Australian developer Studio Folly has just launched Gubbins, a vibrant puzzler that delivers a hallucinogenic platter of moreish wordplay that challenges players to add some juice to their lexicon.
While the launch of a title that’s probably best described as “Scrabble on acid” is cause for celebration, the debut of Gubbins is extra special. That’s because Studio Folly has pledged to donate 10 percent of the game’s profits to charity.
That chunk will be donated to The Foundation to Decrease World Suck (TFDWS), an MT non-profit that aims to generate awareness of hundreds of charities that serve people in need. The foundation has previously distributed cash to organizations like Save the Children, Partners in Health, The Trevor Project, UNICEF, War Child, and Sustainability Matters.
Studio Folly made the pledge as part of a funding deal it struck with TFDWS director Hank Green, who in a thread on X, formerly Twitter, said he offered the team a “fair-sized hunk of cash” to help finish the game in exchange for them donating 10 percent of profits to the foundation.
“A few months ago, I saw a TikTok about a word game called “Gubbins” that was being produced by a small indie game studio in Australia and I messaged the people creating it,” wrote Green, explaining how the collaboration came about.
“I got early access to the game and absolutely loved it. It’s fun, simple, fast, clever, and most of all absolutely delightful. It’s just a little piece of art that is part of my daily life now. We got on the phone and they talked about how freaking hard it is to do anything interesting in the mobile game space and how they were having a difficult financial time making it to the finish line.
“I made a weird proposal. I offered them a fair-sized hunk of cash and, in return, I asked that they donate 10 percent of the profit of the game to The Foundation to Decrease Worldsuck (which is a foundation that distributes 100 percent of its income every year during the Project for Awesome.”
Studio Folly agreed and, with Gubbins finally launching on iOS and Android, the rest is history.
