There are certain classic board games that are always fun to play with friends. Zynga was an early pioneer in the space of mobile games, adapting several popular card and board games in ways that made them easy to play with friends no matter where they might be located. One of the classics is Words with Friends, a game that has typically boasted a higher player base as well as the kind of simple design that makes it easy to pick up and play.

Features

Words with Friends Classic is a classic word-building board game. Players are given a slate of tiles and must build words that are worth a certain number of points depending on where they are placed on the board. The game liberally draws from Scrabble for inspiration, though its slightly different board does mean that some of the strategies that work in Scrabble won't necessarily work quite as well here. The game allows players to either take on the computer or to challenge human players, which gives players at all skill levels a chance to play in ways that make them happy.

Benefits

Perhaps the biggest benefit of this game is the fact that it makes it very easy to play a traditional word game with friends no matter how far away you might be. The game has a fairly large dictionary that allows for some excellent word play, while the design of the board makes strategy even more important than having a large vocabulary. This game also benefits from being one of the earlier word games to make it onto the app store, as the game's unique presentation and board style make almost every other word game feel like they're playing follow the leader.

Pros and Cons

The biggest factor that weighs in favor of this game is its simplicity. With virtually no learning curve, the only thing that stands between you and winning a game is getting the right tiles to spell the right words. Anyone who has ever played a game of Scrabble will feel right at home here, and the decision not to clutter the game with obnoxious animations or overdone special effects really helps players to enjoy the game as it was designed to be enjoyed.

Unfortunately, this game is one of the most ad-ridden games on the market right now. You'll be treated to a length, unskippable ad after almost every turn, which not only stretches out the length of the game but that also makes the game quite annoying to play. You'll get the chance to pay to make the ads go away, of course, but even that doesn't seem like much of a compromise for those who are still waiting for their non-paying friends to wait through yet another ad or for their energy to regenerate enough to allow them to play a new game. It's truly a shame that Zynga's monetization efforts have managed to make such a fun game so much of a chore.

Conclusion

Words with Friends Classic is a great game that is unfortunately hobbled by the sheer number of ads slotted into every free space. Though it's almost certainly worth playing, there are many other similar games that don't waste quite as much time on ads. This is a great game to go back to if you were a fan of it in its original iteration, but be aware that you're almost certainly going to spend more time watching ads than you will spend placing tiles in this game.