Is Scrabulous boosting Scrabble?

Blog Name: just a smith
Blog URL: http://asmith.org/
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Blog Summary: This is the website of Albert Vernon Smith, a geneticist by trade, who moved to Iceland in 1998 after many years of education in the USA. I use this site to put a few things I may find interesting. It might be something about my dog Leó, about Iceland, or just something interesting I may have stumbled upon. But, don’t expect too many updates. I’m just not that type.
Location: İceland
This blog has been active since: December, 2007
Post: Is Scrabulous boosting Scrabble? / 15.01.2008


Is Scrabulous boosting Scrabble?


As has been noted on TechCrunch and other places, Hasbro is working to shutdown Scrabulous, one of the most popular Facebook applications. While Scrabulous is certainly a Scrabble clone, the former is likely giving a significant boost to the latter.

Looking at Google Trends, one can see a significant recent uptick in search activity for Scrabble which occurs concurrently with the appearance of Scrabulous.

Scrabulous appears to be greatly boosting Scrabble itself, as there is no other news which could explain this uptick. Hasbro is therefore incredibly stupid to try and shut it down.




As means of disclaimer, I am an unapologetic Scrabulous fan (addict?). It has been years since I’ve played any Scrabble, and if Hasbro makes Scrabulous go away, I am much less likely to purchase a Scrabble board.

I don’t say that as a threat, but because Scrabulous certainly has enhanced awareness of Scrabble to me. If Scrabulous goes away, then that awareness will go away. I’m certain this is true for many, many others (to put it mildly).