Word Ace Pro was just approved, too (It'll be live next week - we want to make sure everything's going smoothly before taking anyone's money for anything....)! WAP is $1, and gives you an additional 12,000 chips, and allows you to do in-app purchases. We've got a handful of extra chip packages, and will also be adding a little "donation" item at some point in the near future that'll let you donate some $$ to help support the game, in exchange for a star by your profile for the next 30 days to show other players you're helping keep the game going.
The main thing, though, is that the game's free. Word Ace has ALL the content of Word Ace Pro EXCEPT In-App purchases, which are forbidden by Apple for free apps. WAP is for you if you want more chips, or if you simply want to help support the game's continued development! But if you don't want to pay, Word Ace (the free version) is a complete game, and you can play as much as you like.
What we're trying with this game is that in addition to the chip purchases, the donation link basically lets you say, "Here's what the game's worth to me." You don't have to wait for a sale if you want it cheap, because it'll never go on sale. If you love the game, you can spend as much as you want, and you'll get something in return for it, in addition to the satisfaction of helping us pay our bills. You can play as much as you want, and pay as much as you want.
With Taxiball, we had a hell of a time pricing the game, and fell into the $0.99 trap, but weren't ever able to get the kind of momentum that you need to support yourself at $0.99. Because it was $0.99 at one point, if it wasn't $0.99, people would wait 'till it was. With Word Ace, it *can't* go on sale because it doesn't cost you anything to download. With WAP, it can't go on sale because we can't go cheaper than $0.99 and still be a paid app. For the $1, we give you more chips than $1 normally gets you, 'cause it's a pain to download another app. Your info carries over seamlessly, of course, and the one tangible bonus you get is that your icon becomes shiny and gold, if you're into that sort of thing (I love WA's logo, but next to WAP's, it looks dingy and cheap! ha!).
That's the rationale behind the pricing, the chip packages, and the donations, all of which will go live in stages once WAP is released. We think we've got an addictive game that people will play for months and months. If you agree, and you love it, when the time comes, your support is greatly appreciated. If it's not for you, you're still welcome to play as much as you want. It's an experiment - to try to figure out how to make our way in this App-based economy. We'll see how it goes.
Thanks! Have fun!
seppo