Words WIth Friends Board Game?

The other night, my wife and I were fairly bored, with nothing to do. The baby was down for the night, we didn't have anywhere to go, and rather than just plain going to bed or watching TV, I decided to drag down an old favorite from the closet. It was actually quite a site, as the version that I have is from the 70's and is in a fairly elegant box. At first my wife didn't know what in the world it even was!

So we unpacked everything and I actually took a few minutes to count the tiles. This version includes a scorekeeper on the tile rack, but was missing the little pegs to keep track of your score. This is very odd, as I actually remember seeing the pegs as a kid. I probably lost them since I couldn't spell at that age anyway.

Because this was a thinking game, and realized it could take some time to play all 100 tiles, we opened a bottle of wine, turned on some music, and started to enjoy each other's company. There were actually quite a few words that were played that simply shouldn't have been, but since we really aren't huge on rules or anything, we just let them slide. Both my wife and I are avid Words With Friends players and the transition to an actual board game was pretty easy. We did however forget how to keep score on a a few occasions. (Not sure if it was the now gone bottle of wine, or we just forgot how to do math). We have been spoiled with the auto scoring on the mobile game.

We had a good time, and by the end of the night had realized that sometime it's fun to actually go back to basics. Many people have called Words With Friends a Scrabble knock off, since the similarities are so numerous, but one being primarily digital and one bing physical I can see how the two companies can allege differences for copyright purposes.

During my web browsing the other day to actually find a new and better scrabble board, since the night worked out so well, I was amazed to find that you can actually purchase a Words With Friends Board Game! I actually found it on Amazon. It looks fairly basic, but the if you have kids and they have never played the actual Scrabble board game, then I can see this as a great introduction and word building opportunity. I also think this would make a great addition to any family game night setup. Sure it's the same exact thing as you probably already have in your closet, but it's the latest and greatest craze!

If you take a few moments to download the latest WWF application update, you'll also find a few handy tools that can actually help you with your board game endeavors. If the people you play with are constantly trying to make up new words, you'll be pleased to find a word checker built right into the app. This can come in handy with either game you decide to play. In addition, there is a score keeper mini app, that you can use to keep track of your scores. It's a shame I didn't know this the other night. Maybe I would have won I I had properly kept score!

Words With Friends & Scrabble "Qi"

I realized the other day that a words always seems to keep popping up when it comes to Words With Friends. This Scrabble clone in case you have been living under a rock, is the latest craze in social gaming. Made by the same addictive geniuses that gave us FarmVille, Zynga has really out done themselves! Lets just hope that they don't ever have a mind to actually start selling something truly addictive like cigarettes, or we are doomed as a society.

Anyway, a word that always seems to get played is "Qi". I'm sure you have probably seen it played, or even used it yourself. Maybe you know what this word actually is, or maybe you just played around with a bunch of letters until you were finally able to make a move. Who knows.. I see it all the time and no one has ever been able to tell me exactly what in the world it actually is!

So I embarked on a quest to actually figure out what in the word this often double and triple word scoring  word is. It turns out, it's something you're probably already familiar with, but probably had no clue it was spelled this way. In many Asian cultures, qi is the energy surrounding people and is often times referred to as a life force.

Depending on how you pronounce it, and what resource you check out, it's pronounced "Che" as in that guy Che Guevara, or Chi as in Chia Pet. Either way, odds are you probably would not have guessed this as a spelling! Have you used this tactic on Words With Friends or Scrabble? What other words have you had used on you that you can cry foul with?