Boggle, Scrabble, etc...

[chaz_uk]

Just checked both US and UK sites. No Android anything - never mind scrabble!

Why develop such a great game then not make it available?

On my N1, 4 games show up:
Monopoly, Spore, Tetris and The Sims 3, all

 

[hood420]

I WOULD HAVE PAID if I could have found a legit source for it. Why EA have not made it available (in the UK anyway) is anyone's guess. It does exist and it's gorgeous. Google for it and you will find it - I got my copy from Rapidshare.

I played Scrobble on WinMo and this would deserve to do well on Android. However Scrobble did need a stylus to be played as it does not zoom the board in the way that the elusive official EA version does.

I also would have paid if I could have found it. I managed to find it on PPCwarez

 

[audioscience]

If you're looking for a good scrabble app you might want to check out this review: Android Delight Delightful App Battle: Scrabble vs. WordWise Pro

 

[statnut]

If you're looking for a good scrabble app you might want to check out this review: Android Delight Delightful App Battle: Scrabble vs. WordWise Pro

You know that when you're placing a letter down, there's a green mark on the tile where the letter goes right?

Also, I'd personally reverse the scores. Never had any difficulty beating the computer on hard. I'm guessing the board looks differently to avoid possible lawsuits etc.

 

[baldmosher]

You know that when you're placing a letter down, there's a green mark on the tile where the letter goes right?

Also, I'd personally reverse the scores. Never had any difficulty beating the computer on hard. I'm guessing the board looks differently to avoid possible lawsuits etc.

Scrabulous had that problem. Hasbro eventually made them cease and desist and they had to change the FB app name to Lexulous and redesign the board and change the tile distribution and values. Took them months to get back online, but I guess Hasbro weredeveloping their own FB app as it appeared a couple of months afterthat. They're probably just a bit slow. Charging for it seems disingenuous.

 

[polyclef]

I'm one of the developers of WordWise. Thanks for the link to the review...hadn't seen that yet.

Yes, we realize there are issues with the game. We're currently working hard to improve the UI and the server speed, as well as adding in some of the features people are requesting. This is our first multiplayer game, so bear with us!

We're using Google App Engine as the server, which seemed like a natural fit since it uses your Google account for authentication (and all Android phones are set up with an existing Google Account). That's also the reason why we're only supporting v2.0+, because starting with 2.0 there is an API for allowing apps to use the authentication credentials from your Google account without you having to manually enter your username and password. We're still not sure why some people are having the captcha prompt from Google more than others. In any case, the vast majority of the Android ecosystem should be on 2.0+ by the end of the summer, so nearly everyone should be able to play.

The number one request is a better notification system. The problem here is that Android did not have a native implementation for push notification (until Froyo, anyway). So to have automatic notifications we would either need to poll every few minutes or maintain a persistent connection with the server (which you can't do with Google App Engine). We could use SMS for notifications, but not everyone has unlimited text packages, and we don't want people being unknowingly charged for receiving WordWise notifications. Everyone has Gmail, and while it's clunky, it seemed like a decent first cut approach. We're still looking into other options, but we might have to wait to support automatic notifications until most devices are on 2.2.

We're also planning on releasing a free ad-supported version that limits you to 3 concurrent games. Still, trying out the paid version is relatively low-risk (you can return any app within 24 hours, no questions asked). For those who've tried it out, thanks! We're actually upgrading the server this weekend and hopefully releasing a new client too.

Oh, and we're also going to be releasing stat tracking, so every player will have a stats page (win/loss record, best words, etc.). Eventually we'll also have a ranking system so you can find people to play who are around the same skill level as you, or challenge people higher ranked to move up in the rankings, but we're not quite there yet. In the meantime, all those stats are saved in the system, we just need to make them presentable. (So yeah, statnut, you currently have the #1 word, "traveled" for 176 points...can't see that being broken anytime real soon.)

 

[statnut]

Oh, and we're also going to be releasing stat tracking, so every player will have a stats page (win/loss record, best words, etc.). Eventually we'll also have a ranking system so you can find people to play who are around the same skill level as you, or challenge people higher ranked to move up in the rankings, but we're not quite there yet. In the meantime, all those stats are saved in the system, we just need to make them presentable. (So yeah, statnut, you currently have the #1 word, "traveled" for 176 points...can't see that being broken anytime real soon.)

That just made my day!

 

[TheAndroidWorks]

Wow, talk about resurrecting an old thread! That's awesome. Our game PhoneFraze is also a board type game that uses words, but you play it in with a group of people IN PERSON like a traditional board game rather than online.

 

[NeoEVO]

Classic game like Scrabble is just to hard to resist. Everything else is just an imitation.

 

[willy9b]

Personally, I find playing Scrabble with an American dictionary is ultimately *very* frustrating. If you want to try it, you'll find it here:

http://tinyurl.com/35d545h

Yeah, it sure looks colorful, and the gameplay is just, like, todally awesome, oh, you know what I mean

 

[willy9b]

Other option (just done it ):

Download Gameboid lite (from Market) & a ROM of the European version of Scrabble for the Nintendo GBA - it seems to work very well, so far.

 

[MisterMixelpix]

That doesn't really address the problem, though: we need a lot more of the basics as Android native.

 

[MasterBot]

Even though it's not "basic", I love "braingoal".
The developers indicate it's only on the Android market - which automatically made me curious.

It happens to be a fun thinking game, so for chess lovers might be relevant as well.

5 definite stars...

 

[Rotor]

Personally, I find playing Scrabble with an American dictionary is ultimately *very* frustrating. If you want to try it, you'll find it here:
Yeah, it sure looks colorful, and the gameplay is just, like, todally awesome, oh, you know what I mean

Exactly the same for me. I can't play the common words I use on the UK facebook version and the AI always beats me by laying down words I've never even heard of before. Usually 7 letter words too!

 

[jradicle11]

I would love a Words with Friends compatible with the Ipod version. I have a lot of people I'd like to show up in some scrabble, dumb Ipod users...

 

[mattjacobsen]

DroidWords is a pretty cool scrabble game for Android. Just downloaded it a couple of weeks ago. They have a single player (against the CPU) mode and you can play against your friends. Some interesting game modes as well (blitz, BS, slang). Awesome game!

 

[jamor]

I've got an older version of a scrabble knock-off that runs on Palm Phones and has an 80,000 word dictionary. So, the memory requirements are not that daunting.

Making a shell that runs Palm apps would really explode the software library for android.

The people who own Scrabble are stupid. The longer they refuse to release a legit app, the more likely people will just pirate one. These intellectual content companies NEVER learn from history.

How stupid is this company? They literally missed out on 10s if not 100s of thousands of dollars by not releasing this on the android market and making it online/multiplayer.

We are talking about a pretty greedy, money hungry company here (EA). So I don't understand.

I'm using Wordsmith and I absolutely love it though - so Scrabble can take a hike.

Unfortunately it allows names - but I can get over that since it has a nice UI and it works well.

jamor - if you want to play me!

 

[TheBrit]

There actually *IS* an Android Scrabble from EA. It's not multiplayer though.

They went to the trouble of developing it then not releasing it. Like Jamor, I just don't get it.

I do have the apk though and used to run just fine on my HTC Hero. Runs just fine on my DHD too.

You can search for it online - it is out there.

 

[jaxim]

For Boggle, you can try the boggle clone app: "Word ZigZag". ( http://goo.gl/VLc1N )

I like how you can adjust many of the app's settings. And the words in its dictionary seem to be pretty good compared to other boggle games that I have tried.

 

[Pinmac1]

Thanks for the tips here. Have just downloaded Droid Words and it's great.