Zynga, n. The acrid odor that accompanies bald-faced moneygrubbing. Have you seen the storefront they added to Words with Friends? I thought I smelled Zynga as it was downloading. Said storefront allows you to purchase two special abilities, “Pile” and “Word-O-Meter.” Pile shows you how many of each letter is left unplayed, and Word-O-Meter compares a word to the highest-scoring word your rack could possibly create. Playing “Pile” costs 10 of Zynga’s in-game currency, while Word-O-Meter costs 32. The above image is the pricing screen, whose economics have no doubt been massaged for maximum attractiveness. Congratulations. Zynga’s drive to monetize absolutely everything has descended to the point where they let you pay to cheat. At online Scrabble. Its shameless audacity is almost lovely.
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Zynga, n. The acrid odor that accompanies bald-faced moneygrubbing.

Have you seen the storefront they added to Words with Friends? I thought I smelled Zynga as it was downloading.

Said storefront allows you to purchase two special abilities, “Pile” and “Word-O-Meter.” Pile shows you how many of each letter is left unplayed, and Word-O-Meter compares a word to the highest-scoring word your rack could possibly create. Playing “Pile” costs 10 of Zynga’s in-game currency, while Word-O-Meter costs 32. The above image is the pricing screen, whose economics have no doubt been massaged for maximum attractiveness.

Congratulations. Zynga’s drive to monetize absolutely everything has descended to the point where they let you pay to cheat. At online Scrabble.

Its shameless audacity is almost lovely.