Wednesday, April 27, 2011

"W" is for Words With Friends

Seriously?  She's writing an A-Z challenge entry about an iPhone/Android app?

Yep.

Bear with me.

Words With Friends.  After watching people tweet for the past month or so and keep mentioning this app, I had to see what it was.  From what I could gather, it was basically Scrabble, but you could play with anyone online.  I was right; you can even link the game to your Facebook profile and find friends to play with that way, too.

As a kid, I really enjoyed playing Scrabble.  Everything about it was awesome for someone who loved to read and write: I could show off my impressive vocabulary, expand said vocabulary, and even show up the adults around me.  

I think the only thing I hated was how the tiles would always be off-center whenever anyone bumped the board, setting off the OCD anal retentiveness in me that insisted that I played better when they were lined up.  This unfortunate aspect of playing was corrected in later versions of the game where the board had a grid-like pattern of ridges on it to hold the tiles in place.

Obviously you don't have to worry about your tiles being knocked all over the place with Words With Friends, but all the positives apply. As a writer, it's fun to see what you can make from the random letters you're given.  Will it be a simple word?  Something no one knows the meaning of?  For the record, the game doesn't accept proper nouns or gibberish words, and will tell you it's not valid if you try.  Strategy, too.  Will you try for more points using a small word to hit that triple word score, or use up more letters to get new ones on a longer one?

I love the connection aspect of it.  You can play with people you haven't seen in forever, or who don't live anywhere near you.  I have four games going on now, including one with a lovely writer friend who lives in Australia.  How amazing is that?  My husband compared it to when people used to play chess over the mail, sending their moves to each other.  I think that's an apt comparison, especially if you only check the game once or twice a day.

Do you play Words With Friends or Scrabble?  What are your favorite parts?

xoxo Sarah

6 comments:

  1. I love Scrabble, but have been hesitant to do WWF because I am worried I'll get addicted or too competitive. LOL I've heard great things about it, though.

    And I'm really enjoying your A-Z entries. They're so expressive!

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  2. But wouldn't be hilarious if you could "knock" the virtual board and disorganize the letters! Maybe that's just me...

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  3. @Sandy: It is VERY addicting! Oddly enough, I don't find myself caring so much if I win or lose. I just like the challenge of making the words. Winning is always nice, of course, lol!

    @Andrew: You can! Well, sort of. If you shake your iPhone, your own letters will rearrange themselves. It's fun to do, and endlessly amuses me. :-P

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  4. But when she adds a word, it's exciting! I love that, as well. I'm glad there's another WWF lover out there. :-D

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  5. I LOVE words with friends. If you are looking for another player, I
    am retiredknitter. Send me a game. I must warn you it may take me a few days to respond since my life is crazy. But I do respond. I currently play with 7 people.

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  6. Ooh, thanks, my dear! I'll add you, but I'm kind of sporadic when I play...I have about 8 games going on, lol. My user name is the same as my twitter: Sarah_Allan :-)

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