Around Thanksgiving I was introduced to the iPhone/iPod app Words With Friends (and by introduced, I mean my boyfriend downloaded it on my iPod when he wanted to play more matches). Since then I've gotten fairly ... addicted? obsessed? compulsive? I get excited when I pull in my driveway and my iPod catches the wireless signal and chimes, signaling it's my turn in a game. I would be lying if I said part of Christmas at my parents' house didn't involve six people in the same room with their iPods and iPhones playing Words With Friends matches with each other.

The game is essentially Scrabble, but with different point values assigned to the letters and different doubling and tripling squares on the board. You get seven letters to form words off of letters that have already been played, and you can swap tiles or skip a turn if you don't have anything to play (or are holding out for better options). The game ends when one of the players runs out of tiles, and the winner is determined by who has the most points. If you are left with tiles, the total value of those is subtracted from your total and added to your opponent's.

You can download a version of the app for free, which will mean you get an advertisement after every word you play. But right now the app is on sale for 99 cents, and I would recommend spending the dollar to go ad-free.

Within the newsroom, I've beat Executive Editor Tricia Ambrose and narrowly lost to Business Editor Brandon Baker (because my last letters were Q and V! Ain't no way out of that one!). I've beat Entertainment Editor Mark Meszoros once, but he has beat me several times -- and by a lot.

Feel free to challenge cherylgames to a match. Don't be intimidated by the fact that my job is with words -- usually reading them, sometimes writing them, always paying attention to them. I'm looking forward to fresh competition.


-- Cheryl Sadler
CSadler@News-Herald.com