# Wordsteal and Wordox **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 17, 2007, 8:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordsteal-and-wordox/430315 "2007-12-17T08:32:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2007, 8:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordsteal-and-wordox/430315/1 "2007-12-17T08:32:43Z")
So my long distance girlfriend and I have spent many a happy hour playing an online scrabble variant called Wordsteal, found at [Wordsteal.com](http://Wordsteal.com). Then, a week or so ago, the servers went down. Since then there is nothing on the website at all, not even a “we’re shutting down” notice. So we tried to play Wordox, which is the same as Wordsteal (and maybe the original), and is part of Sierra Hoyle Online games. Except that to get Wordox to work in your browser, you have to do all kinds of unsafe-seeming things like: > [@](#): > > Now at the top click on the “Advanced Tab” > Scroll down to the Security section > Place a check mark next to the following: > Allow active content to run in files on My Computer. > Allow software to run or install even if signature is invalid. > Turn off Phishing filter Ummm… what? That seems like a bad idea. So I poked around a bit more, and there’s a program called “Flippen Menus” which is supposed to allow you to run the game directly without using your browser. And it provides a nice little menu… but doesn’t work at all. And I can’t seem to find a nice “how to play Wordox” faq of any sort, and the google results are all wacky. So grrrrrrr! Come back, Wordsteal! Or be less crappy, Wordox! ---
**Author:** ![neutron\_star](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/51bf81/32.png) [@neutron\_star](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neutron_star)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2007, 9:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordsteal-and-wordox/430315/2 "2007-12-17T09:04:34Z")
[QUOTE=MaxTheVool] Come back, Wordsteal! [/QUOTE] Wordsteal sounded like a fun game from your description, so I searched. According to a response to [this](http://www.krissyinboston.com/?p=480) blog, the site owner had some ISP problems and was forced to look for a new provider. It should be back online in 2-4 weeks as of December 5th. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2007, 9:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordsteal-and-wordox/430315/3 "2007-12-17T09:05:12Z")
I know several people who claim to be addicted to [Scrabulous](http://www.scrabulous.com/). They are all serious scrabble types. ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2007, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordsteal-and-wordox/430315/4 "2007-12-17T18:19:07Z")
[QUOTE=don’t ask] I know several people who claim to be addicted to [Scrabulous](http://www.scrabulous.com/). They are all serious scrabble types. [/QUOTE] Yeah, we play Scrabulous as our fall-back position, and enjoy it. But Wordsteal fits our mood better, usually. Thanks for the update, **neutron star**. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2007, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordsteal-and-wordox/430315/5 "2007-12-17T18:27:06Z")
Scrabulous is good. I have also recently become addicted to [Internet Scrabble Club](http://www.isc.ro), which has a small Java app as the client software and does not require a browser at all to run. The client has some, shall we say, _interesting_ ideas about user interface design, but it works great. ---
**Author:** ![TJdude825](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dec6dc/32.png) [@TJdude825](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TJdude825)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2007, 8:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordsteal-and-wordox/430315/6 "2007-12-18T08:45:03Z")
Have you tried Literati, which is available through Yahoo Games? The mechanics of scoring are pretty different from real scrabble, as I recall, but you might like it. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2007, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordsteal-and-wordox/430315/7 "2007-12-18T12:43:45Z")
[QUOTE=TJdude825] Have you tried Literati, which is available through Yahoo Games? The mechanics of scoring are pretty different from real scrabble, as I recall, but you might like it. [/QUOTE] Literati is ass. They replaced the fixed tile distribution of Scrabble with letter probabilities, so you might get “lucky” and end up with three Z’s, two X’s, a Q and two J’s. ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2007, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordsteal-and-wordox/430315/8 "2007-12-18T18:09:05Z")
[QUOTE=TJdude825] Have you tried Literati, which is available through Yahoo Games? The mechanics of scoring are pretty different from real scrabble, as I recall, but you might like it. [/QUOTE] It seems so similar to Scrabble that one might as well just play Scrabble, imho, whereas Wordsteal is its own entirely separate game. ---
**Author:** ![sneakypete68](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f9ae1b/32.png) [@sneakypete68](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sneakypete68)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2011, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordsteal-and-wordox/430315/9 "2011-10-18T02:03:43Z")
Hi here is the link to the new works everyday wordsteal not owned by Mark Byers but a frenchman. Enjoy!! [http://fundox.free.fr/en/](http://fundox.free.fr/en/) you will need to download silverlight application to be able to play. > [@MaxTheVool](#): > > So my long distance girlfriend and I have spent many a happy hour playing an online scrabble variant called Wordsteal, found at [Wordsteal.com](http://Wordsteal.com). Then, a week or so ago, the servers went down. Since then there is nothing on the website at all, not even a “we’re shutting down” notice. > > So we tried to play Wordox, which is the same as Wordsteal (and maybe the original), and is part of Sierra Hoyle Online games. Except that to get Wordox to work in your browser, you have to do all kinds of unsafe-seeming things like: > Ummm… what? That seems like a bad idea. > > So I poked around a bit more, and there’s a program called “Flippen Menus” which is supposed to allow you to run the game directly without using your browser. And it provides a nice little menu… but doesn’t work at all. > > And I can’t seem to find a nice “how to play Wordox” faq of any sort, and the google results are all wacky. > So grrrrrrr! Come back, Wordsteal! Or be less crappy, Wordox! ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2011, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordsteal-and-wordox/430315/10 "2011-10-18T02:59:15Z")
Scrabble games? In the fucking Pit!?? What are you people, English majors? ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2011, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordsteal-and-wordox/430315/11 "2011-10-18T03:53:42Z")
My letter tiles: b z i m e o I’m not sure what word I can make. The only word on the board so far is brain. ---
**Author:** ![Autolycus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2011, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordsteal-and-wordox/430315/12 "2011-10-18T14:29:03Z")
Well, there’s tons of words you could make. It’s what words are fun or high-scoring that’s the thing. Hmmm, you could make ‘bozo.’ That’s always a fun one. Oh, wait, no you can’t. Too bad you don’t have an h or you could make rhizome. Ack, had a drink too many I think. Shit, I too can’t think of a great choice, so how about using the existing r and making ‘robe’ ? ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2011, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordsteal-and-wordox/430315/13 "2011-10-18T14:32:25Z")
I…I…feel like I should have an opinion about this… ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2011, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordsteal-and-wordox/430315/14 "2011-10-18T14:34:24Z")
My Words With Friends app crapped out on Sunday. Every time I get it to start up, it force quits back to the main iPod menu. I’ve even synched the system up to my computer and reinstalled the software. No dice. Pisses me off. ---
**Author:** ![Zeriel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/58956e/32.png) [@Zeriel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeriel)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2011, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordsteal-and-wordox/430315/15 "2011-10-18T14:51:29Z")
> [@Enderw24](#): > > My Words With Friends app crapped out on Sunday. Every time I get it to start up, it force quits back to the main iPod menu. I’ve even synched the system up to my computer and reinstalled the software. No dice. > > Pisses me off. Words with Friends may be the single worst coded application I’ve ever run across. It basically renders my Droid useless when installed, because its background task is so bloated it makes Jabba the Hutt look svelte. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2011, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordsteal-and-wordox/430315/16 "2011-10-18T15:00:50Z")
As someone who’s played Words with Friends for a while now, I have to wonder: how are all these blatant Scrabble rip-offs allowed to proliferate with impunity? Is Hasbro just the world’s biggest pussy, or are their patents/copyrights that weak? ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2011, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordsteal-and-wordox/430315/17 "2011-10-18T15:17:23Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > Scrabble games? In the fucking Pit!?? What are you people, English majors? Wanna fight about it? ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2011, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordsteal-and-wordox/430315/18 "2011-10-18T16:11:42Z")
> [@Rhythmdvl](#): > > My letter tiles: > b z i m e o > > I’m not sure what word I can make. The only word on the board so far is brain. m **a** i z e ---
**Author:** ![Giraffe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giraffe/32/129_2.png) [@Giraffe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giraffe)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2011, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordsteal-and-wordox/430315/19 "2011-10-18T16:43:07Z")
I like Words with Friends, but something about the tile values and bonus tile placements doesn’t feel quite right to me. It’s easier to get mega-magnified total word values (I made a word worth ~160 points against my mom the other day that didn’t even use all my letters. She was…not pleased.) Several of us on GB have been playing Word Feud which I actually like better, even though it isn’t quite as shiny or feature-rich as Words with Friends. It just feels a bit more true to Scrabble. It’s available for both Android and iOS. My username is giraffe.gb if any SDMB WordFeuders want a game. ---
**Author:** ![Another\_Stranger\_Me](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dfb087/32.png) [@Another\_Stranger\_Me](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Another_Stranger_Me)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2011, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordsteal-and-wordox/430315/20 "2011-10-18T16:47:07Z")
> [@Rhythmdvl](#): > > My letter tiles: > b z i m e o > > I’m not sure what word I can make. The only word on the board so far is brain. I see what you did there… 😛 Did no one else, or am I hearing a whooshing sound too? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordsteal-and-wordox/430315.md?page=2)