A few months ago, we learned that Zynga and Hasbro were busy making a love child, or shall we say love children, and now we finally get to see the the product of this coupling. And, I'm not going to lie, it's something akin to seeing someone's ugly baby for the first time. Your first instinct is to cringe, but since that's a serious faux pas, you tell yourself something like, "Oh, s(he) will grow into that giant head." In this case, my reasoning is that Hasbro is trying to make its board games more relevant in a largely digital world. And, who knows, maybe it will work. The new Zynga-themed board games that will be coming to a big box retailer near you include the following:
Hungry Hungry Herd
Yup, it's a mashup of FarmVille and one of my childhood faves, Hungry Hungry Hippos. In this version of the game, you'll still push the lever and try to capture all of the marbles, but the hippos have been replaced with a brown cow, sheep, horse and pig and is plastered with FarmVille art and logo. That's cool and all, but how did the name Hungry Hungry Herd make it off the cutting room floor? Look for this game in October, for $22.99. Bonus: This game comes with $50 of FarmVille Farm Cash.
Words with Friends
It's just like Scrabble, but it's Words with Friends! Seriously. Just. Like. Scrabble. There are word tiles, tile holder and double and triple word scores. Words with Friends comes out in October and will run you $20. The LUXE version will run you $39.99, and comes with an over-sized rotating board. There will also be Words with Friends To Go available in a portable carrying case for $14.99, also out in October.
CityVille Monopoly
This is the least surprising of the bunch, since there's Star Wars Monopoly, QVC Monopoly and, I kid you not, Heinz Ketchup Monopoly. So, a CityVille-themed Monopoly seems downright logical compared to those other variations. In the game, you will be able to build skyscrapers with stackable buildings and will interact with the CityVille Skies iPad App. And, like Hungry Hungry Herd, this game will come with 85 City Cash dollars, the in-game currency for CityVille on Facebook. Look for this in December 2012.
Draw Something
ABC News reports there is also going to be a board game version of Draw Something. There's not much info on this game right now, but logic dictates that it will look much like Pictionary, pictured above, but look more like the mobile drawing game (and, we're guessing, will include the logo as well). Look for this in late October/early November.
Do you plan on buying one of these Zynga/Hasbro board games or are is digital the only way to go? Sound off in the comments.