Zynga Announces Hanging With Friends for iOS
Zynga announced the next “With Friends” mobile title today in the form of Hanging With Friends, a social mobile version of the word game Hangman for iPhone and iPod Touch. The app is live in Canadian App Store as of today and will launch globally “in the coming days.”
This is the first game out of the Zynga With Friends studio, which was was formed in December 2010 when Zynga acquired mobile developer Newtoy and its Scrabble-esque iOS game, Words With Friends. At that time, we thought Zyna might focus its mobile efforts more on paid apps as opposed to free-to-play apps, which seems plausible considering that Words With Friends grosses better than Zynga’s free-to-play FarmVille app. Zynga, however, recently acquired talent from mobile developer Wonderland Studios, which made a name for itself with free-to-play iOS game, GodFinger.
We expect Zynga to continue making a push into mobile gaming, given its slower growth on Facebook. We’ve heard that it paid considerably more for Newtoy than some of the other acquisitions it has done in the past year, and that it is hiring fast for a big new mobile team.
Hanging With Friends will monetize both through a paid version currently available for 99 cents as a launch promotion (later it will be $2.99) and an ad-supported free version that uses the same interstitial ads found in the free version of Words With Friends. An upcoming feature planned for the game will introduce microtransactions where players can spend real money to buy in-game currency that can be spent on “lifeline” power-ups. Currently, players earn in-game currency when they generate words, but they cannot spend them on lifelines as yet.
Though modeled on the classic word game Hangman, Hanging With Friends incorporates elements from Scrabble to form a unique puzzle-like gameplay experience. Players choose an animated cartoon-y avatar with various facial expressions that change as game-play progresses. A match begins with the player’s avatar suspended over a hazard, such as lava, hanging from a cluster of five balloons. When a player starts a round, they are given the choice of a random assortment of letter tiles to place along a row of spaces. Like Words With Friends, some of those spaces contain score bonuses like “Double Word,” which the player can collect only by placing a letter on that tile in sequence with a word.
Once a word is played by the first player, the second player gets a chance to guess at the word by choosing individual letters from the entire alphabet. For the duration of the second player’s turn, they have eight chances (here called “strikes”) to guess at which letters are contained in the first player’s word. If they guess a wrong letter, one of the strikes activates. If the player cannot guess the entire word in that turn, they lose one of their five balloons. Whether or not they guess the correct word in their turn, the round ends on that word and a new round begins with player two choosing a word for player one to guess at. Losing all balloons results in a player’s avatar falling to its virtual death while the other player wins.
The life lines are used during the letter guessing phase of the round. The “suspect” item suggests four letter to the player, only one of which is contained in the word. The “extinguish” item removes four letters from the choices that are not contained in the word. The “revive” item restores one activated strike if the player wants an additional guess. These items are currently available as one-time uses per turn in Hanging With Friends, but as mentioned, they will be available for purchase through virtual currency at a later date.
Like Words With Friends, Hanging With Friends allows the player to run up to 20 games at once. Players can enter random matches with strangers or import friends using Facebook Connect or via their existing With Friends account. Hanging With Friends also has an in-game chat function and push notifications.
Zynga did not announce plans for an Android version, but told us to “stay tuned.” Words With Friends came to Android in April of this year.
June 8th, 2011 at 10:38 am
Yay.. Zynga finally bought something kind of original.
June 10th, 2011 at 3:55 pm
Need this for android
June 10th, 2011 at 6:03 pm
Want this for Android Please????!!!!!
June 10th, 2011 at 7:24 pm
Can’t wait for the Android version as this game is quite fun!
June 11th, 2011 at 9:30 pm
This game sucks
June 12th, 2011 at 9:19 am
Can someone explain scoring in this game ?? Fun to play!
June 15th, 2011 at 8:34 pm
[...] close on the heels of Hanging With Friends’ release last week, Zynga Mobile announces today that its CityVille Facebook franchise will make [...]
June 17th, 2011 at 10:43 am
Really, really want the adroid version!!!
June 20th, 2011 at 7:54 pm
When will there be hanging with friends for android?
June 21st, 2011 at 10:35 pm
Android version please
June 25th, 2011 at 8:13 am
Waiting anxiously for this app on droidx
June 25th, 2011 at 8:42 pm
Android version plzzzzzzz!!!!!!!!
June 27th, 2011 at 4:29 pm
PLEASE GET THIS APP ON ADRIOD ASAP I CANT WAIT TO PLAY IT! ALL MY FRIENDS WHO HAVE IPONES ARE PLAYING IT AND I CANT…SUCKS BIG TIME!
June 28th, 2011 at 9:13 pm
Need this app on android ASAP!!!!
June 29th, 2011 at 7:31 am
WHEN ARE YOU DOING THIS FOR ANDROID ?? I CANT PLAY WITH MY FRIENDS
June 29th, 2011 at 6:27 pm
This is pretty addicting. Its like words with friens, you get about 14 random letters, and depending on what letters you use, it gives you a point score. For every 100 points you score by doing this, you earn 20 coins which you can use to buy one of 3 items. ( Gives you 4 letters one is correct, takes out 4 letters not in the word, lets you erase a strike.) You get 5-8 strikes to guess a word and if you dont guess the word right, you will lose 1 of 5 balloons you start with. Whoever loses all balloons first and falls into the lava loses. Chat is also enabled
June 29th, 2011 at 6:29 pm
*200 points not 100. Its also fun because your friends actions and attempts are recorded so you can see all their guessing if you want to.
June 29th, 2011 at 9:23 pm
this app needs to come to droid asap! im bout to switch back to an iphone to play it!!
July 1st, 2011 at 12:04 pm
[...] but excludes possible MUUs gained in Zynga’s latest releases of Empires & Allies (Facebook), Hanging With Friends (iOS), and CityVille Hometown (iOS). On that date, AppData records Zynga as having 267 million MAU [...]
July 6th, 2011 at 9:07 pm
Is syntax retarded. Android is way bigger then ios. They should of made the android apparently first
July 9th, 2011 at 9:48 am
Need this for Android!!! When will it be available?
July 16th, 2011 at 9:48 pm
Wish the Android was recognised for more apps after all it beats the I phone all to hech. So ok ya can we see this happen soon?
July 18th, 2011 at 5:28 am
It’s sad that such a simple little app may be what determines who’s dominate for the 2011 competition between ios or aos… get with the times android kick em when they’re down!
July 18th, 2011 at 10:08 am
when is this coming to the Android market?
July 19th, 2011 at 11:57 am
What happened to words of friends can’t find on the android any more.
July 23rd, 2011 at 7:52 am
Come on seriously zynga! No Android version? I just got my new android phone hoping to play THEIR GAMES anywhere cause they were my favorite on my iPod and I don’t wanna have to get the stupid iPhone for this game!
July 23rd, 2011 at 7:48 pm
Love this game but I wish it was on android!
August 1st, 2011 at 12:07 pm
[...] an independent mobile developer, in July of 2009. Zynga acquired the developer in December 2010. Hanging With Friends was the studio’s first game developed and published completely under Zynga. An S-1 filing in [...]
August 1st, 2011 at 3:36 pm
Android market plz
August 1st, 2011 at 9:56 pm
Def need this for android and fast too!
August 3rd, 2011 at 4:49 pm
Please update on status for Android! I love Words and can’t wait to play this too! When will it be out??????????????
August 13th, 2011 at 7:53 pm
can you play on regular computer?
August 28th, 2011 at 6:03 pm
When can we play Hanging on a regular pc (or a mac)?
August 28th, 2011 at 11:31 pm
I want to know if you are going to make it playable on the android? Right now there is an app for it for .99 cents but the reviews are very bad. would love to get it on my android like words with friends and also would love to see an app for it to play on pc PLEASE PLEASE get your wonderful game a good download app for the android a free app would be awesome like words with friends but if it must be a paid app that would work too but just a reminder some people can’t afford to always buy apps so please take that into consideration too!!! thank you soo much!!
September 7th, 2011 at 5:41 pm
Holy run-on sentence, Batman!