puzzles but don't have all day to sit and solve a full-sized puzzle in your daily newspaper? That's what The Mini is for!

A bite-sized version of the New York Times' well-known crossword puzzle, The Mini is a quick and easy way to test your crossword skills daily in a lot less time (the average puzzle takes most players just over a minute to solve). While The Mini is smaller and simpler than a normal crossword, it isn't always easy. Tripping up on one clue can be the difference between a personal best completion time and an embarrassing solve attempt.