Zynga launches Words with Friends on Android; ad-free version still MIA

Earlier this month, we brought you the news that Zynga / NewToy would be bringing Words with Friends, the popular iOS Scrabble-inspired word game, to Android devices soon. Well, my friends, soon is now, as the game is now available to download on more than 50 Android devices today.

While this isn't Zynga's first foray into Android gaming (see Zynga Poker, which was released in December), this does help offer a bit of hope for future Zynga games to hit the platform in the future. What's more, fans of Words with Friends on iPhone need not fret about the ability to play cross-platform, as you can play with your friends across platforms - that is, an Android player could challenge an iPhone player to a game, and vice versa.

At this time, the only version of the game available to download is free, but ad-supported. An ad-free premium version was announced earlier this month, and is still confirmed to be in the works now, but has no official release date at this time. As someone who is familiar with the game on iPhone, however, ads were never really an issue (in my humble opinion).

We'll be sure to let you know when/if Zynga announces the launch of other games for mobile platforms, and when an ad-free Words with Friends option is available on Android, so keep checking back.

Zynga tells American Airlines to 'LET ALEC PLAY' (in word tiles)

Behold, the mighty power of celebrity. After actor Alec Baldwin was removed from an American Airlines plane sitting at the gate in Los Angeles International Airport, allegedly while playing Words With Friends, Zynga took the opportunity to chime in. On the company's Twitter account, Zynga wrote, "Hey @AmericanAir, don't ground @AlecBaldwin for playing. A.B.S.U.R.D. is worth *at least* 11 points in @WordsWFriends #LetAlecPlay."

Zynga then articulated its tongue-in-cheek response with the image you see to the right in another tweet, part of which reads, "Alec 1. @AmericanAir 0." Get it? Zynga strung the words "LET ALEC PLAY" together using word tiles in Words With Friends. That's just plain cute.

Perhaps as a result of the incident, which Baldwin explained in detail in a piece on The Huffington Post, Words With Friends gained 100,000 players today on Facebook alone, according to AppData. And, based on AppData's readings on the iOS version of Words With Friends, the game's ranking experienced major spikes in all categories. Again, behold the power of celebrity.

This is far from the first time a celebrity has ... candidly expressed their love of social games. Actresses Emma Stone and Mila Kunis have both admitted to FarmVille addictions, while folks like John Mayer and Eliza Dushku are known to be fans, according to Boston Herald. We like the game as much as the next couple million people, but it looks like this is becoming more about Words With Friends than it really is, no?

[Image Credit: Zynga]

Are you still a fan of Words With Friends, and do you support Mr. Baldwin? What other celebrities do you suspect are social game fanatics?