Patent ID: 8677250

Claim:
A method of enabling a game to be played on an electronic device, the method comprising: enabling a game application on the electronic device to utilize a contact list for an instant messaging application for playing games with contacts in the contact list by identifying game play in the contact list; during a game in progress with a particular contact in the contact list, preparing game messages to be sent to the particular contact by including game progress data in an instant messaging message and an identifier to associate the data with the game application; communicating at least one game message during the game in progress with the particular contact using an instant messaging system used by the instant messaging application; displaying at least one instant message in an instant messaging conversation user interface associated with the particular contact indicative of game progress, the instant messaging conversation user interface enabling additional instant messages to be sent to the particular contact in addition to instant messages indicating game play; and displaying a game in progress user interface associated with the game play, after detecting a selection in the instant messaging conversation user interface to switch to the game in progress.