Check Out Facebook Messenger's First Game

Hoping to keep up with the popularity of messaging apps like Whatsapp, Facebook announced last year that it was moving its messaging service over to a separate app, Facebook Messenger. After launching the app last summer to some chagrin, Facebook is now trying to sweeten the deal by adding fun apps to Messenger. This week, Facebook Messenger launched its first game, Doodle Draw, which is essentially an online version of Pictionary. It's just one of the ways Facebook wants to make chatting with your friends on Messenger more engaging, and it's a bonus that Doodle Draw is incredibly easy and fun to play.

In March, Facebook announced that it had opened up the Messenger platform to third-party apps. Initially, these were limited to content creation apps, such as Giphy for making GIFs, Ditty for writing your own music lyrics, and Emu for creating animated selfie stickers. But while these apps certainly make chatting with your friends more exciting, Facebook wanted to go one step beyond and allow friends to play games while chatting, much like users have been doing with the main Facebook platform. Last month, tech trade publication The Information first reported about Facebook's foray into Messenger games, revealing that the social media giant was in active talks with game developers.

Now Messenger users have their first game in Doodle Draw, which is currently available for iOS and Android. If you want to give it a whirl, here's how you play.

Download The Game

Users can download the game by clicking the "..." button in Facebook Messenger. Doodle Draw should appear near the top of the apps list.

Choose Something To Draw

Once you've downloaded and opened the game, choose one of the listed words and do your best to draw what it is. Examples include Snowman, Rocket, and Police.

Challenge Your Friends

After you've finished your masterpiece, send it to one or more friends and ask them to guess what it is that you've rendered.

Earning Points

Players start out with a limited set of colors, but they can earn points by playing with friends or inviting other friends to play. Those points can then be used to unlock more colors. Though the game is unquestionably a welcome addition to Facebook's messaging app, herein lies one of the downsides of the game, because the goal of earning more points can lead to users spamming each other with game invites. And being spammed with Candy Crush invites on the main Facebook platform is annoying enough.

Images: Doodle Draw/Google Play