Scrabble - It's Emotional

We love Scrabble. Lots of people do. It's certainly one of the most fun board games around, and one of the most popular. There are also a number of on-line implementations of the game. One of the most popular was a version hosted on Facebook provided by Electronic Arts (EA). Unfortunately, a few weeks ago, EA changed the program.

The new Scrabble program went through a beta test. And even though the new program was almost universally panned by the reviewers, EA went ahead and foisted the new game on more people. The stream of complaints has been almost steady ever since. Now, they are pushing the program to everyone, and the complaints continue.

Here's a side-by-side comparison of the two programs:

Image by Russ Nemec.

The program on the left is the old program we all enjoyed playing. On the right, the new program, with a cluttered and confusing user interface. In fact, EA even had to write a FAQ for the new program to explain how to use it. Speaking as an experienced programmer, if your program needs a FAQ to explain its use, there's something seriously wrong with the user interface.


Here's one bug I noticed right away on my computer. Note the text "Create New Game" spilling out from the button. Real professional user interface design, eh?

But there's more! The new program won't load for many people. Or it loads very slowly. There have been reported cases where your score gets added to your opponents score. Many complain that they can't move their tiles on the rack, as we could with the old program. There have been complaints about the dictionary. Some don't know how to get to the chat area. Many complain about the general cartoonish appearance of the game. People complain about the ads that pop-up between moves, and the constant request that users recommend the game to their friends. Heck, I wouldn't recommend this piece of shit to my enemies!

You could ask: Why the fuss over a simple game? The answer is simple. This is an emotional issue. Most of us who love playing Scrabble have been playing it for years. I remember playing it as a child. When planning my moves, I would use a dictionary, and I learned a lot of words that way. I'm sure most Scrabble lovers can offer their own stories of how the game has affected them personally. And so for most of us, the connection to the game is visceral. We loved playing the old version of the on-line game. We hate playing the new version.


If you want to add your voice to the complaints, there are two pages on Facebook where EA reps can sometimes be found: ScrabbleEA and Official Scrabble. Are they listening? They do seem to be interested in bug reports for the new game. But they seem to be turning a deaf ear to the flood of requests for EA to bring back the old game. What can they be thinking? Do they think the storm of complaints will die down? Do they think that the Scrabble players who have already left will return? EA needs to understand that this is an emotional issue for us. If they ever did restore the old program, we may well forgive. But we won't forget.


Cheers! Hans

PS. Check out the Facebook page Bring back the old Scrabble.