File this Xbox Windows Phone game release under "better late than never."
Yes, the highly anticipated Xbox-enabled version of AlphaJax is now available at last.
AlphaJax is a Windows Phone-exclusive online Scrabble clone that has made quite a name for itself since its debut in December 2010. The New Zealand-based developer Marker Metro got excited about the platform prior to its release that year, and they’ve never looked back since. Thanks to a beautiful UI and consistent updates, AlphaJax remains one of the most popular online word games for Windows Phone – despite lacking cross-platform multiplayer like many of its competitors.
Now, much like Wordament before it, Microsoft has purchased publishing rights to AlphaJax and upgraded it to Xbox Live status. The existing version’s servers will shut down by the end of the year. The fancy new Xbox edition brings several new features: avatar support, Achievements, multiple Live tiles, and the ability to play as your Gamertag and invite others by Gamertag. On that note, don’t go sending me friend requests (my list is full), but feel free to challenge my alter ego: EastX.
Spell it like you mean it
As with other games of this type, each player starts with seven random letter tiles. Both people take turns creating new words on the board, all of which must be built off of an existing word. Special tiles increase the points for specific letters or even the entire word built from them. The game continues until both players run out of tiles, at which point the person with the most points wins. You can even chat with the opposing player, unlike Carcassonne. Playing against friends and strangers can be quite a lot of fun, as long as nobody spoils the game by using a Scrabble solver website.
The Xbox Windows Phone version of AlphaJax is free and supported by ads. Get it here in the Windows Phone Store.
Reader comments
Xbox Windows Phone version of AlphaJax is live and free of spelling errors
Now see,you ask people to go there then you bring it back over here,that's ironic.
Paul you're also "lucky" to have people like myself purchase this WPcentral app as well if that is going to be your stand on my post.
If you read the reviews on each app in the windows phone marketplace...most devs respond on there as well sir.
"Had opponent place tiles away from main grouping and game accepted and gave him points,I took screenshot when this happened,contacted devs but Keith Patton is a jerk and won't believe anything is wrong with his game,smh. Maybe I should go back to spell it"
I'm assuming this is you @humboldt1? A litle bit unnecessary don't you think;) ? I'm sorry you took offence to my responses, we're happy to have constructive criticism and bug reports posted up to the official forums. The only way you will get your concerns taken seriously is by being constructive and provide steps to replicate the issue. Thanks
Mr Acevedo,with all respect I'm not asking him for anything.
I'm pointing out bugs I've come across in his game and attempting to clarify them so he understands since he did not comprehend what I was saying in my original post.did you read that post?
I've submitted the screenshot to your tips section, handle it as you wish.
It clearly shows my points I've made.
You tell me not do do something to devs(you weren't really clear there Paul) meanwhile he refuted my claims in a not so positive manner himself originally,any comment there from you or are you just SO grateful a dev is posting on this site?
Have a great day
Mr. Patton,
I'll send you an email of screenshot I have of word being play away from main grouping alone by my opponent any day you're willing to be serious.
How does me rejecting a game request make sense to you as being a "game played"?
It doesn't make sense to me at all,someone asks me to play a game,I reply no,you consider that a game played. That is what you are saying?
I know HOW to play a blank tile guy.
On my Lumia 920 when an OPPONENT plays a blank IT shows up BLANK on my screen.
Comprende?
Humboldt, we're lucky to have the developer here responding to users' concerns. Do not ever be rude to devs, especially when you want help from them.
http://forums.xbox.com/mobile_games/a_-_d/f/3270.aspx
Please post up any concerns or issues to the main AlphaJax forums.
Your links on here do not work with my Lumia 920 or else I would have before Keith.
I'm not going to take the time to by manually typing it in to offer more input for you to fix your game if you are going to be a pompous jerk claiming something isn't possible and winking at me(kinda weird man) when I have a screenshot of what I claim happened. I just found your game when this thread was posted. On screenshot I submitted to WP CENTRAL and offered to send you it CLEARLY SHOWS my claims but instead of being an adult and asking more about it to clarify, you become defensive of your game.
I see you're worried and don't want people to read anything negative about your little game that's why you keep ducking me and trying to divert to your forum,get a working link and I might
You can go to the forums via the app itself, it's real easy, help and options > click on the help and support link.
I never received a screenshot from you, and please don't email me, you will be better serviced using the forums, that's the official channel, so that title updates can take account of issues found here and include them.
I'm sorry again that you took offence, the wink is mean to be friendly, not weird;) I've never seen words that have been able to be played outside of the main grouping, but then perhaps it's linked to this WP8 blank tile bug you speak of, that could be a regression issue, i'll keep an open mind, but don't take my comment of disbelief personally!
I'm not at all defensive as you can see in my responses to the many people who are interacting with the forurms. And the game wouldn't be what it is without the input of many other people.
And lastly, it is not my game, I did develop it sure, but it belongs to Microsoft Studios, hence why I'm pushing you to contribute your bug reports to the official forusm and not attack me on these forums. I'm simply helping out the community here because I enjoy playing the game and want others to as well, including you!
Didn't realize that shaking my phone shuffles my tiles. Accidently found that out.
http://forums.xbox.com/mobile_games/a_-_d/f/3270.aspx is the official forum for AlphaJax folks!
I like the game but.....
I don't like how you categorize rejected game requests under finished games I believe.
I also have a screenshot where my opponent places a word in top right away from rest of words and it went through!!! What the heck is that about??
I also don't like how blanks are invisible when laid down.
Playing on a 920
I don't like how you categorize rejected game requests under finished games I believe.
KP > A rejected game does not count towards stats, it is classified as a "played game", which makes sense i think?
I also have a screenshot where my opponent places a word in top right away from rest of words and it went through!!! What the heck is that about??
KP > Not possible;)
I also don't like how blanks are invisible when laid down.
KP > When you place a blank you get a choice of letter, tap on the letter to fill in the blank?
I paid for the original but the xb ver only has free with Ads??? I thought it was going to be ported too.
yeah they need to give us the ability to deactivate random invites
it needs a better matchmaking system
Plus 1. Make that plus 1,000,000.
Have you tried skill match? This is a great way of getting someone around your skill level?
Most people enjoy asking for and receiving random game invites, although we recognise there's a fair few more than normal in these early days as the game usage ramps up.
It's something i'm sure that may be considered in a future update.
More on AlphaJax notifications and how to control them on the AlphaJax forums here:
http://forums.xbox.com/mobile_games/a_-_d/f/3270/t/405877.aspx
Haven't even had the game for 24 hours and I have more games going than I can handle. Holy crap.
wow. I downloaded the game, but after reading the comments I may stick with wordfeud. It sounds like starting a game is not easy?
No, it's easy. Starting a game with someone who hasn't downloaded it yet requires sending them an email, but otherwise it's a painless process.
As Paul said, it's very easy as long as that person also has the game. Last night, not everyone had it. Today is a different story. :)
Want a game now? https://twitter.com/search/realtime?q=Come+challenge+me+on+%40alphajax+&...
This is a great way to find people right now to play. Also post up to www.facebook.com/AlphaJax.
or when things calm down you can play me keithpatton , have fun!
Would love the option to turn off random game requests. Great game though.
Managed to quell the toasts. But I deleted the game and am still getting a requests. Good lord, this game's a nightmare. Wish I never installed it.
Big FAIL on this game not using Xbox privacy controls the same way console multiplayer games work. I purposely have my account locked.down to friends only, and I have no problems playing any version of Halo with anyone, friends or otherwise. The current situation also makes this a no-go for any account under parental-control.
None of the WP Xbox Live games use those controls AFAIK. It's Microsoft's fault, not the dev's.
we implemented as per Xbox LIVE privacy requirements on the phone.
Excellent. I can now happily delete the crap that is Words With Friends. If anyone wants to play me my gamertag is DTI April :D
I'm liking this a lot. Words With Friends was a disaster.
@Paul Your XBL friends list is full? Well, I'm glad to have one spot there. ;D
Yes, I always have to delete people to make room. I really wish Microsoft would increase the limit, and also give us the ability to label or categorize friends in some way. Many users don't have descriptive bios (shame on them) so it can be tough to figure out who someone is and where you met him or her.
Glad yo have you on my list too!
Yes, a paid would be great. I hate ads.
Weird that when you try to play with friends on Xbox it attempts to email them? That makes no sense. Anyway I have no idea how to start a game with ya Paul, it says you aren't an Alphajaxer. Hrm..
well, it needs to create a game to have an invite accepted/rejected. The game creation can't happen until the user has installed the game, hence the email invite.
Yes but the email field is blank, so its not very useful. It should send an Xbox message.
ah, yes. There is an invite window but no message window for silverlight/xaml apps. We need to control the invite in app, so have to pop out to an email unfortunately.
Also one more gripe. When you get a game invite where it asks you to accept/reject, and you hit back button, it auto-rejects the game. Don't remember it doing that in the original Alphajax, it would just leave the invite open for you to choose later.
I miss seeing my start tiles before accepting/rejecting game but that's just because I'm a filthy cheater. ^__^
I've been a fan for a long time Keith, congrats on the relaunch. :)
If there's a Windows 8 version it will do a lot towards giving players a good amount of competition without needing iOS or Android.
Not yet, though I just got a notification on my Windows 8 PC....Cool!
I don't see a way to turn off toast notifications. I think I'm going to have to delete this game. Too annoying.
help and options > tile and in game notificaitons can be turned off. Toast notifications can be disabled via Games Hub, pop up the little dots in app bar and hit settings, then disable push.
Yes, I read that in the help section. I don't know which version of Windows Phone you're running but my 7.5 only shows Connect with Xbox Live, Sync game requests, Show game alerts in the Games Hub settings. Sorry, I had to delete the game. It kept waking me up through the night.
The Help & Options screen has 3 options: Sounds, In game notifications, and Tile notifications.
Paul, those are the settings within AlphaJax. Tried turning those off too. The toasts kept coming! Keith was saying you can turn toast off in the general Xbox games hub settings but that option isn't there in 7.5.
Since this was an Xbox Live title, I really wanted to support it. But I deleted it and am going back to Words By Post for this sort of thing.
Noticed that after I said it. I suppose in-game toast control would be nice.
"Show game notifications" option in Games Hub > settings. Turn this off and you won't receive any toasts. It may take a wee while to take affect.
Words by post still far superior
I'll stick with wordfeud
I hate spam apps. These type are not a lot different than those toolbars browers try to get you to install to get free ringtones. All they are good for is malware delivery and I'm sure this app is no different. They look functional but they have a dirty underbelly...like Google chrome.
Why are you calling AlphaJax a spam app?
Maybe he's talking about how you get a never ending flood of game invites. I deleted the app and am still getting a game invite and "your move" message for every person it tries to match me with.
NO TOASTS?!? WTF?
Are you kidding? I can't stop this thing sending me toast notification. I hate it.
you can configure tile and in game notifications via "help and options". As that page says you must configure toast notifications via the games hub, as xbl handles those.
I'd prefer to have a paid version to replace my non-Xbox live paid version I've been using since it was first launched as I don't like ads taking up real estate, plus its annoying that MS games are ad supported (haven't we supported MS enough by buying the phone and supporting the OS?). Argh it just annoys me the way there are ads on my xbox360 when I already pay for a family gold pack
Does the dev get the ad income or does it go to MS now? (just wondering)
Seriously, if you pay for TV access, or similar things like Hulu, you pay for commericals. And not everyone has a DVR that can FFWD through commercials of a recorded program. I don't mind them, and if there was an ad-Free version, I would buy it so the ads don't consume more battery (which it has been documented ad supported apps do, and on every platform.)
You want ads on your desktop or phone start screen? That's what it is like on your Xbox. Now during certain apps, I would at least like the choice, but obviously its up to the dev to find the best way to make money.
Keeps giving an error when I try to start a game. Telling me to turn on all Xbox live communication in Games hub settings which I already had on.
Me too. Frustrating.
Same here!
Same here also
Ditto
Edit: works now, no changes on my part
Getting the same error, anyone got a fix to this?
Does this link work better for everyone else? Mine is fixed after installing this version. Weird.
http://www.windowsphone.com/en-us/store/app/alphajax/8ae92ceb-3134-46e0-...
Hi,
First off all make sure you are using the correct version:
https://alphajax.zendesk.com/entries/22541621-alphajax-xbox-live
Second, make sure you have enabled your xbox online and privacy settings correctly
https://alphajax.zendesk.com/entries/22541751-alphajax-xbox-privacy-and-...
If you do have to update any of your xbox settings, note it can take a few hours for them to take effect.
Enjoy;)
Make changes in PRIVACY and the game will work
was really looking forward to this, but have to say I'm very disappointed.. there are no toasts, loading is very slow, and the interface feels less polished than before..
I'm going to download it now, and see if my sister wants to try it out with her Lumia 822 as well.
So basically it's words with friends, but not terrible?
Sounds good to me.
And WWF looks like iOS on WP. I refuse to play it. Gonna give AlphaJax a whirl.
...and sensible bonus spaces.
Can I now get my money back for purchasing the $2.99 version?
No suckaaa jajaja
Nope
Info on update v1.9 states it will prompt you when it's available. For some reason only free available now.
A paid version would be nice. I love supporting developers like this.
Edit: Nevermind...