You know you’re addicted when your phone dies in two hours, when you start having dreams about it or when you and your friends neglect Julianne Hough shaking it on “Footloose” while you diligently work on your drawing.

For students who are looking for the next smart phone game, “Draw Something” seems to have taken over.

This free application is the electronic version of the board game Pictionary. Players are given three words and must draw one word using limited on-screen drawing tools. Words can range from a simple ruler to a more difficult Lady Gaga. Your opponent, either a Facebook friend or random player, may then guess what your original word was. Released in early February, “Draw Something” has already gained more than 35 million downloads and 12.2 million daily users.

“I think addiction is an understatement,” said Alla Krashevsky, freshman in DGS. “You know it’s bad when you get more excited over ‘Draw Something’ notifications than new text messages.”

Like Krashevsky, millions of other players share an obsession with “Draw Something”. Sally Jackson, professor of communications, shared her opinion on why apps can be so addicting.

“(iPhones and other smart phones) are always available to keep us from having any unused time. We use them to avoid ‘doing nothing,’ to give us a way to be busy while waiting,” Jackson said. “We are all getting accustomed to never being bored, even for a moment. Unlike a book or a newspaper, you can’t use up (phones’) entertainment value. They are always right there to fill any idle time.”

With 50 to 75 drawings being made per second, “Draw Something” is one of the top Free Apps, Paid Apps and Word Games in over 80 countries,just under “Angry Birds”, according to the Apple App Store.

Dan Porter, OMGPOP CEO and designer of “Draw Something”, promoted the game with little paid marketing and mostly word of mouth. Users attracted friends by posting their drawings to Instagram and Twitter.

On Feb. 23, Porter tweeted, “We’re a top 10 free app. And we are invisible on the web. No reviews from app sites, no general press. Just insane word of mouth. #deathofPR.”

Since players can play at no charge, one may raise the question of how “Draw Something” brings in the big bucks.

“Free apps don’t make money directly,” Jackson said. “Some free apps (including ‘Draw Something’) have better versions available for purchase, so they are marketing tools. Others are reputation-builders for the producer, a different kind of marketing tool.”

Porter has also sparked the attention of some celebrities such as Lil Wayne, Madonna and Lady Gaga. They are often given as words to draw, which promote their names.

OMGPOP, maker of “Draw Something”, says the game’s best-guessed words are rainbow, sun, fish, house and tornado. The least-guessed include oar, pounce, Polaroid and meathead.

Porter also plans to add some changes to “Draw Something”, including chat.

“I like ‘Draw Something’ the way it is right now,” said Jessica Bilski, senior in Education. “It can be a little slow but it’ll be interesting to see how they incorporate chat.”

On March 21, OMGPOP was bought by Zynga, a gaming company. Zynga has yet to disclose the purchasing price, but sources estimate over $200,000,000.