Word Scramble for the iPhone and iPod Touch: A Freebie Worth Having

We spend a lot of time in the pile of coal that is the iTunes App Store, looking for those diamonds: those gems of programs that restore faith in humanity (or at least in the App Store). Word Scramble by Zynga is one of those gems. First if you don't like word games skip this review. If you like them though, keep reading.

Word Scramble features a Boggle-like grid of 16 letters, and you have to create words using adjoining letters. It's simple, but addictive. While playing alone is fine, the network play feature is clever, and simple. You and several other players (apx 100-200) play the same board at the same time, with realtime stats of your ranking, as well as the top 3 players. Since the review was recorded, I have noticed at night sometimes the servers get a little funny (perhaps overloaded) but usually it all works without a hitch. Which brings me to my other favorite part of this game: It's free.

Yes, my faith is restored in free iPhone apps. Note: there are two Word Scramble apps in the app store, this one is from Zynga.

From Within the Loop: Corporate Games

What do you do after you bring the most innovative smartphone to market? You take RECESS. Think Double Dare here gang. Each year Apple employees gather together and assemble teams to compete against each other in the Apple Corporate Games. This event takes place in the summer and teams compete for pride.

The competition would last for an afternoon and events range from the classic tug of war, to the more intellectual word scramble, you know . . . where you re-arrange letters to make as many words as you can in the allowable time frame. Then you have the water balloon launch and catch, trying to catch as many balloons in the allotted time as possible. I think the most intense event was pictionary. I don't think any explanation of the game is really necessary, but it was an extremely intense event. If you were held up on a particular word your chances of winning were slim to none. It made me wonder if teams were scheduling conference rooms for practice during the day.

This is just another example of how Apple is different and really embraces the Silicon Valley environment. The old adage, happy people do great work is so very true.