Scrabulous cuts off users as Hasbro spells lawsuit

Pawtucket, Rhode Island-based Hasbro filed suit against the Scrabulous creators after launching a legitimate Scrabble version on Facebook earlier this month.

Hasbro had asked Facebook earlier this year to remove the Scrabulous application, but the social network site refused, seeking instead to broker a deal between the parties.

A Facebook spokesman said Scrabulous creators had acted voluntarily to comply with Hasbro's demands. "We did not take the application down," David Swain said.

The social network site is encouraging North American members to try out the newly launched official Facebook version of Scrabble created by Electronic Arts for Hasbro.

Hasbro cautioned users of the official game that it remains in a trial stage and may perform slowly ahead of its formal launch next month.

In its statement, Facebook encouraged users to consider trying a new game developed by the Agarwalla brothers called "Wordscraper" that bears clear similarities to the Scrabulous game but had counted only a few dozen users before Tuesday.

The new game pits two players who each have seven tiles but allows them to create their own boards and assign their own point systems to different letters. "Don't follow rules, make them!" an introduction to the new game advises players.

(Additional reporting by Braden Reddall, editing by Ian Geoghegan)