Scrabulous: Scrabble’s Boon or Bane?

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I have a confession to make. I AM ADDICTED TO FACEBOOK. But that is not something I am ashamed of. Come to think of it, to be not addicted to facebook is a crime these days, considering its immense popularity as evidenced by its millions of users. And imagine my excitement when an online version of Scrabble, Scrabulous, was made available to us Facebook users (yes, that’s another confession—I’m addicted to Scrabble)! Scrabulous is an online word game based on the board game Scrabble. Scrabulous was developed by two brothers from India and is most popular for its facebook application.

A Funny Scrabulous Video

It was not long before I got the scrabulous add-on, and became glued to it. Yes, I’m guilty of being one of the 600, 000 daily users of Scrabulous in face book.

Imagine my dismay and I presume, the dismay of the other 599,999 users when the makers of Scrabble (Mattel and Hasbro) asked Facebook to remove the Scrabulous game from its website on grounds of infringement.

Though this move by Mattel and Hasbro caused uproar from Facebook users, a lot of Scrabble fans had a sigh of relief.

So, what’s the real score– Has Scrabulous placed Scrabble at an advantage or at a disadvantage?

The Boon:

• Scrabulous has made Scrabble a world-wide hit. Since Scrabulous debuted in Facebook as an application in 2007, it has quickly rose as one of the top 10 most popular add-ons of Facebook, being added to 840,000 user pages with more than 500,000 users daily.

• Scrabulous gave Scrabble an edge over other popular games such as World of Warcraft and Nintendo’s (OTC BB:NTDOY.PK) Wii. Scrabble has benefited from free advertising through its application in Facebook.

• Scrabulous has made Scrabble a venue for social interaction. You can play Scrabble with anyone, anywhere in the globe—as long as that person has a Facebook account.

• Scrabulous has made Scrabble more accessible and affordable. Since playing Scrabulous meant playing it online, players can play the game without actually purchasing the Scrabble board. As opposed to other online Scrabble games powered by Mattel and Hasbro, Scrabulous makes it possible for online users to not have to go to external sites then search for friends all over again.

• Scrabulous increased Scrabble’s number of players per game. With more than 500,000 users in Facebook, a battle between two-four players is almost impossible.

• Scrabulous has made Scrabble more efficient. Users can battle word prowess with each other online synchronously or through email asynchronously. Put in simply, Scrabulous games can be saved and played out over weeks or months. Plus, a number of “scrabble cheat” sites have been established to work out every possible word that can be made from the available letters.

The Bane:

• Scrabulous infringes the copyright of toy makers Hasbro and Mattel on the board-based word game. It is but right that the makers of the esteemed word game be given their due. And with Scrabulous around, this right of the makers is violated.

• Scrabulous would most likely reduce the sales of the Scrabble board game. If the Scrabble board is easily accessed online, where’s the need of purchasing the Scrabble board?

• Scrabulous eliminates the elements of time and excitement as its games can be saved and played for a span of time ranging from weeks to months.

• Scrabulous has made ‘cheating’ in scrabble games available by paving the way for ‘scrabble cheat sites’ to be developed. Having sites that work out possible words from the available letters not only reduces the ‘fun’ side of the game, it also makes the game completely pointless especially because the purpose of the game is to test a person’s word prowess. Cheating entirely defeats this purpose.

With those statements above, is Scrabulous a boon or bane for Scrabble? Tip your scale.