Life’s hard. There are few pleasures for us working stiffs, us desk jockeys who stare at a computer all day. I honestly don’t know what the working class did before they had the Internet on their desktops, and I don’t want to know. The point is that it’s 2008, and that means in between creating Excel documents and Power Point Presentations and getting the TPS reports to the boss’ desk we need some time to relax while stimulating our brains. If we can simultaneously prove that our word power is better than the word power of the boyfriend of someone we went to Sunday School with, then all the better.
And that is why Scrabulous on Facebook was awesome.
Just a little application on a social networking site that allowed you to play a scrabble-style game with all your long lost friends. You could play at any pace you wanted, sometimes thinking about your next move over the course of a long weekend, sometimes after visiting a site that no one would ever guess you knew about. And if your word wasn’t a real one, the computer just didn’t let you play it. The perfect way to relax and prove yourself better than your internet friends.
BUT! A little company called “Hasbro,” a company that has a monopoly on three-dimensional games, decided that “Scrabulous” too closely resembled “Scrabble,” despite the fact that “Scrabble” cannot be played between emails with some Australian girl who now lives in London. So mean old Hasbro sued the lovely gentlemen who gave us Scrabulous and coerced Facebook to remove the application.
This sad fact was discovered by a distraught blogosphere on the morning of Tuesday, July 29.
You can learn more about this debacle:
The Save Scrabulous Facebook Group
The History of Scrabble via Wikipedia
News of the demise of Scrabulous via a third party
A little more history on Scrabulous v. Hasbro
and finally,
The word I was about to put down against Lara for at least a 22 point score before this application was ripped from our computers.
So what can we do? I think Hasbro is being pig-headed in this. Instead of seeing an opportunity for selling even more games to a Scrabble-hungry population, they saw copyright infringement. But they give us no other option! If they were to develop their own competing facebook application, we’d all hop on board, I’m sure. They could do something. I don’t know what. But I do know that in the meantime, I’m refusing to buy any Hasbro products. I’ll be in hell before you see me with Mr. Potato Head or My Little Pony. And my next board game purchase will certainly not be Candy Land or Clue. Shame on you, Hasbro!
If you’re pissed, too, write them an email.
And while you’re at it, join the boycott by grabbing a badge, courtesy of the illustrious Dutchess of Kickball and her graphic skills.
We shall overcome! Maybe we should get Obama on our cause. I bet he’s all for the working stiff who just needs a little wordplay to get through the day.
16 responses so far ↓
Knot // July 29, 2008 at 9:42 pm
You need to try Elf Balls.
http://www.santasworldsite.com/elfballs.htm
Totally cool. No, not as intelligent as Scabble, but you don’t want to be too nerdy.
And there are a ton of sites with free online Scrabble.
http://www.bonuswords.com/play_scrabble_online.htm
Knot
nancypearlwannabe // July 29, 2008 at 9:49 pm
I was just getting back into it, too. I had three games going and I only got through like two moves before that Assbro turned off my fun.
Allie // July 29, 2008 at 9:55 pm
It is so sad. It was the perfect transitional break activity. I wasted way too much time today trying to fill the void.
And from what I hear, the Scrabble version of Scrabulous sucks monkey butt.
I had some great games going too.
The Modern Gal // July 29, 2008 at 10:49 pm
This is exactly why I refused to let myself be sucked into Scrabulous from the get go. I knew it would break my heart one day, just like all the other men.
Ann // July 30, 2008 at 7:30 am
It’s so completely annoying. We’ve a game hung because one of the players is in the US. And even if we wanted to go to Hasbro’s official dark side - we couldn’t because it’s only for Canada and the US.
Although I guess you can still play Scrabulous on their site.
Howling Hill // July 30, 2008 at 7:32 am
I looked on Facebook but was unable to locate you. *Pout*
Pam // July 30, 2008 at 7:47 am
Well said, Noelle, well said. Down with the Hasbro man!
I was so looking forward to getting sucked into Scrabulous on Facebook. But every time I tried to play, I had difficulty with the application. Maybe they were forewarning me of the impending doom.
Dutchess of Kickball // July 30, 2008 at 8:05 am
I was just in the midst of making my comeback to kick The Teacher’s ass! DOWN WITH SCRABBLE. UP WITH SCRABULOUS!
jason // July 30, 2008 at 9:13 am
one of the first rules of writing a program is that if you think you could be sued by a company, you probably will be. If you even have to ask yourself the question “Will Hasbro notice us if we write this?” then you shouldn’t write it.
They should have (and maybe they did) gone to Hasbro right away with the game and struck some sort of deal with them. Or they’re being greedy and Hasbro’s had enough.
stefanie // July 30, 2008 at 9:42 am
I’m sorry; what is this “Facebook” of which you speak?
Brando // July 30, 2008 at 9:47 am
That really sucks, especially since there is no easy replacement. One of my friends was a big player — I need to check on her and make sure she’s not suffering from the shakes.
Meghan // July 30, 2008 at 1:43 pm
Definitely not cool. How many ways are there to slack off during work and still feel like you’re being productive? Not many, because believe me I’ve tried to find them all.
Laurel // July 30, 2008 at 1:50 pm
So sad. Fortunately, I swore off Scrabulous after I couldn’t stop losing to my coworkers! I am excellent at most word games, but suck at Scrabulous strategy.
Dingo // July 30, 2008 at 7:28 pm
They missed a great opportunity to sell more of their boardgames. But until the return of your Scrabulous, try jigzone.com. No, it’s not interactive but it can get addicting.
Lara // August 1, 2008 at 9:27 am
I must confess…I was able to find as a silver lining to the whole loss of Scrabulous the fact that I got out of that awful game with you!
Kristabella // August 5, 2008 at 2:53 pm
Well, some of us can’t even log on to Facebook or Twitter or any of the other cool sites on the interweb (i.e. People.com or E! or TMZ) at work because their IT departments block all those sites.
So now I say, welcome to my world.
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