We Want Our Scrabulous!

Call it the latest pet rock, the game that took over where Texas Hold 'Em left off, or an utter waste of time. My loved ones prefer the latter.

Whatever name you attach to this fad, I'm one of the many people across the world whose chant has become: ''Save Scrabulous!''

For those who don't know, Scrabulous is an online word game played by hundreds of thousands of people on the Facebook social networking site and at Scrabulous.com. But now, the fact that it is not-so-loosely based on the board game Scrabble is getting the brothers from India who created Scrabulous in trouble.

''Quick!'' I recently typed to one friend. ''Let's play another game before they pull the plug!''

True, there are so many more important things to be worrying about — the war, the stock market, freezing pipes, emptying the litter box or the dirty diaper bin.

But that's precisely the point. For many of us, Scrabulous is a brief escape from the many ''have to's'' in life and a way to connect with like-minded nerds.

To me, it ranks right up there with my iPod and M&Ms.

And I'm not the only one. Some of my co-workers, who've also become Scrabulous buddies, are going a little bonkers, too.

''Scrabulous gives me a reason to get out of bed,'' proclaimed one who's become a regular late-night Scrabulous foe.

Another — the one who introduced me to the game — promised to hold a candlelight vigil in honor of Scrabulous and threatened to burn her Scrabble board, ''like the bra-burning feminists in the '60s.''

My editor is on the other end of the spectrum.

He claims he's never been very good at Scrabble. ''So of course, I hate it,'' he grumped. Then again, he's a New York Yankees fan. So I'm not sure how much his opinion counts, anyway.

There's certainly no shortage of online games. But beyond the obvious competitive wordplay, for me, the beauty of Scrabulous is that you don't have to finish a game in one sitting. You can have several games going at once with friends or strangers across the world. And you don't have to be online at the same time as your opponents.

A game can take a few hours. For me, it's usually several days.

When we play, some people are down to business. Not much chatting on the side. Others talk about everything from the Green Bay Packers to a newly purchased vacation pad. And of course, admiration or trash-talk when someone makes a really good play is a given.

Since I began playing last fall, it's certainly occurred to me that the makers of Scrabble might not be too pleased with the brothers from India who introduced Scrabulous.

And, indeed, earlier this month, attorneys for Hasbro and Mattel, makers and owners of the rights of Scrabble, issued the brothers an order to cease and desist.

Cease and desist? Are they kidding?

A few years ago, during a widespread electrical outage in San Francisco, I witnessed grown people desperately pounding on a coffee shop window as employees hid behind a counter, with no power to make espresso. One guy shouted that he'd chew on the coffee grounds, if they'd just open the door.

I used to think that was funny.

I don't anymore.

It's been said many times, on petitions, on blogs and on message boards, that Hasbro and Mattel would be making a huge public relations blunder if they shut down Scrabulous. Several of my friends claim that, because of Scrabulous, they've purchased Scrabble boards for themselves or friends.

People who've never played the game before are suddenly into it.

So in the end, is it really worth making hundreds of thousands of people mad?

A recent count put the number of Scrabulous players on Facebook at about 600,000. Not bad for a site where some of the most popular applications — programs that anyone can download and use on the site — have names like ''Are YOU sexy?'' and ''Will you KISS me?''

Keeping the game would be a big play for all involved, like using all your letters and hitting two triple word scores at once.

Let us have this one little guilty pleasure. Cut a deal with the brothers from India.

And ''Save Scrabulous!''

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On the Net:

One of many petitions: http://www.petitiononline.com/1927612/petition.html

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Martha Irvine is an AP national writer. She can be reached at mirvine(at)ap.org or via http://myspace.com/irvineap