Inside Social Games

Fresh from the folks at Zynga comes their latest game for the iPhone Scramble Live. Sound familiar? It should, because the game is a mobile version of the original word game, Scramble, that garners over 1.2 million users each month on Facebook. It is being released on both the iPhone and the iPod Touch.

Scramble Live marks yet another social game for the respective Apple platforms, and is the first word game for the iPhone that allows live competition between not only other iPhone and iPod Touch users, but also anyone on Facebook through Facebook Connect. The game combines simple game mechanics (quickly finding words within a grid) with the iPhone’s built in accelerometer and multi-touch technology. Players can actually rotate the game board, by, well, rotating the phone.

Currently, there are three modes of game play:

• - Solo: Traditional ladder mode pitting you against a friend’s high score.
• - Live: Compete against others in real time.
• - Play & Pass: Play with up to three others on the same device.

“Games are more fun when they are played with real friends, which is why we wanted to give iPhone and iPod Touch users the opportunity to play a classic word game with people they know,” said Mark Pincus, CEO of Zynga, in a statement. Zynga has also developed Live Poker for the iPhone, which it released late last year.

According to Zynga, the game is available for all first and second generation iPhones and iPod Touches. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like the game will be free, but it isn’t too terribly expensive at $2.99 for a limited-time launch offer. After the launch, the game will be available for $4.99 at the iTunes store.