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Zynga Slings Classic Favorite into Social Gaming with Zynga Slingo

Valentine’s Day might have been yesterday, but love is still in the air here at Zynga. It all started when Zynga met Slingo, and Zynga Slingo was born!

For those of you who were online casual gamers of the 90s, you probably remember the wildly popular Slingo, which launched in 1996. Since then, the game has been played by over 55 million people, 50 million Slingo games have been downloaded, and almost 5 billion games have been played online – now that’s a lot of Slingos!

Zynga took this coveted casual game, kept the core gameplay that made it so popular, and has added some Zynga twists. Zynga Slingo gives players a serendipitous, yet skillful slots game with a Bingo-style game board. Zynga Slingo marks the company’s first licensed partnership.

 We’ve infused some of our own social twists on this contemporary classic, including:

• The Friend Joker: The Joker can be your best friend, literally, Spin up the face of one of your friends on Facebook, and let them make a free match for you. Don’t forget to thank them! 
• Medals of Honor: Collect medals to complete levels and unlock even more Slingo fun and features as you progress through the Slingo Worlds.
• Leaderboards: Track the scores of your friends in real time to see who has lady luck on their side, and who doesn’t.
• Power-Ups: You can also send lady luck packing by using some power-ups.  Fan favorites, including Slingo Vision, will help you find matches and the elusive Instant Slingo will explode for big points.
• Darn Devil: You’ll find lots of tricks up the Slingo Devil’s sleeve when a coin toss comes your way. Land on the Slingo Devil and lose your hard earned points, but if you get the Slingo Cherub, your score will skyrocket to the heavens.
• Play With Friends: Available soon, players can challenge friends and compete to see who can get the highest score in three rounds.

From listening to our players, and seeing the success of other Zynga games, such as Words With Friends, Zynga Poker, Hidden Chronicles, and Scramble With Friends, we realize there’s a desire to bring back classic games so you can play with friends and family anytime, anywhere.  We’re on a journey to bring play into people’s lives and make games that everyone wants to play. Here at Zynga, we all want to bring back those Sunday game nights – from sitting around the kitchen table playing Monopoly to the high-energy game of Taboo, we want to connect people through games – whether they’re sitting around the same kitchen table, or across the country.

Zynga Slingo is available to play on Facebook here:  https://apps.facebook.com/playslingo/.

The game is available in 14 languages, including: English, Spanish, French, Dutch, Italian, Portuguese, Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Turkish, Danish, German, Swedish and Norwegian.

What are you waiting for? Start spinning! 

 

The Power of Play at Zynga

Did you know that underneath your favorite Zynga games such as Words With Friends, CityVille and FarmVille is some serious tech? We’re talking one of the world’s largest uses of cloud computing and enough data processed to store 10x the amount of movies in Netflix in HD. Heck, we help players deliver more gifts than Santa. Check out some of these tech-defying stats in our first ever techno-graphic. That’s technology + infographic. See what we did there?

And if you like staring at pretty clouds as much as we do, head on over to Code.Zynga to read more about zCloud, the infrastructure that powers Zynga games.

Dream Zoo Comes to Android Market

It’s a dream come true for Android users – Dream Zoo is now available to download in the Android Market, giving even more players the opportunity to take a walk on the wild side.  Zynga’s first zoo themed game and the first in its ‘Dream’ series of mobile social games, Dream Zoo will now be available cross-platform, giving players on Android and iOS devices the ability to connect with more friends and widen their community of fellow zookeepers.

 

Dream Zoo gives players a chance to collect, breed, and care for the world’s zaniest animals in their very own zoo. Create and expand your zoo by breeding animals only found in your wildest dreams – imagine rainbow giraffes and polka dot gazelles.  There are thousands of varieties possible and players can watch their animals grow from birth to teens to adults.  Embark on wild safaris, visit friend’s zoos and discover different habitats and terrains.

 

Dream Zoo’s popular features will be available across both platforms including extra bonuses using the location-based bonus play feature to unlock in-game rewards when you play from multiple locations.  Additionally, Android players will receive Live Wallpaper free when they download the game enabling them to customize their device with Dream Zoo animals.

 

Android fans, we know you’ve been waiting patiently for the stork to deliver Dream Zoo to the Android Market, so don’t be a neglectful zookeeper and download today.  Remember to nurture, feed, pet and clean your animals!

 

Download today: http://zynga.tm/Cx

 

 

Words With Friends Players Get Flirty and Wordy with Valentine's Day Poll

While ‘triple word score,’ tiles and romance might not go hand-in-hand, Words With Friends’ players say differently. In just three days, over 100,000 players were polled in game – showcasing the sheer mass of Words With Friends. In our favorite game of crossword combat, word warriors were surveyed in Zynga’s first wide-scale poll about dating, doting and even cheating. 44% of players surveyed claimed they have gone for more than just the gold in Words With Friends, and flirted with another player in-game. Other interesting statistics include:

• Say My [User] Name: 24% of players have exchanged their Words With Friends handle instead of a phone number.
• Words With Benefits: One out of ten players say that Words With Friends has led directly to a hookup.
• You’ve Got a HUGE…Vocabulary: 38% of players said they’d be more willing to hook up with someone if they’re good at Words With Friends
• Single and Ready to M-I-N-G-L-E: 40% of players said they would date someone they met through the game.
• I’m a Player and I Just Crush a Lot: 47% of players say they are crushing on someone they are playing Words With Friends with right now.
• Have Mercy: 35% of players said they let their sweetheart win.
• Before He Cheats: 43% of players said they have cheated on someone…in the game.

Check out the lovely infographic below for more.

Dreamin’ Big with Dream Heights

If you’ve ever dreamed of being a real estate boss, now’s your chance with the newest game from Zynga Mobile – Dream Heights. Highly social, we created Dream Heights because we want to reach for the stars – literally. This fun, fast, game challenges you to outgrow the world’s tallest monuments by building your own tower and running dozens of stores. Social butterflies will earn hearts and other goods by connecting and serving friends and visiting their towers, and of course, your friends can always hang in your tower too. Dream Heights is the third game in the ‘Dream’ series, which also includes Dream Zoo and Dream PetHouse.

Distinct features in Dream Heights include:

• Tower traveler: The Skybridge allows you to see all your friends’ towers in one place, and lets your friends visit your vertical metropolis. 
• Shop till you drop: Dream Heights features 50 awesome stores - from your own frozen yogurt store to a dance studio, and everything in between. Yes, there’s even an ice rink.
• Bigger than Big Ben: Bypass landmarks such as the Taj Mahal, the Statue of Liberty and The Leaning Tower of Pisa as you build your tower experience with stunning visuals and a distinct art style.

Like many classic games, tower-themed games have been around for years, and we’re truly huge fans of the existing games that have preceded Dream Heights. We’re committed to making our games as fun and social as possible, and we hope to “build” (pun intended!) on the tower genre by making Dream Heights the most social tower game yet.

Your tower awaits! Dream Heights is available for download today here [insert link] on the App Store for iPad, iPhone and iPod touch from Zynga Mobile.

How Does Words With Friends Spell Stardom? S-U-P-E-R B-O-W-L!!!

Super Bowl Sunday: the biggest television event of the year. Aside from maybe Dancing with the Stars, there is no greater stage in America. If you’re a fan of the commercials (who isn’t?), you may have spotted Words with Friends creators Paul and David Bettner starring in their first Hollywood cameo in a Best Buy commercial, which celebrates today’s greatest mobile innovators. Making a “play” during the Super Bowl was certainly a touchdown moment for Words With Friends, and it ranks right up there with other great moments we’ve cherished this past year as we watched our popular word game blossom into becoming a household name.

 

In recognition and gratitude of the meteoric rise of Words With Friends to star status, we put together a top ten list of stand-out moments where Words With Friends was celebrated as a pop culture phenomenon.

 

10.          In the words of Jamie Lee Curtis, waiting for a word is “like a young lover waiting for words from her beau”

9.            It’s credited for being a matchmaker and a flirt (“Check out my triple word score...”)

8.            It helped save lives

7.            Celebrity couples do it every day (no, not that!!)

6.            It’s the subject of ‘rapper braggadocio’  - word up Fabolous and Big Boi

5.            John Mayer tweeted Words With Friends is the new Twitter - on Twitter. Too bad ‘wonderland’ is longer than 7 letters

4.            Finally, people no longer have to think you’re talking about wrestling or pandas when you type WWF 

3.            The New York Giants are fans (But we are based in SF and love the 49ers;)          

2.            It became an official FAA violation when one smart celeb got kicked off a flight (play on, Alec!)          

1.            It co-starred in a Superbowl XLVI commercial! (Do we get a trip to DisneyWorld?)

 

If you’re not playing by now, it’s time to put down the BBQ wings, download the WWF app, and get your word on!

 

Thank you for playing!

 

Super Bowl: Uncut, Real Celebrity

How do you know you’ve made it as a celebrity: you have a personal assistant, you’ve got over one million Twitter followers, you’re followed by the Paparazzi? Sure, those things are nice (but nothing any B list reality star can’t buy), however we think you’re really in the big leagues when you share the stage while the titans in the NFL battle it out for the Super Bowl. If you were more focused on the commercials like us, then you might have spotted Words with Friends creators Paul and David Bettner starring in their first Hollywood cameo in a Best Buy commercial alongside today’s greatest mobile innovators. We’ve heard that people love playing Words With Friends and we know A LOT of people are swapping tiles and scoring triple letter words, and we thought it was pretty cool when Alec Baldwin demonstrated his “unflying” love for our game a few months back, but this moment takes the cake. Check out the below video for an exclusive behind the scenes look at the red carpet treatment Paul and David Bettner received while on set. We’re talking, hair and makeup, a pimped out trailer and screaming groupies (okay, that last part is an exaggeration).

 

Don’t worry guys, that thing about the camera adding five pounds is totally a myth! 

 

 

We have a Dream…PetHouse

We have a Dream. A Dream where one day lions can look at zebras without thinking, “mmm, snacks,” where penguins no longer see their wings as useless as knowing that elephants are the only mammal that can’t jump, where cats can climb a tree and not freak out when they get to the top. 

Today, our wacky dream of animals in trees, living in harmony, becomes reality. Meet Zynga Mobile’s Dream PetHouse – a game where players build tree houses and collect pets with the help of a lovable cast of animal characters.

In Dream PetHouse, we’ve drawn on inspiration from our players’ love of caring for their pets in PetVille, but Dream PetHouse is not your typical pet cage. Dream PetHouse is home to your favorite domestic animals and exotic animals you wish you could take home in real-life – lions, tigers, monkeys, penguins and everything in between (read: Ligers). 

Features of Zynga’s newest mobile game include:

• Build-a-room: If you like surprises, you’re in luck. Build a room and wait and see what bundle of joy the helpful nurses bring you. Watch the animals grow from cute and cuddly babies to, let’s just admit it, slightly less cute and cuddly adults.
• Photo Albums: As is it with all babies, time passes by way too quickly. You can always go back and relive the “good old years” through a photo album documenting key milestones, like first roar or first waddle. Shake locally grown food out of your PetHouse to feed your growing pets, and don’t forget to play with them and earn coins to expand your PetHouse and PlayRooms for your pets. 

We know we are not the first company to create a game with a treehouse, and certainly not the first with a pet theme - we tip our hats to those who came before us and while we think they are the cat’s meow, we feel deeply that Dream PetHouse moves these themes forward in fun and innovative ways.

A few examples include connection to Facebook using Spartan integration. This mobile-specific integration allows players to see which friends are playing, request to be their neighbor or invite their friends to play if they are not already playing. In Dream Pethouse, players will also notice that social interactions with friends are quick, efficient and easy – what more could you ask for in a PetHouse? Ultimately our players will decide, but we feel there is more here than you can shake a sloth at.

Dream Pethouse is available for download today here http://fun.zynga.com/1CR  on the App Store for iPad, iPhone and iPod touch from Zynga Mobile.

Bingo’s back - Zynga Bingo Launches in B-E-T-A-!

I-27, gateway to heaven! B-4, knock at the door! Whether you grew up in Timbuktu or Tennessee, most people know how to play bingo – that classic game played everywhere from a casino to elementary school. Today, we’re excited to launch Zynga Bingo in closed beta. I bet you’re wondering what exactly that means, and when you’ll be able to call out B-I-N-G-O to all your buddies. Right now, we’re only letting a limited number of people into the game to make sure our players are getting a primo, Zynga Bingo experience, before officially open the floodgates.

We’re looking forward to bringing Zynga Bingo to our players very soon, and until that moment – we’ll leave you with a quick snapshot of the game’s features to whet your appetite:

Zynga Bingo isn’t just your normal game of numbers and daubers (the colorful stamp you use to mark your numbers). It’s a fresh and social take on your local bingo hall, with all your friends (hey, maybe even some enemies – we’re friends with our exes on Facebook too). Zynga Bingo brings some fun, new social twists on an old familiar favorite:

• Friends First: See what rooms your friends are in, and challenge them to a race to see who can get bingo first.
• Bingo Lingo: Players compete against other players on Facebook simultaneously, new AND old (similarly to how Zynga Poker is played!).
• Luck & Loaded: Like to think on your toes? Players can compete with up to six cards at once for an even greater chance to top that leaderboard.
• Power-Ups: Want an edge to get B-I-N-G-O faster? Use a power-up to progress faster, get coins and even win collectibles to level-up.
• Friend Boost: ‘With a little help from my friends’ takes on a new meaning in the game – with Zynga Bingo’s best power-up available. Each friend automatically daubs a free square on each of your cards.

And you won’t be playing in your average bingo hall with folding chairs and greasy food, but in themed rooms including:

• Vegas Lights: Visit old sin city, with your bingo balls coming straight out of the truck of a classic Cadillac.
• Pirate’s Paradise: Ahoy Matey in a room where a treasure chest delivers the bingo balls
• FarmVille Bounty: Bingo in FarmVille? Challenge your buddies to get four corners in the themed room based off one of your favorite games.

Zynga Bingo will be launching in Zynga’s newest franchise, Zynga Casino – announced at Zynga Unleashed in October 2011. Here at Zynga we treat our games like our pups, and are proud of our first-dog, Zynga Poker. Zynga Poker was the first social game that Zynga ever created, launched in July 2007 – and will also be part of the Zynga Casino family of games.

Stay tuned for Zynga Bingo to open up to our players around the world, and in the meantime – feel free to “Like” Zynga Bingo’s Facebook page here for more updates.

Seeds for Change: Zynga.org Gets Even Sweeter

It’s a big day for Zynga – as we welcome Ken Weber, executive director of Zynga.org to our family. Zynga’s philanthropic organization, Zynga.org, has been a fundamental part of the company since 2009, when passionate employees realized that social games have the power to make a significant impact in the world. With the addition of Ken to the Zynga team, we’re are leveling up our commitment to Zynga.org.

Through our philanthropic arm, Zynga.org, we are connecting the world through causes and doing social good through virtual goods. We are passionate and focused around the themes of “work” and “play” for our Zynga.org efforts, and are reinventing giving and introducing a new way to put social good into products. Hundreds of thousands of players have made contributions in more than 165 countries through Zynga games. From Sweet Seeds in FarmVille where players spent two years plowing and planting to contribute to the building of L‘Ecole de Choix, a school in Mirebalais, Haiti; to players banding together to raise more than $3 million (including a generous donation from Lady Gaga) to aid those affected by the Japan tsunami – it’s been unbelievable to watch players show how they care. This has all been possible thanks to the generosity of our players and great collaboration with partner organizations including Save the Children and Direct Relief International.

One of our core values at Zynga is what we call ‘level-up’ – where one steps up their game and gets to that next level – and that is our intention for Zynga.org by bringing Ken on board. We’re stepping up our game by devoting more time and resources to give our players what they are asking for, a chance to give back.  Ken comes to Zynga after spending the last six years as COO at The ONE Campaign, a global grassroots advocacy that plays an important role in fighting poverty and preventable disease, with a focus on Africa. Prior to The One Campaign, Ken was the president and COO for Network For Good, a leading provider of fundraising and volunteer services to individuals and nonprofits across the world.

With the hire of Ken, we hope that Zynga.org will continue to innovate as a new platform for giving back. We want to inspire our players worldwide connect with causes they feel an emotional excitement around. Who knew that our beloved Sweet Seeds could get sweeter? Welcome aboard, Ken!