Draw Something for Apple iOS, Android (review)

As a photographer, I often hear from people that I have an artistic eye. Whatever that is. Truth is, I might be visual, but I can barely draw. So I never tried the app Draw Something, freeware for iOS. Never, that is, until I had to review it for this piece.

So I downloaded the app and signed up with the choice to bring in my Facebook friends — or play with random opponents. I chose the random option. I didn’t want my lack of drawing prowess to embarrass me. But now I’m addicted. I’m psyched when my iPhone pings me that it’s my turn.

I have five games concurrently going and I now have a higher score than three of my new friends on Draw Something.

Draw Something is freeware for any iOS device — that means the Apple iPhone and Apple  iPad or the iPad touch. It also is available on Android. It’s free — but the ad free version costs 99 cents. That’s worth it. Otherwise, you get the ads before, during and after each session.

Here’s how you play. First choose words  to draw.  Select a level of difficulty.

This is well conceived — a sort of combination between Pictionary and Jumbo. You fill in the boxes with letters it gives you. Then you guess what the drawing is. Sure, you can just write out the word to win the round. But it’s more fun to draw it. You are have a minimal palette of colors to work with. There’s just  black, yellow, beige and red.

Purchase additional colors with coins you win or buy. Of course, there is a shopping tab where you purchase bombs to eliminate the letters you won’t need to determine your opponent’s drawing — or to choose a new word when deciding what to draw.

It isn’t real time but it feels like it. You watch playbacks of your drawing videos while your opponent tries to name your drawing — using what you created and the knowledge of what he or she has available.

It feels great when someone gets your drawing.  Unlike typical games, you don’t get rewarded with harder and harder levels of play. Here you get virtual currency gifts. That’s my kind of game.

I received an email update from OMGpop announcing that the firm is planning more features. These include the capability to share drawings on Twitter and Facebook, share drawings to your photo library, get Android notification, increase the max streak from 99 to 999, pull down a menu to refresh game status and more. Other features I expect are an undo feature and more words to select from.

Draw Something isn’t perfect. There are still bugs to fix and lots to tweak. But given that OMGpop just launched it six weeks ago — and Zynga snapped it up for $180 million and change — the whole phenomenon is impressive.

According to AppData, the game is seeing more than 14 million downloads daily — 25.2 million monthly players. That’s hockey stick growth.

Screenshots: Julie Blaustein for aNewDomain.net