Download Squad

RealNetworks, one of the many fingers dipping into the pie that is Scrabble, has released an online version of Scrabble for the social networking site Facebook. This new twist is just one of many in the saga that is Facebook-Scrabble-Scrabulous.

Scrabulous, the insanely popular, yet completely unauthorized online version of Scrabble, was a huge hit on Facebook, with over 600,000 users. Unfortunately, that popularity caught the ire of Hasbro and Mattel, the controlling parties of Scrabble, and they sent their gaggle of lawyers to shut down the application.

Public outrage was immediate, loud, and prolonged, so much so that RealNetworks, the company that controls the electronic rights to Scrabble, pledged to save Scrabulous. But now, with the introduction of a completely separate, yet authorized, version of Scrabble (aptly named "Scrabble by Mattel"), it seems as if they are headed in another direction.

So far, user response to Scrabble by Mattel hasn't been overwhelmingly negative or positive. Some say that it's slow to load, others that it's an excellent application. The main complaint was that the game does not accurately reflect the official Scrabble dictionary, and seems to miss commonly used yet not officially sanctioned words, such as "zen."

One more thing: because it was Mattel that worked this deal, and they don't own the rights to Scrabble in the U.S. (that's Hasbro's domain), it's only available to users outside US and Canada.

No word yet as to whether Scrabulous is dead on the operating table.