# Words With Friends

> Newtoy reported 1.6 million daily players before Alec Baldwin's plane dispute.

- Owner: Zynga; originally Newtoy
- Kind: Game
- Sector: Gaming
- Seed date: Jul 2009
- Observed peak date: 2012-03-06
- Date basis: Observed peak within the documented measurement window; not an all-time maximum. Dates use the stated precision; chart positions are date anchors.
- Spread Score: 62 (Viral, provisional), v1.3
- Mechanics: Underdog, Platform jump, Press loop, Controversy

## Summary

Newtoy reported millions of daily players before Baldwin's plane dispute. Mayer's tweet and Reddit voting preceded Android and Facebook releases. Zynga used the dispute in ads, and Hasbro later sold a board game.

## Timeline

- Jul 2009 — Newtoy (App stores) — Newtoy released Words With Friends for iPhone in July.
- 2009-10-05 — John Mayer (X) — John Mayer endorsed the game on Twitter; Newtoy said it had not arranged the post.
- 2009-12-08 — WIRED (Press) — WIRED nominated Words With Friends in its reader poll of favorite iPhone apps.

The full timeline, metrics and sources are on the case page, or via the Pro API (https://howitspread.com/developers).

Canonical URL: https://howitspread.com/cases/words-with-friends

Cite as: How It Spread (2026). “Words With Friends.” Case HIS-01593. Spread Score v1.3: 62/100. Updated 2026-10-23. https://howitspread.com/id/HIS-01593