Wordscraper
 | It has been suggested that this article be merged with Scrabulous. (Discuss) Proposed since August 2008. |
Wordscraper is a word game creation tool available on Facebook as a Facebook application. It was created by the Agarwalla brothers Rajat and Jayant who also created Scrabulous. Indeed as Wordscraper is very similar to Scrabulous it has been widely and inaccurately reported that it was released in response to the forced removal of Scrabulous from Facebook (in the USA) as the result of a DMCA action by Hasbro[1]. Wordscraper has, contrary to the reports of the popular press, been around since January[2]. Reports that is had just been released appear to result from a huge increase in user base since Scrabulous was shut down (in the USA). Wordscraper is available across the whole of Facebook.
Ability to create customised games
Wordscraper gives users the ability to create a customised board and tile set of their choice. Users choose where premium squares are placed on the board. Premium squares range from 2x to 5x letter score and 2x to 5x word score. Users can also choose the tile distribution including quantity of each letter and score for each letter.
Users are free to share the rules they have created via a link by clicking 'Share Game' at the bottom of the playing board. For example this links to a game with rules identical to Scrabble but for the absence of blank tiles which are not available.
Differences from Scrabulous
In addition to the ability to create customised games, Wordscraper differs from Scrabulous in a number of ways including:
- Tiles and 'squares' are now circular.
- Premium 'squares' have been recoloured.
- The distribution of tiles can be modified.
- Tiles do not say the score on them
- The tile distribution can be viewed within the game
- No blank tiles as yet.
User base
As of the 3rd August Wordscraper had already attracted over 79,000 active users.
Wordscraper application on facebook
References
- ^ "Scrabulous Reborn as Wordscraper (Sort Of)". Sitepoint. 2007-08-01.
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