Create new game, your move, their move, repeat until game over. The cycle of Words with Friends. You play it, your partner plays it, your coworkers are playing it in between and during meetings. Even the guy in line in front of you at Whole Foods is engrossed in a game.

I’ve found that Words with Friends (online scrabble) is not only a great time burner, but I find myself habitually completing “my turns” every night before I go to bed. It is part of my daily to-do list. The thought of coming up with a 30, no – 54-point word is so exciting, it’s beyond words. High-point words like “qi” or “ylag” are in high demand, though rarely used in everyday conversation. And there is always the opponent with the expansive vocabulary that comes up with words like “mitigating” or “circuitous” and blows ahead of you with 100 points. I like to think it’s their Google dictionary app that’s beating me, not them.

And now a word on that lovely moment just after you land that prized word that is normally reserved for Harvard Business Journal…in come the ads. I actually like to study them. “Are you a single mom looking to date?” “Interested in the new HP printer?” “Itching for Chevy’s latest Camaro?” These are a few of the most recent I’ve seen. Targeting single moms? Really?

Win or lose, it doesn’t matter with Words with Friends because you can always have a “rematch” or quickly “resign” a game if your opponent is crushing you. I’ve pulled that move a couple times. Hope to play you online sometime – Username: MelanieMahaffey.