App Reviews: Scrabble for Android

Price: Free

The classic board game finally comes to the Android OS for your phone and tablets. The game, if you didn’t go to elementary school, has you make words from lettered tiles on a board against one to three other opponents. The Android iteration, which just launched last month, allows for a pass and play mode locally and networked play across platforms so you can get your wordplay on with friends on facebook or iOS devices. It’ll actually keep track of up to 50 games at a time too, so if you spend a weekend tripping on peyote so hard that you can’t form words, the game will still be waiting for you when you sober up three days later.

Unfortunately, the gameboard feels a bit small, even on the massive 10.1” screen of our Galaxy Tab, something we didn’t think was possible and proves to be an even bigger problem on smaller Android smartphones. Other than that, the game is a polished version of the classic gameboard that plays well using a touchscreen, though we didn’t expect anything less from EA. After all, they’ve been leading the charge on the mobile gaming front for a few years now.

If you’re a verbal dunce then you’ll probably be more frustrated than addicted by the game but, if you’re a wordsmith like every single person here at Maxim (we won’t even hire secretaries that haven’t won a local spelling bee), then plan on encountering stiff competition and expect to see words like NINJA get dropped for over 100 points. With the included Tutor that tells you how much better you could’ve played your last move, Scrabble for Android will be your mentor as well as your tormentor

There’s no such thing as a free lunch and, apparently, there’s no such thing as a free Android app either because, even though you won’t have to spend a penny to get Scrabble on your Android, you’ll be giving up minutes of your life as every move you make is followed by an annoying ad. We don’t mind being cheapskates (the only thing we really learned in college was how to scrounge money for weed by living off ramen) but we do appreciate a paid alternative to an ad-supported app and that just isn’t an option here.

2.5, there are just too many alternatives that offer Scrabble’s gameplay without ads for a nominal price. Sure, we like official versions and the bells and whistles that EA added (like that tutor we mentioned and the built-in official dictionary) are nice to have but the ads and long loading times that happen as a result prove to be something of a dealbreaker despite the app being free.

Words with Friends, Battleship, failing at the spelling bee.