App Review: Scrabble for iPad App

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Scrabble for iPad App, Photo Courtesy of Electronic Arts"][/caption]

Overview

Scrabble for iPad remained one of the top most downloaded apps on Apple App Store in the early days of its launch and still attracts the thousands of users – thanks to Electronic Arts development team. The game was available for iPhone and iPod Touch but the iPad version comes with some exclusive features. We all know how board games suffer miserably on the small screens but iPad’s big screen saves us from zooming in to play this classic board game.

Introduction to the Game

Scrabble is one of those classic games that don’t need to be introduced but in order to give a thorough review some basics are required to be mentioned. The 15x15 grid of Scrabble is probably the most recognizable trait of the game and the game itself can be played by one to four players. Each player owns a set of seven tiles, where each tile is marked with an alphabetic character along with a number. These numbers on the tiles are the number of points that will be added to the player’s account if a proper word with these tiles is constructed keeping the same old rule – the more difficult the word the more you are rewarded. With 100 tiles in total (two of them are left blank), when you run out of the tiles or can’t construct a word, the game is over. As for the winner is concerned the person who scores the most wins. You must have noticed one reason for the immense popularity of these classics games – their simple rules.

Introduction to the iPad version

For the most part of the game one statement is absolutely true, it is just an up-scaled version of the iPhone edition – which by no means translates as a bad thing. All the cool features are retained in this version including Facebook integration, useful dictionary, WiFi etc. The one killer feature of this iPad version involves the use of iPhone/iPod Touch as a Tile Rack. and we will cover it in the later section.

Features

The variety of gameplay featured by the game does tell us the intent of Electronic Arts – it truly wants to capture once the user is in. One can begin with the single player mode against the CPU where you get the option to choose between 8 or 12 rounds. Some interesting modes are added so that you can enjoy the game with your friends and these modes include Local Network Play, Pass’n Play and Party Play.

Facebook integration is taken to a new level of usability. Scrabble for iPad can now be enjoyed with the Facebook friends. Multiple games can be initiated so that you can play with more than one friend.

A dictionary is integrated with the game which often helps to find out if you have spelled the word correctly and saves the time for the opponents to verify the word. The dictionary itself is really cool as you can achieve all your ends by the means of simple taps but there are some minor things that EA needs to fix immediately. Numbers of steps in case the typed word is not present in the dictionary are unnecessarily tiresome because you have to call back the keyboard and have to clear the screen up all by yourself.

Gameplay

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Playing Scrabble for iPad on an iPad, Photo Courtesy of Apple, Inc."][/caption]

If you are familiar how the game is played over an iPhone/iPod Touch then there is not much to learn about the gameplay but in case you have not, then below is the precise description. First thing first. Are you playing all alone or with friends? If you are on your own, start with ‘Play Now’ option. The choices begin to appear if you are playing with your real life opponents. You can choose Facebook, where your friends don’t need to own any Apple device to play with you. You will soon start to appreciate how much fun is Facebook when integrated with a game!

Alternatively you can choose ‘Local Network Play’ which means more devices (iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch) are available on the same network with a functional Scrabble app. Using the same network to play Scrabble can sometimes cause irritation for the users. The discovery for other device takes some time in many cases. Moreover there are some issues with the move updates of the opponent, as on numerous occasions player’s actual move is updated after a delay. These minor issues must be resolved by EA to provide a smooth gaming experience.

Pass’n Play is self descriptive, when you have only one iPad this mode allows to pass iPad to the opponent for his/her turn. The Part Play mode is a gem of this iPad app and deserves an elaborate review.

iPhone Tile Rack/ Party Play

Some really innovative thoughts are put behind in designing iPhone Tile Rack or the Party Play mode. Gamers can use the iPad as a scrabble board and their iPhone/iPod Touch as the associated tile racks – so that you can keep your racks away from the opponent’s sharp eyes.  A free scrabble app for iPhone/iPod Touch is available on the iTunes. All you have to do is to download this free app on your iPhone/iPod Touch and connect through Bluetooth with the iPad. Caution: You must turn your WiFi off and Bluetooth on to establish this connection – Why EA? As soon you are able to connect all these devices your multiplayer experience will initiate and you can keep your racks secret from each other. This is probably the most expensive board game arrangement you might ever have managed to establish in your entire life time and once established it might be the best of gaming experiences too.

[caption id="attachment_4419" align="aligncenter" width="480" caption="Scrabble for iPad with iPhone Tile Rack/ Party Play, Photo Courtesy of Apple, Inc."][/caption]

Price

Paying a sum of $9.99 for a classic board game (when the physical game can be purchased for $15) may seem a bit of gamble but the gaming experience is simply matchless. The portability that comes with the iPad can never match the physical board – and finally you don’t have to worry about all the score keeping and lost pieces.

Verdict

Overall the game is far better than available competitors including the close rival Friends HD. The original idea of iPhone/iPod Touch Tile Rack is simply an experience that you will remember for a very long time. Some minor tweaks are required from EA to make the gaming experience smoother. You can get Scrabble for iPad here.

[rating: 4.5/5]