Comments on: Sorry, Scrabulous Fans, I’m Only Mildly Sympathetic

By: Triple Points, Less 92 - The Web Laureate

Triple Points, Less 92 - The Web Laureate — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 01:47:53 +0000

[...] L [...]

By: Introducing Technologizer’s T-List | Technologizer

Introducing Technologizer’s T-List | Technologizer — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 17:46:38 +0000

[...] Scrabulous On Tuesday, the Agarwalla brothers began denying Facebook users in the U.S. and Canada access to their beloved, quite possibly illegal …. Outrage ensued. The official Hasbro Scrabble Facebook app, which seems to have more enemies than [...]

By: Scrabulous is Dead–Long Live Wordscraper, I Guess! | Technologizer

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 05:52:00 +0000

[...] all:&nbspNews As Mashable is reporting, the Agarwalla brothers, who yesterday were forced to pull Scrabble clone Scrabulous from Facebook are back–with a new Facebook game called Wordscraper. It involves piecing letters together [...]

By: phyllis wishart

phyllis wishart — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 01:26:22 +0000

I would like to know why my friends in the uk can still play and why it is not shut down there

By: nick botulism

nick botulism — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 06:13:30 +0000

Rumour has it that Hasbro did try to negotiate with the Scrabulous folks, but they were asking too much– seven figures says the scuttlebutt.

By: What Ms. Pac-Man Could Teach Hasbro About Scrabulous | Technologizer

Tue, 29 Jul 2008 22:36:20 +0000

[...] all:&nbspNews I know I sounded cold and uncaring about Scrabulous fans who are being forced to go cold turkey when I blogged this morning. But I’m still sorry that a happier endgame didn’t happen, [...]

By: Clare

Clare — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 21:38:16 +0000

You’re right – it was Hasbro’s call to not legitimize the Scrabulous app and instead have it shut down, and I think it was the wrong call. I think they made their own case for being the bad guys, which was tough considering I also think they are in the right legally.

Again- it goes back to why didn’t Hasbro make more of an effort to make Scrabulous theirs? Could they still do so? I hope they can, and I hope other people want them to.

By: Jason Snell

Jason Snell — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 18:53:13 +0000

I agree with you for the most part, Harry. The sad thing is, the “official” Scrabble game by EA on Facebook is overwrought and, in the end, much less appealing than the simple home-brewed version created by the brothers. I assume that Hasbro decided they didn’t want to pay them a cent for their work, but in the end what’s happened is that the brothers have reminded tens of thousands of people about how fun Scrabble is, and yet somehow I suspect that the new official Scrabble will never be able to remotely match the following of Scrabulous. (Also, the fact that the moment Scrabulous was shut down on Facebook, EA took down the “beta” of their Scrabble game… talk about terrible timing.)

As you say, it’s Hasbro’s decision (and of course the fact that there’s an international split in the licensing rights means that nobody in the U.S. can ever play an official online Scrabble game with a friend in Europe), and if they want to be the bad guys here, that’s up to them.

It’s a cryin’ shame, though.

By: Mark Jaquith

Mark Jaquith — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 17:54:18 +0000

Is it impudent of me to suggest that they coulda avoided all this by coming up with a compelling online word game that was…original?

No, it isn't. Hell, if they'd just given it a different name, they might have been okay. And I say that as someone who proposed to his wife during a Scrabble game and who has enjoyed Scrabulous immensely.