Zynga’s Latest iPhone Game: Scramble Live

Posted by Kristen Nicole on March 4th, 2009 9:01 AM

Zynga’s at it again. The social gaming company has launched a mobile version of Scramble Live for the iPhone and the iPod Touch.

The game itself, if you’re unfamiliar, is a grid of letters that can be connected to form words (think word search with options for all-directional word creation). While the words themselves cannot be re-ordered, the grid can be rotated in its entirety. This gives you additional perspectives in order to find your words. As with many other Zynga games made for the iPhone, Scramble Live takes advantage of the accelerometer, though this particular use case may not be as exciting as an action-oriented video game.

I gotta admit this game is pretty addictive for me in its online Facebook app version. I know… I’m a sucker for word games and they’re of the few things I get viciously competitive about. So I’ll be happy to take advantage of some of Scramble’s social features in order to beat all of you.

These social features are in fact a lot like those found on the Facebook app game, and actually let you compete against your Facebook friends. There is the option to play live against other users (yes, in real time). There’s also the option to Play & Pass, which enables you to play with up to three other people sitting next to you on the same device. While I haven’t gotten a chance to try the Play & Pass option, I tend to like this idea. It’s reminiscent of older video game systems. Now to find a group of people that like the game as much as I do…

If you’re not into the social options, then you can play solo. And if you still have a bit of a competitive streak, the solo option does display the leader board so you can see where you rank amongst friends. But it is good to see that Zyna and others, such as SGN, are making their iPhone games more social, especially in linking them to their existing game counterparts already present in Facebook.

Having a mobile game of this nature is yet another way in which Zynga’s platform-on-top-of-a -platform approach is making the Facebook-to-mobile experience more seamless, from the game mode to the competition factors. Unlike the Facebook app version of Scramble Live, however, the iPhone game app will cost you $4.99. To soften the blow, Zynga is offering a limited-time launch special, pricing the game at $2.99. So I suggest you get it now.