Words With Friends - A Valuable Teaching Tool. Maybe.

Okay, I admit it. I am addicted to a little game called Words With Friends. (I believe I've mentioned this game before.) It’s like Scrabble, and people can play it via Facebook or download the app on their smartphones. For those of you who have not yet discovered this little gem of a game, I have a question: What rock have you been hiding under? I would go so far as to say I spend more time playing Words With Friends than I do on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ combined. (In case you’re wondering, no, I do not have a life.)

            Don’t get me wrong; I still carve time out of my day to tend to my responsibilities, namely, the girls. I still manage to keep a (somewhat) clean house, get both kids to their schools, and also manage the duties of being a full time student myself. If I'm really lucky I fit in some time to do some freelance work and actually earn money. But I have to admit, hearing that special sound on my phone that notifies me it’s my turn in any number of the games I have going on still makes my heart flutter.

            As both a writer and a parent, I rationalize my constant obsession with this game by saying that it is a teaching form of entertainment.  After all, I’m expanding my vocabulary. I’m constantly exercising my mind. I’m even helping my children, as they also like to help me “make words”. That’s responsible parenting, right? I’m engaging my children in a game. But not some repetitive and mind-numbing video game that has no educational value (although those have their place in my household too). The way I see it, Words With Friends is a valuable teaching tool.

            One recent evening, I tossed the seven year old, Pie, in the shower. I surveyed the domain and realized that the dishes were done (mostly), the laundry was (almost) put away and the cat was fed. Perfect time to play a few games, as it was my turn in eight of the 14 games I had going on and I most certainly do not like to keep other players waiting when it’s my turn.

            I tapped my finger on the game I wanted to play in first. This game was becoming extremely dicey, as I was losing against my friend by 30 points. I’m not a sore loser; I just don’t like to lose—especially to people who cheat, which I believe my friend in this particular game does on a regular basis with one of the cheating apps. Seriously, how the hell does a person who regularly misspells all of their Facebook status updates know the words “ferly” or “quaen?” I’ve never even heard of those words and I have four damn dictionaries and two thesauruses.

            As I studied my seven letters and the layout of the board, I realized that I could quickly surge ahead by placing my W in a spot that would conjoin two words. This particular spot also happened to be a “TL” square, which means I would get triple points for the W for both words – a whopping 24 extra points on top of the actual points I would get for the words themselves. Then I looked at the board again and realized that if I added an “S” to the end of the one word it would also be a triple word, meaning that my points for the whole word would triple. Happy Birthday to me!

            However, I was doubtful about this move, because this game can be touchy sometimes and words that are deemed derogatory are not playable. One of the words that I was about to create was the word “whores”, which could be construed as derogatory in certain company. Oh well, I had to try, right? I owed it to my self to get as many points (without cheating) as possible. I placed the letters and hit “play.” To my eternal delight, the game accepted the words and I got a whopping 64 points, thereby knocking my opponent out on his proverbial butt. Score!

            At that moment, the hubs walked into the kitchen with the 5 year old, Bittle, trailing behind him. She was trying to show him her latest efforts at cross-dressing her Ken doll, but I thwarted her by shoving my phone in John’s face. I wanted to show him what I did, so that he could praise my expertise and obvious intelligence in this clever word game. I also did not want to say the word out loud, as the 5 year old has a propensity to repeat any word that might be considered as bad. Words such as damn, shit, and hell have all been uttered from her lips, and although I have told her those are bad words, her response to me is that she heard it from me and why do I say those worlds if they’re bad?

            “It let you play whores? Wow. Good job.” John said, followed by an eye roll.

            “Whatever, I’m stoked. I got 64 points for it. And this isn’t one of our games.” I was beating him in three of the five games we had going on, a fact that he was slightly touchy about.

            Bittle promptly left the kitchen, still clutching on to the Ken doll dressed in one of Barbie’s ball gowns. She hustled straight to the bathroom where Pie was showering.

            “Pie, guess what?”

            “What? I’m in the shower.”

            “But mommy played whore for 64 points in her words game! She’s very excited.”

            “What?”

            “I said, mommy played whore,” she yelled at the top of her lungs.

            “What’s a whore?” Pie yelled back.

            “I don’t know but it must be good. Mommy is very happy right now. Maybe she’ll let us have ice cream for a snack.”

            I might be rethinking my teaching tools.