Words With Friends Valentine's Day Survey Reveals Players Thrive on Competition, Love Smooth Talkers, and Still Play With Their Exes

Kate Hudson Edges Out Alec Baldwin for Title of Sexiest Celebrity Player by Seven Votes

Nearly One-Third Have Lost a Words With Friends Match Against a Friend or Loved One on Purpose

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 11, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Zynga Inc. (Nasdaq: ZNGA), a leading social game developer, today announced the results of its third annual Words With Friends Valentine's Day survey. The results showcase players' passion for word rivalry, penchant for smooth talkers, and preferences for expressing their love.

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Celebrating its fifth year anniversary in 2014, Words With Friends is a catalyst for social connections as people challenge friends, family, or random opponents to create the highest scoring words. Respondents to this year's survey divulged that they thrive on competition with their partner (63%) while nearly one-third admitted to purposely losing a match against a friend or loved one. Proving romance is still alive, 83% admit to having written a love letter to someone. And, it's no surprise that 86% of respondents who admit to losing a match on purpose to a loved one likewise say they have written a love letter.

The survey also captured players' love stories in their own words as hundreds of respondents shared how their play on words has fostered a relationship through the game, led to a perfect match, and even provided a way to stay connected to their ex. Through Smart Match – a way for players to find a player of equal skill level and pace of play – many players have formed friendships with their opponents and even found love. With 1 in 54 respondents saying they have dated someone they met as a random match, many have stumbled upon reasons to fly across the world, walk down the aisle, and even discovered that their anonymous opponent was actually their husband. But while romantics have taken both their affection and their competition to the online arena, certain moments still provoke a blush. Players confess that playing words such as "thrust", "aroused", "throb", and "loins" leads to awkward moments with their opponent – although that doesn't stop them from playing these words nearly 9,000 times each day.

*Words With Friends survey results – 11,317 respondents share their love of word-play:

• Kate Hudson edges out Alec Baldwin for most sexy Words With Friends celebrity player by seven votes
• "Thrust" tops the list as most awkward "sexy" word to say or play – "aroused", "throb", and "loins" tie for second
• 60% thrive on competition with their partner
• Smooth talker or texter and using words properly are players' two biggest turn-ons
• 83% have written a love letter to someone
• Nearly one-third have lost a Words With Friends match against a friend or loved one on purpose
• "Love", "amour", "adore", and "passion" are favorite "love" words
• 1 in 54 respondents have dated a random opponent they met by selecting Smart Match in the game
• 60% are in a relationship

"We're not surprised by how many players flirt, find love, and compete for the hearts of their perfect match through the game as we've found that competition can be incredibly conducive to love connections," said Abhinav Agrawal, Vice President of Words With Friends at Zynga. "Whether it's agonizing over the ideal word to play against a flirty opponent or the anxiety of sending the ultimate Valentine's message, we do recommend choosing your words wisely – love really is a battlefield."

Launched in July 2009, and named by Apple as the App Store's No. 1 free game of all time, Words With Friends remains one of the most popular online word games with an estimated 55 million matches being played around the world at any given moment. Words With Friends can be played in eight languages and is available to download for free from the App Store on iPad, iPhone and iPod touch, as well as Google Play, Facebook, Amazon Kindle Fire, and Barnes and Noble NOOK.

Game logo and images can be found here: https://zynga.box.com/s/31ohi4eizmybrze1mlti

For press enquiries, please contact: Michelle Kramer at [email protected]

*Methodology: Data was collected via an in-game poll from 11,317 Words With Friends players from January 24th through January 31st, 2014.

About Zynga Inc.

Zynga Inc. is a leading provider of social game services, which include popular web and mobile franchises such as FarmVille, Words With Friends and Zynga Poker that are played by millions of consumers around the world. For the quarter ended December 31, 2013, Zynga had approximately 112 million monthly active users playing its games. Zynga's games are available on a number of global platforms, including Facebook, Zynga.com, Apple iOS and Google Android. Zynga is headquartered in San Francisco, Calif. Learn more about Zynga at http://blog.zynga.com or follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

The Zynga Inc. logo is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=11743

The photo is also available at Newscom, www.newscom.com, and via AP PhotoExpress.

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