All About Scrabble

Tip! The growing popularity of Scrabble today defies the myriad of similar rival word-based board games that have emerged over the past two decades.

Scrabble is one the most enduring word puzzle games in the world: over one hundred million sets have been sold worldwide. Scrabble can easily be found in one out of three households in America. Scrabble can be found in over one hundred and twenty-one countries in twenty-nine languages. Little did it's inventor know just how far this game would go in board game history.

In the midst of the Great Depression, Alfred Butts, a crossword puzzle enthusiast and architect designed a game he called 'Lexico' - the forebearer of todays 'Scrabble'. The game 'Lexico' was designed as a crossword puzzle-type game. In 1938, Butts designed a variation to 'Lexico' which was aptly named 'Criss-Crosswords'. To develop the scoring system, Butts studied New York Times Crossword puzzles. He noted the recurrence of letters in common words. This enabled an across the board application of points for letters.

The game was designed similar to 'Lexico' with the addition of bonus squares, while maintaining the integrity of the scoring system. The scoring system was designed to award points-per-letter used in a word; thereby enabling the determination of winner and loser. Additionally, bonus points would be awarded for strategically placing a word on a designated tile on the board.

The game, in it's initial offering, was rejected by major games manufacturers of the era. In 1948 a lawyer, Peter Brunot, bought the rights to manufacture and market the game in exchange for a royalties to be paid to Butts.

Tip! Even ESPN has trialed televising Scrabble competitions and is believed to be keen on expanding their coverage of Scrabble as a competitive mind sport.

In harmony with the games theme, and a cosmetic change, Brunot changed the name to 'Scrabble'. Scrabble, being a real word, literally means 'to grope around frantically'. Brunot made little change to the game itself: choosing to re-arrange the bonus squares and simplify the rules only. Brunot proved to have more success in marketing the game. Brunot first marketed 'Scrabble' to Macy's Department stores. Brunots' initial marketing of the game propelled the nationwide frenzy over this unique crossword game. In 1953, Brunot found himself having trouble meeting the tremendous demand for the game. Ironically, that year, Brunot sold the rights to his new game to Selchow and Righter. Selchow and Righter were one of the many companies to initially reject the game. Among these first companies to reject Scrabble were Parker Brothers and Milton Bradley, Inc.

Tip! In earlier eras, there were problems with different dictionaries allowing or disallowing various words. Today, Official Scrabble Dictionaries have been almost totally standardized internationally for English language play.

By 1955, the game reached the Australian and United Kingdom markets. This was accomplished by J.W. Spears and Sons, now a subsidiary of Mattel, Inc. By 1993 'Scrabble' changed ownership twice more, ultimately finding itself a Hasbro brand game board.

Like many other popular games such as 'Tic, Tac, Doe', and 'Twenty-One', Scrabble spawned it's own television show. Scrabble was an American television show airing from July 1983 until March 1990. This re-invention of the game once again brought Scrabble into the homes of millions of viewers. The televised version was hosted by Chuck Woolery and made a minor comeback in 1993 for a little over three months. Both television runs were on the NBC Network. Today, those desiring to reminisce can view the program on the 'TV Land' network.

With the advent of the personal computer (PC) came the inevitable PC-based Scrabble game. With this newest medium Scrabble began enjoying a revival of sorts. This new PC based version of Scrabble simplified game playing for most people: eliminating the need for calculating and proper spelling (these operations were now being performed by the computer). Soon, Scrabble made the inevitable leap into cyber-space. Online forums began popping up all over the net. Scrabble is played literally everyday from continent to continent. Scrabble spawned such groups as the National Scrabble Association (NSA). Like any other game or sport, there are official rules and protocol associated with Scrabble. There are official word lists such as the North American 'Official Tournament Club and Word List', 'Official Scrabble Players Dictionary', and the British 'Official Word List'. There are variations played throughout the world.

Tip! The future growth of Scrabble internationally appears assured. Given that the International Olympic Committee is now considering a number of mind-sports, such as Bridge, for possible inclusion in future Olympic Games, it is not beyond the realms of possibility that at some future point in time Scrabble itself may become an Olympic sport.