ergonomics aristotle: Say the Same Thing for iPhone review: Try to guess the same word as your friends in this hilarious word game

Say the Same Thing is a fun turn-by-turn word game by the band OK Go where you must try to guess the same word as your friend, a random stranger, or a member of the band. It's refreshingly fun and is sure to get those creative juices flowing.

Here's how it works; you are not playing against your friend, but rather with your friend, or as I'll call him/her, your partner (since you can play with strangers). The game begins with you and your partner each saying a word. In round two, you both look at the words from round one, and say a word that is related to both those words. If you say the same word, you win! If you don't, you repeat using the words from round two.

Look at the two most recent words and say another word that relates the two. The ultimate goal is to say the same word as your partner.

If you and your partner say almost the same thing, you can tap the "This counts!" button to claim that the game should be over. If your partner also hits the button, then the game is over. For example, I played a game where I said "Secretary of State" and my partner said "Secretary of the State." You may also run into instances where one player spells the word differently.

During the game, you can chat with your partner and put fun stamps and emoticons on words that have been played. Using a stamp costs a banana.

Oh, yes -- bananas. There are three ways to spend bananas: use a stamp, say two words at once, and start a game. Yes, you read that right -- it costs two bananas to play a game. For more bananas, you must either buy them in increments of 20, 50, 100, or 10,000, ranging from $0.99 t0 $49.99, or watch a 30 second ad in exchange for one banana.

I hate this.

I am more than willing to pay for a great game, but having to pay to continue to play (without new content) is very annoying. It bothers me even more because the tutorial never mentions that each game will cost you 2 bananas. Instead, I burned through my bananas by using stamps with no idea that I was giving up games by doing so. Paying to remove ads ($2.99) doesn't change things either -- you still have to watch ads (or pay) to get more bananas. One 30-second ad only grants half a game, so this further adds to the frustration.

To learn that a game cost 2 bananas, I had to go back to the tutorial, scroll through 13 pages, then tap "more tips." This is simply a bad user experience.

However, despite this greedy business model, Say the Same Thing is an extremely fun game.

The good

Login with Facebook or Game Center (but not both)
Turn-by-turn game with notification
Chat with your partner
"This counts" for times when answers are basically the same thing
View past games
Stamps are fun
Stylish
Play against random opponents
Play against members of the band OK Go (long wait, though)
Remove ads for $2.99

The bad

Tutorial is not upfront about the fact that each game you play costs 2 bananas
Even after buying ad-free version, you have to watch ads to get more bananas or buy more bananas
Some users find the tutorial to be confusing

The bottom line

I've had a lot of fun and wasted too much time playing Say the Same Thing. It's a refreshing new word game that actually has the potential to be rather hilarious. I had one game with fellow iMore editor, Ally Kazmucha, that was 32 rounds long and ranged from Star Wars, to soda, to Lindsay Lohan, to ice cream, and to some topics that are too inappropriate to mention here -- now that's some good honest fun!

Hopefully the folks behind Say the Same Thing re-think their business model and, at the very least, increase the number of bananas you earn for watching an ad.