Hit mobile word game Ruzzle gets a TV game show and a new adventure

Ruzzle is the darling of social word games, with more than 50 million downloads across multiple mobile platforms. This week, it has scored high on news.

Above: Ruzzle

Image Credit: MAG Interactive

MAG Interactive, the Stockholm-based maker of the Ruzzle series of mobile games, is working with High Noon Entertainment to develop a television game show based on the Ruzzle series, which is known for challenging people under time pressures. On top of that, MAG Interactive launched a new version of Ruzzle, dubbed Ruzzle Adventure, a free-to-play puzzle-adventure game that challenges players to identify high-scoring words under tough time constraints.

In its first few days, Ruzzle Adventure has already passed more than a million downloads. It’s pretty rare for TV entertainment companies to take an interest in a mobile game, but Ruzzle’s popularity makes the TV partnership a potentially lucrative deal.

Under the TV deal, High Noon will develop a TV show based on the Ruzzle and Ruzzle Adventures games for U.S. viewers on both broadcast and cable networks as well as the syndication market.

In Ruzzle, players get two minutes to find as many words as possible from a given set of letters. The game is similar to Yahtzee.

It launched in 2012 and had zero marketing. Yet it earned more than 50 million downloads across iOS, Android, Windows Phone, Amazon Kindle, and BlackBerry. It is available in 13 languages and has hit the top 10 downloads list in 148 countries. MAG Interactive was founded in 2010. High Noon, a division of ITV Studios, has developed shows like Cake Boss; Tough Love; Dude, You’re Screwed; and Fixer Upper.