Zynga was named after Mark Pincus's bulldog, and its games once filled Facebook. FarmVille and Zynga Poker drew tens of millions of players, who invited their friends to join. Most games were free. The money came from players buying virtual goods. When it filed to go public in 2011, Zynga was the largest social game maker in the world, in a category that was still new.

Games That Spread Through Friends

Mark Pincus founded Zynga in San Francisco in 2007. He saw that Facebook's platform could spread games among friends quickly. His bet was that simple, free games played in short sessions would attract a mass audience, and that a small share of players would pay for extras. Zynga Poker was one of its first big hits on Facebook. FarmVille followed in 2009.

From Facebook to Phones

Zynga priced at $10 a share in December 2011 and fell below that on its first day. Facebook changed its rules and players moved to phones, and Zynga struggled. It rebuilt itself as a mobile game publisher through acquisitions, and its mobile hits included Words With Friends. In 2022 Take-Two Interactive bought Zynga for about $12.7 billion. Take-Two kept Zynga as its mobile games label.

Cover: The Card Player, Rembrandt van Rijn. Art Institute of Chicago, public domain. Chosen for a card player (Zynga Poker).