SCRABBLE – Review

Our rating:

By: Electronic Arts

Version #: 1.0.20

Date Released: 2008-07-05

Developer:

Price: 9.99

User Rating:

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I check this app more than I check my email. I have moved this app onto the precious real estate that is my home screen. I do not, in general, play games on my iPhone and yet this game has taken a huge chunk out of my browsing and book reading time on the iPhone. It’s not that I love Scrabble, (which I do) and it’s not that it’s a very polished app, (which it is) the reasonthis app transcends is because it allows me to play and talk with all of my friends around the country through Facebook connect. Scrabble was my grandmother’s favorite board game and I have many wonderful memories associated with it… mostly of her using all of her letters (a bingo) and laughing at me, and of the one game that I beat her.

This is why I was willing to spend the $10 for the app. I played it about as much as I play most of the games I have, which is to say, when I’m in line for something and have absolutely nothing to do. It was in the frosty wasteland of my 4^th screen with Pass the Pigs, Five Dice, and Touch Physics. That was until the last update. I am now playing 6 simultaneous games with people far and near. I just started another game with my mom in Seattle while writing this review. My iPhone is allowing me to keep in better contact with people I love who are far away. That is the game changer.  

The general game play is excellent, which you would expect for that price. It has an unabridged dictionary for you to check words (including an easy reference list of 2 letter words), you can zoom in and out of the screen and you can even randomly scramble the letters in your tray by shaking the iPhone. (a really nice tactile touch which can also help dispel the frustration of having a triple word bingo blocked.) I particularly like the "teacher" button which you can push only after you have played your word to see if there was a better one that you missed. (This causes much scrambling…) One thing I miss from the non-digital version is the ability to bluff a word, and the joy of challenging words your opponent has made up. (If you watch The Office, Creed just did this to Jim…) The app simply won’t let you, I guess this is due to the fact that online or on your iPhone you could just look a word up. There are four ways to play. You can play against the computer, you can pass the iPhone back and forth to people who are with you, you can use the facebook connect option or there is a wi-fi option I haven’t been able to try yet. On the Facebook version there is a chat screen where you can talk to all the people you are playing with, (up to four) and on all versions there is a moves list detailing the points for each move. Anyone that plays Facebook Scrabble on the computer will be familiar with all of these options as it is almost exactly the same game.
 

All is not perfection- things hardly ever are. To start, you have to click your way through too many screens to get to an actual game, and it occasionally loses contact with Facebook and you have to go through all the screens again, which was bad enough the first time. Also there is a splash screen at the beginning with loud music that plays even if you have your mute button switched — Everyone will know you are playing this game. All of this, I overlook, because I can be playing games with all of my friends at the same time. Also it takes care of my main problem with regular scrabble: Grandma always put pressure on you to find your word quickly. (…was this wrong to do to a child?) iPhone Scrabble improves upon the original by giving you days to think on your next move.(although your friends can nudge you or tell you to forfeit if you take too long) All in all this is by far my favorite game for the iPhone. All I have to do now is wait for all my game partners to make their moves, and wish that my buddy Gavin in Seattle had left me that triple word bingo space to play “talkier.”

Quick Take

Value: Made it to the home screen
Would I Buy Again: No doubt
Learning Curve: Low- more if you’re never played scrabble
Who Is It For: Playing a game across the country
What I Like: Love the Facebook connect options
What I Don’t: making me click through 5 screens to get to my game

Final Statement: Best iPhone game for me hands down

My Rating:

5/5