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Farkle Dice for iPhone and Android Rolls Past 500,000 Downloads

Our game Farkle has had tremendous success in 2011. I put out this press release today.

Bellingham, WA – May 25, 2011 — Smart Box Design today announced the chart-topping highly entertaining game Farkle Dice for iOS and Android has been downloaded more than 500,000 making it one of the most successful dice games available.

Farkle offers players an opportunity to challenge friends or compete against a variety of “intelligent” computer opponents with a wide range of personalities—from cautious to daring—that will determine the level of risk each opponent is willing to take when deciding just how far to push their luck.

Farkle is an enormously popular game throughout the world. Players roll a set of six dice for points and can continue rolling the dice as long as their roll continues to yield points. Any non-scoring roll is called a Farkle and the player forfeits their turn and any points accumulated during that turn. Like most games of chance and skill, Farkle’s attraction stems from players hoping to beat the odds and roll a high scoring combination.

Smart Box Design is known for the attention it places on both the playability and design of its games, and Farkle is no exception. There are very few dice games available for Apple iOS and Android with the quality and attention to detail that went into creating Farkle Dice. The game, which can be customized to accommodate regional rules, is extremely easy for users to pick up and begin playing upon installation. It is beautifully designed with the rich hues of a felt and wooden game-playing surface surrounded by a western theme.

Many games feature computerized opponents that are programmed with varying degrees of difficulty (smart, smarter, and smartest). Farkle, rather, comes with a collection of computerized opponents that are programmed to employ different strategies and take various degrees of risk when deciding whether to continue rolling for points—just like different people that Farkle players will encounter as they play the real dice game.

“We are delighted to bring one of the all-time classic dice games to the Apple iOS and Android Markets,” said Todd Sherman, Smart Box Design’s president. “Our version of Farkle provides mobile device users with a great game that can be picked up when they only have a few minutes to spare, but user beware—once the game is started, it can be very difficult to put down!”

Farkle Dice is available either as a free ad supported app or without ads for 99 cents.

Farkle Dice has been translated into French, German, Spanish, Japanese and Korean.

Download Farkle Dice

Farkle Dice for iPhone / iPod touch
Farkle Dice – Free for iPhone / iPod touch
Farkle Dice for Android Phones and Tablets

About Smart Box Design

Smart Box Design, based in Bellingham, Washington, was formed in 2003 by game industry veterans who share a common vision of creating exciting, high-quality, strategy and thinking games for mobile users. Smart Box Design licenses, develops, and publishes games for iOS and Android devices. The company has previously released Farkle Dice, Triples, and WordPop!, a best selling strategy, puzzle, word creation game and continued the series with Word Monaco Solitaire and Word Watch.

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Outback Odyssey – iPad Child’s Book

The physical book is a fun read but the iPad versions brings the characters to life. I was the Project Manager on this book and I had a great time working with the team. The brainstorming sessions were great; the list of fun ideas was huge. Below is a just released video of the book. Outback Odyssey was developed by iStoryApps.com.

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Children Books for iPad

For the last several months I have had great fun working with www.istoryapps.com. They are a publisher and developer of high quality books for the iPad. Most of you know me as a game developer, but my background is in education, specifically teaching children how to read using technology. I leveraged that experience to create games for adults such as WordPop! When I got the change to work on some children books I jumped at the chance. My role was to work with authors and illustrators and brainstorm with them how the team could transform their book into an interactive iPad iBook. There are several books in the queue at Apple but below is one of the first books I worked on. Working with Woody was fun and inspiring. The more he understood the platform the more ideas we had. Well, enough writing. Please watch the video below and let me know what you think.

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Brag About Your Best Words in WordPop! for iPhone

Our Latest Press Release.

Smart Box Design today announced that WordPop! for iPhone now has a “Brag” feature allowing players to quickly and easily email their family, friends, and co-workers their longest and highest scoring words. WordPop! requires just the right combination of word-building strategy, skill, and luck. Now over 60,000 players of WordPop! and Diet WordPop! can have “Bragging Rights” when they make that great high scoring word. This free upgrade is available now for download on the App Store.

“With over 60,000 downloads of WordPop! and Diet WordPop! our players are very dedicated to the game and love to outdo each other. Now they can quickly brag about their latest word and impress their friends” says Todd A. Sherman, President, Smart Box Design, “Additionally, bragging motivates players to do better as they attempt to out score each other.”

WordPop! has a Best Words list and a global Best Words list located online, but until now, players could not readily show off their Best Words. The addition of a Brag button within the game and on the Best Words lists solves this. When Brag is selected, a formatted email with the latest and greatest best words appears. The player simply decides who they want to impress and then send the email on its way.

WordPop! requires just the right combination of word-building strategy, skill, and luck. The 6 x 6 game board is filled with randomly selected and placed letter tiles. The object of the game is to clear the board by creating words. As each word is formed, the tiles in the word are removed and the remaining tiles fall to fill in the gaps, creating new word possibilities. Players need to plan ahead in order to clear the board and move on to the next round. Since the letters are randomly selected and placed on the board, each round of the game is unique, providing unlimited gaming experience. As players gain confidence and experience their word building skill naturally increases.

Device Requirements:
* iPhone, iPod touch
* Requires iPhone OS 3.0 or later
* 2.8 MB

Pricing and Availability:
WordPop! 2.1 is currently $0.99 USD (or equivalent amount in other currencies) and available worldwide exclusively through the App Store in the Games category. Diet WordPop! is Free.

WordPop! 2.1

Purchase and Download

Today’s Best Words

Smart Box Design LLC, based in Bellingham, Washington, creates exciting high-quality thinking games for mobile devices. Smart Box Design develops and publishes games for iPhone, iPod touch, and the iPad. The company’s games include the award winning WordPop!, Diet WordPop, WordPop! Volt, Triples, Farkle Dice, Word Watch and Word Monaco Solitaire. For more information about the company, visit Smart Box Design online. Copyright (C) 2010 Smart Box Design LLC. All Rights Reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, iPhone, iPod and iPad are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries.

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June Contest – Win A Free Game

Using the letters in the grid, find and submit a word that no one has found yet. The letters do NOT have to be adjacent like they are when playing on your phone or iPad.

5 winners will be chosen at random. Contest ends 6/25 at midnight, PDT.

Make sure to provide your email address so we can contact you if you have won.

Posting your word is a quick and easy. Remember only one word can be submitted per day.

Be sure to tell your friends and family members about the contest so they can play too.

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