Scrabble-d

Oh, lookey here... two posts in one day. I'm on a roll, baybeh.

I just stumbled upon the official Scrabble website and found the history of Scrabble on it.

Scrabble-Mania just started in me this year ever since I signed up for the Scrabble team, which I'm still not confirmed to be in yet or otherwise yet, fyi. but I'll know that for sure tomorrow.

One of my most vivid memories of Scrabble would be playing it with my mum and dad when I was much younger. I kept wondering why my dad could score so high marks and I was so pathetic. Sometimes, I even played it by myself... yeah, against myself. :P I always gave up halfway because it got too boring.

Back then, I played the game in the simplest way possible. Just place words on the board and count the points. I usually placed the first word I could think of and that was that.

But this year, I'm suddenly exposed to the world of Scrabble with heavy strategies. New terms were introduced to me by the school Scrabble Gurus like Xin Fang and seniors Yi Lyn and Audelia.

Front hooks, back hooks, stacking, and lists of 2 and 3 letter words, lists of Bingo words, etc. etc. Whoa... is this Scrabble? And dang, I'm having a blast. There's something really fascinating about watching these Scrabble Gurus tossing around tiles and explaining strategies. Who knew there were people who could make shifting tiles on the rack and tossing tiles on the board seem so intimidating and cool at the same time?

Anyway Jess, you asked you wondered what the history of Scrabble was, and whether it was designed by someone named S.C. Rabble.

Allow me to correct that sentiment. XD

Scrabble was started by this architect in Poughkeepsie in New York State named Alfred Mosher Butts. (I'm pretty thankful the game isn't called Buttler or Buttable...) And I quote the official Scrabble website;

Mild-mannered, bespectacled Butts disliked dice games. They were all down to luck. On the other hand, he felt that all-skill games, like chess, were too highbrow for the general public.

Yep. I don't know how to play chess... and have no intention on learning. XD

Anyway, during 1931, in the midst of the Great Depression, he developed the initial idea for the game, which he called Lexico.

'Lexico was played without a board and players scored on the basis of the lengths of the words formed. There were additional scores for words employing 'minor honours' (B, F, H, M, P, V, W, Y) and a higher additional score for major honours (J, K, Q, X, Z).

Butts calculated the letter frequency and value of each letter of the alphabet by meticulously combing the front page of the New York Times.

He reasoned that too many S's made the game too easy. So he reduced them to 4.'

However, the patent board did not like his idea much. He did a little more tinkering here and there, changing to names like New Anagrams, Alph, Criss-Cross then Criss-Crosswords.But all were still unsuccessful with the patent board.

'Then came the big breakthrough in the shape of James Brunot, an owner of one of the first Criss-Crosswords games.

The Brunots decided that the game needed a few finishing touches.

They rearranged the premium squares and simplified the rules, which were overly long and reconsidered the name of the game. Then they lodged a Copyright application, which was granted on 1 December, 1948.

Soon after, came the all important name change ! After much searching, they decided upon the name Scrabble for the game and managed to register the trademark on 16 December, 1948.'

The popularity of the game grew and never stopped growing. Ta-dah! And that's the history of Scrabble. Oh gee, is that the word 'Geek' written across my forehead? Oh, no. It's been there for a long time already. XD. Gonna go explore more of the Scrabble website now.