I spend the majority of my work day on Facebook, either chatting with friends, playing Scrabulous, or sometimes just having it pulled up much like I used to do with AIM. I felt today, in spite of the earthquake, the way I've felt when the power goes out. "Hmm...I'm hungry. Let's make something in the micro..wave...ahh crap." "Well we could fill the boring hours by watching...a...movie...gah!" I just didn't know what to do with myself today as I stared at a screen informing me that "Scrabulous is disabled for US and Canadian users until further notice." Damned Hasbro.
SAN FRANCISCO, July 29 (Reuters) - Word-wise game players lost a popular online diversion on Tuesday as the creators of a knock-off of the game Scrabble cut off service in North America in the face of a lawsuit by game maker Hasbro Inc...
Scrabulous, introduced on Facebook a year ago, has become a phenomenon, sucking productivity in offices and schools around the globe. The game has become one of Facebook's dozen most actively used programs, attracting 500,000 daily players. It pits online opponents who compete to come up with clever words using the most exotic letters to score points.
The Hasbro lawsuit, filed in the U.S. Southern District of New York, names the creators of the game, brothers Rajat Agarwalla and Jayant Agarwalla, and RJ Softwares, as defendants.
Hasbro owns the rights to Scrabble in North America, while rival Mattel Inc owns the rights to the popular board game in the rest of the world. Mattel filed a suit against Scrabulous several months ago and is awaiting a decision on its complaint by an Indian court.
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