Draw Something: Why Can’t You Purchase Colors in the Shop?

Note: since this article was originally published, Draw Something was updated to actually let you purchase colors from the shop. I’m sure it was a direct result of this article =)

Draw Something (iTunes link) is the new hotness for mobile phones.  If you aren’t familiar, it’s basically turn-based Pictionary.  Player 1 draws something, player 2 sees the drawing (it’s animated so you can watch the person draw the picture, which is pretty cool) and guesses the word.  Pretty straightforward stuff.

As is the case so often for mobile apps these days, it’s a freemium app that tries to get you to purchase things with “coins”, the in-game currency.  What can you purchase with coins?  Two things.  You can get bombs that help you either get a new set of words to draw, or more colors to add to your palette.

UX-wise, there’s not a whole lot going on in Draw Something, so it’s pretty solid.  I do get a little frustrated when drawing, because it always seems to default to a bigger size of brush than I want, though that’s not a major issue.

There’s just one thing that makes me scratch my head.   Continue reading