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Feb 8, 2008 2:48 pm US/Eastern
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Scrabble Makers Wage War Against Facebook Game
More Than 2.4 Million Facebook Users Play 'Scrabulous' Application
By STEVE FINK, WCBSTV.COM
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
Toymakers Hasbro Inc. and Mattel Inc. have waged a war of words, letters, and tiles against creators of "Scrabulous," one of the most popular applications on social-networking site Facebook.
Cease-and-desist orders were issued last month to developers of the pseudo-Scrabble online game that quickly rose to stardom among Facebook users and is one of the site's biggest draws.
Calls to Hasbro were not returned to WCBSTV.com, but in statements released to the media, the companies claim the free game, which features a layout nearly identical to that of the actual Scrabble game, is "an illegally copied online version" that violates copyright and trademark laws, and want it gone.
It's an ongoing battle that many agree the toymakers will likely win, forcing shutdown of the game any day, but tens of thousands of the application's more than 2 million users aren't going down without a fight.
"Scrabulous is the best innovation since instant messaging. It's a fun way to be competitive with friends and stay in touch," says Meredith Gold, 28, a program scheduling manager with BBC America in New York.
On the Facebook site, a bevy of fans have banded together to create a "Save Scrabulous" group boycotting the shutdown of the game. To date, the group boasts more than 55,000 Facebook users and allows unhappy word hunters to speak their minds on a message board.
"After using the Scrabulous application, I then went and bought a Scrabble board as I forgot how good Scrabble is. I'm sure lots of other people have probably done the same," writes user Laura Taylor.
Adds Scrabulous player Bob Kingsley of Bristol, England: "Just back from a few days in London, where my wife and I bought a Travel Scrabble set because we missed it so much! MATTEL, ARE YOU LISTENING???"
The Scrabulous faithful argue that Hasbro and Mattel should be thanking and not tanking the game's developers, 21-year-old Jayant Agarwalla and his brother Rajat, who both reside and run the game and its Web site, Scrabulous.com, in Kolkata, India. Fans say the application has sparked a renewed interest in Scrabble for many, bringing them to go and purchase the board game itself.
"I think Scrabulous has brought back some of the nostalgia of the original game and Scrabble will only continue to benefit because of it," says Gold.
Jayant Agarwalla says he can't comment on legal matters, but admits the response from players has been overwhelming.
"The Internet has given an entirely new dimension to the game," Jayant tells WCBSTV.com. "I think Scrabulous is highly popular across all age groups primarily because it has given a fresh lease of life to the age old game which usually resides in the attics."
Agarwalla believes more than 1.5 million games are played daily, and estimates he and his brother rake in about $25,000 between ad revenue and merchandise sales each month. He says the pair also plans to launch a chess application among others in the future.
A spokesperson from Facebook declined to comment to WCBSTV.com on the situation, but acknowledged the site was well aware of the case as well as the extreme popularity of the game, which ranks 7th among the site's 14,000 applications.
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