Free Online Scrabble: Scrabulous Trumps Atari Play

I previously had written an article entitled Playing Scrabble Online at Atari Play. I had called Atari Play, or games.atari.com, one of the best online Scrabble sites for having fun and improving your game. However, since that time, I have found a new site called Scrabulous that I believe to be the best site for free online Scrabble. After my first experience at Scrabulous, I understood the meaning of "You don't know what you've been missing. " This online site for Scrabble is what its name implies. It is simply fabulous. Scrabulous has taken the two major problems of quitting and sitting at games.atari.com and has effectively addressed them. Not only has it addressed the problems encountered at games.atari.com, Scrabulous has added features that make it the most excellent free site to play Scrabble online.

While I have had four or five people in a row quit on me in a typical day at games.atari.com, I have had only two people quit on me since playing online Scrabble at Scrabulous. Why is this? I believe that it is the options of surrender, features and the site's hard nose policy against quitters that discourage the act of quitting on this online Scrabble site.

Within each Scrabble game is the option to abort, adjourn or draw. However, in order to enact these actions, you must receive permission from your opponent. If your opponent does not grant you permission to draw, abort or adjourn, the game continues until all of the tiles have been played or time runs out. With an option to resign, a person can immediately end a game without permission from the other player. However, the one who resigns decreases in rank while his or her opponent increases in rank as if he or she won the game.

In one of the only two times in which I have had a player quit on me, I sent an e-mail to admin@scrabulous.com. Within five minutes, I received a reply stating that the offending player had been flagged. I have never received a personal message from games.atari.com when reporting bugs and ill-mannered players; it became obvious that such reports did nothing to solve a problem. Moreover, the game in which the player quit on me at Scrabulous had been adjourned; the game had been saved and could be continued at a later time.

Scrabulous has addressed the problem of sitting on its online Scrabble site by including a timer that is set by the person who initiates a game. For example, if the person who initiates the game sets the timer for 15/8, each person can take as long as he or she wants to make a move, but each person must make all of his or her moves within 15 minutes. After each play, each person is granted an extra 8 seconds to their clock. If you're the one who sets the timer, it won't matter to you if your opponent takes 7 minutes to make one move since you know how long the entire game will last. When games are posted in the lobby, potential players will be able to see the times set by each player and choose who they want to play. Sitting was one of the reasons stated as to why people quit at games.atari.com; the timer function at Scrabulous dissuades sitting and quitting at this online Scrabble site.

In addition to addressing the problems of quitting and sitting, Scrabulous offers other features that make this online Scrabble site so great. For each game, the player setting up the game must choose the TWL or SOWPODS as the official dictionary from which words to play. Along with the time, the rating of each person, and whether or not a game will be rated is the dictionary preference of the person seeking a game. The TWL is the official word list used in USA, Canada, Thailand and Israel in Scrabble tournaments. SOWPODS includes more words than the TWL and is used internationally. There is also a TWL and SOWPODS online dictionary that is included on this online Scrabble site. You can look up a word in question before playing it. Unlike games.atari.com, at Scrabulous, no one calls anyone a "cheater," and no squabbles abound over what word is "real" since everyone is allowed the opportunity to use the two dictionaries on the site. Furthermore, the current system at Scrabulous does not allow invalid words to be played on its Scrabble board. The online Scrabble board will not let you submit a word that is not allowable in one of the two dictionaries that you choose. No penalty is given; you do not lose a turn. You must simply play a valid word.

Another impressive feature of Scrabulous is its wonderful support and customer service. Yes, customer service. They actually have a 24/7 support by phone and/or e-mail for problems and emergencies. I'm not sure what constitutes a Scrabble emergency so I have never bothered to make a phone call, but I have e-mailed Scrabulous on a Saturday morning with a request for a TWL word list. I was e-mailed the attachment and a cheery greeting less than ten minutes later. It is obvious that the creators of Scrabulous care about their online gamers and want to make the gamer's experience at Scrabulous a wonderful one. Scrabulous is all about learning what people want from their online Scrabble experience and making it happen for them.

Other great features but not all inclusive to this incredible free online Scrabble site is the larger game board that makes it easier on the eyes and the ability to see what's going on in the lobby when you're inside of a game. With Java installed, you can listen to soothing music while you play. A bingo word, its accompanying score and the person who played it are listed in the lobby in real time. Each day, a cool new word of the day like "opah" (a type of fish) is listed along with its definition. Scrabulous members can fill out a personal profile and include a picture, and members can sign up for online Scrabble tournaments as well. A history of the games that you play at Scrabulous are saved. A smart ranking system based on a statistical formula calculates the most accurate rank of each player. If the thought of a timer make you nervous, there is the option to pause or add more time to an existing game. However, your opponent must grant you permission in order for that to happen. Scrabulous implements fair policies over its players. When players mention something that they would like to see or do on this online Scrabble site, Scrabulous begins to implement the means to accomodate those requests.

Overall, the culture of online Scrabble at Scrabulous is many times over more civil and respectful than games.atari.com at Atari Play. It is unusual or unheard of to hear people ranting about quitters, sitters or cheaters in the chat room or lobby of Scrabulous. People simply behave better on this online Scrabble site because of the judicious system imposed by the site owner and its creators. Will I never play at games.atari.com again? On one sad day, the techies at Scrabulous may need to pull the site and do maintenance on it. Games.atari.com will do. However, if you have not yet registered for free at Scrabulous.com, do it now, and see what you've been missing.