Open any game on Facebook and you're sure to see energy bars, neighbors, and free gifts. Whether set in a city, farm, restaurant, or the wild west, most games on Facebook simply fail to stray from the game formula Zynga made so popular. As a result, these similar Facebook games are all starting to feel a little stale. But there are a few games that depart from that model entirely. OMGPOP's Facebook game, Draw My Thing, is one of those incredibly fresh games.

Draw My Thing
Draw My Thing basically brings Pictionary to Facebook, and it's never been so awesome. At the main menu screen, click Play Now and Draw My Thing will place you into a game. Players take turns drawing pictures, while the others attempt to guess what it is. When it becomes your turn, you will be assigned a word and have one minute to draw using a variety of brush sizes and colors. While you draw, the other players will be trying to figure out what your masterpiece might be, and blurting out their guesses in the chat. The scoring system is just as simple. The first person to guess correctly is awarded three points and everyone after that one point. The artist of the masterpiece is awarded two points if anyone manages to guess correctly. The winner is the person with the highest score at the end of the round. Fine art abound
In Draw My Thing you'll see words like 'Harry Potter' or 'Lightning', harder words like 'Driving', and tricky words like 'Circle'. Some words may be much harder to draw than others, but one thing holds true every turn: drawing with the computer mouse is not easy. Most of the pictures I've seen are hilariously bad (including my own), and bring to mind something a kindergartner might hang on their fridge. You don't need any drawing skills to play, just a little creativity and some quick thinking. In Draw My Thing, you'll spend hours and hours drawing, guessing, and laughing with your friends at some no-doubt remarkably goofy works of art.

Actually play with your friends
Draw My Thing is one of the few Facebook games that actually allows you play with friends in real time (rather than visit their farms, cities, etc). At the home screen, click Choose Friends to set up a game for you and up to six buddies. To invite your friends, click one of the Invite buttons. Then in Facebook Chat or an Instant Message, paste the automatically copied link. When your friends click the link, they'll appear in your game, ready to draw and let the good times roll.

Fun with no gimmicks
Like other Facebook games, Draw My Thing allows you to buy things with Facebook Credits. However, this game can be fully played without spending a dime. Should you decide to spend some Facebook Credits, there's plenty of neat extras to buy on that can help you step up your game. New drawing tools can be purchased that extend your drawing time or let you to draw perfect circles. You can buy Word Swaps that allow you to pick a different word at the start of your turn. You can even buy Hints to help you guess correctly. And unlike CityVille, Draw My Thing will never require you to spam your friends to progress in the game (but it will allow you to share your finest works). Draw your thing
So while you can spend Facebook Credits or play with strangers, that's not what Draw My Thing is all about. Draw My Thing is a social game meant to be enjoyed by you and your friends. And while it does have some issues such as a lack of leaderboards and stats, we can look past that. Most importantly, Draw My Thing reminds us that it is possible to have a blast playing with your friends on Facebook; and no, fertilizing your friends' crops is neither "fun" nor "playing with your friends".

Click here to play Draw My Thing on Facebook >

Have you played Draw My Thing? What is the hardest thing you've had to draw?