Scrabulous returns to Facebook as 'Wordscraper' with circular board

After being officially removed from Facebook less than two days ago due to a legal threat from Scrabble maker Hasbro, Scrabulous has returned to the social network site with a new name and visual changes.

Dubbed "Wordscraper," the Facebook application is technically a new word game, but it retains certain similarities to the now defunct Scrabulous.

There are several different visual changes to the board, with the square tiles now being redesigned as circular tiles making the board look fairly different from a regular Scrabble game. The most interesting feature of Wordscraper is a user's ability to customize the board for each new game they want to play.

The custom board can be made to look like a regular Scrabble game, although the brothers behind the service will likely be safe legally, because it is up the users to make the change.

Along with the regular double and triple score on the board, there also are new tiles that offer quadruple points when used during a game.?

Exact game information and rules remain sketchy, as the Wordscraper Facebook application has been inaccessible through parts of the afternoon.

Wordscaper has received praise from players so far, though some of the gamers have requested changes they would like to see added into the game. The game isn't completely finished, and will be receiving future updates at the discretion of the Agarwalla brothers.

Rajat Agarwalla and Jayant Agarwalla, who created the Scrabulous game, were recently sued by Hasbro and EA, but say they will fight the legal action for as long as they can.Their Scrabulous game had about 2.3 million total users with at least 450,000 users playing daily -- earning them $25,000 a month in advertising revenue.

The official US version of Scrabble is being played by 63,000 users today, while the international version has around 15,000 users. EA and Hasbro have a lot of work to do before they are able to reach 450,000 players, and will face increased pressure due to the return of Scrabulous as Wordscraper.

6 Responses to Scrabulous returns to Facebook as 'Wordscraper' with circular board

© 1998-2024 BetaNews, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy - Cookie Policy.