Slog - Comments on Save Scrabulous!

Comment by blaire with an e

blaire with an e — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 18:17:58 -0800

Yah, scrabulous is one of the best things ever.

Comment by bma

bma — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 18:18:47 -0800

Stupid. So stupid. I'm beginning to think that we're actually moving backwards with our technology because corporations are too conservative with intellectual property. This is just another sad (if trivial) example.

Comment by LH

LH — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 18:25:19 -0800

I play pixie pit:

http://thepixiepit.co.uk/scrabble/

what are the advantages of scrabulous?

Comment by nbc

nbc — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 19:05:33 -0800

It should come as no surprise that a game company will defend its intellectual property.

Some popular designer boardgames offer a free online account if you buy the game. That would be a good model to follow, but might be tough to integrate with Fbook.

Also it's worth noting that Hasbro owns the rights to Scrabble only in North America. Mattel owns the rights to Scrabble everywhere else.

@3 - Scrabulous is interesting because it's focused on asynchronous play, games stretch over days rather than minutes, and you often have several going at once.

The best serious, tournament-level online play happens at www.isc.ro.

Comment by nbc

nbc — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 19:07:48 -0800

That address, again: http://www.isc.ro/

Comment by Michelle in OH

Michelle in OH — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 19:08:24 -0800

I've been mourning the loss of free online scrabble since it disappeared from games.com - and settling for Scrabulous occasionally.

But Hasbro / Mattel must know that I'm not the only one who would *gladly* sit for hours and stare at ads next to a scrabble board until my eyes fell out.

Comment by AnonymousCoward

AnonymousCoward — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 19:17:04 -0800

Yes, the accusation was bound to happen, but it will probably get bounced; game rules aren't copyrightable subject matter. Hasbro should retain better lawyers, because they have a far better trademark claim, because Scrabble is a "famous" mark, which means that it is protected from dilution.

Comment by boring life

boring life — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 19:19:23 -0800

Your sense of humor is sad.

Comment by Mike of Renton

Mike of Renton — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 19:25:27 -0800

Notice how they asked to have it removed rather than just filing a lawsuit. The Teachers Union in NV could take a lesson.

Comment by Gitai

Gitai — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 19:30:37 -0800

I do enjoy Scrabulous (provided I'm playing against someone like me, who thinks only about building the biggest word, and not one of those fuckers who owns the Scrabble dictionary, and using two letters somehow manages to get 57 fucking points), but if you want a real game, learn Settlers of Catan and play the knockoff at games.asobrain.com .

Comment by w7ngman

w7ngman — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 19:30:58 -0800

"Facebook is basically stupid"

huh?

Comment by AnonymousCoward

AnonymousCoward — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 19:31:15 -0800

@9: They asked to have it removed because that's what the DMCA authorizes you to do; the lawsuit comes if Facebook doesn't take it down, or if the authors file a counter-notice.

Comment by ghostlawns

ghostlawns — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 19:38:14 -0800

if you love scrabble so much, play scrabble. i don't see why you need the internet.

Comment by Abby

Abby — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 19:53:35 -0800

Because the Internet is the future, of course.

Comment by superyeadon

superyeadon — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 19:55:54 -0800

The children are our future, duh.

Comment by Michelle in OH

Michelle in OH — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 20:14:35 -0800

@13: Because you can't hide an *actual* Scrabble board behind another window at work/school.

Comment by Karlheinz Arschbomber

Karlheinz Arschbomber — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 20:25:51 -0800

I'm not a major fan of lawyers going to town on people, but these Indian dudes who did Scrabulous were asking for it. From the obvious name, to the exact copy of every aspect of the original game. They even linked to the official Scrabble website for rules, etc. If they are smart they will make some kind of licensing deal so the thing will properly survive and keep everybody happy.

Note: lawyers are involved, so a happy outcome is unlikely.

Comment by Jo

Jo — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 20:26:13 -0800

@16: That is totally the point of Scrabulous. Love it.

My life has been so happy since the addition of Scrabulous. I don't know what I'd do without the five or six games I have going at any one time. I love it.

Comment by ironymaiden

ironymaiden — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 20:26:17 -0800

it's already licensed as an online game. they may not be able to release the rights even if the Scrabulous guys could afford them.

Comment by Bento

Bento — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 20:57:34 -0800

@13 - Are you retarded? I'd love to hear your suggestions for a better way to play Scrabble against someone who is not sitting in the same room.

Comment by whatever

whatever — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 22:03:48 -0800

annie a unique issue for obama

Comment by kelly

kelly — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 22:16:48 -0800

I thought I was the only 20 something y.o. who played online scrabble.
I use wordbiz at the ISC.ro

Comment by -B-

-B- — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 22:39:24 -0800

I did a good thing today after 2 months of being on facebook. I canceled my account.
Sounds like it is all gone but no. You can enter your email and password at any time and there it is ready for you. Meaning you can never cancel an account just deactivate it.
I signed up to face book to view a site with pictures from a club I used to work at. I hated facebook, absolutely hated it from the very beginning.

Comment by leek

leek — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 23:20:55 -0800

You know, you can (or could?) play at scrabulous.com without having anything to do with the horrors of Facebook.

Comment by Jiberish

Jiberish — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 10:50:09 -0800

obama and now scrabulous? annie you just get better every day.

Comment by donte

donte — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 11:14:07 -0800

my 110 point bingo goes down as the best thing that's ever happened to me on facebook.