Words With ScrabbleScrabble, Words With Friends, Lexulous

The Resurgence Of Scrabble

The Scrabble Board Game has been experiencing phenomenal growth in popularity in recent years.

Invented and designed by Alfred Butts during the great depression and originally known as “Criss-Cross Words”, Scrabble was renamed into the board game we know today in 1948.

Today, Scrabble is not merely just a board game. It is an internationally competitive “mind sport” with an active competitive circuit, Scrabble Clubs, National Associations and World Championships.

Growth of Scrabble Clubs across the globe continues each year and the standard of competition grows along with it. As a mind sport, Scrabble is quickly approaching the level of intellectual challenge and respect that is held by other mind-sports such as Chess.

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

Successful Scrabble players know that there is far more to this game than just spelling and vocabulary skills. Scrabble is a mind sport, requiring mathematical skills, analytical and strategic skills, and a mild dose of luck.

To the recreational Scrabble player who enjoys a game with the family over the kitchen table, the luck (or bad luck) of drawing the best (or worst) collection of tiles out of the bag is a major component of whether a player wins or loses. The more advanced and competitive the player, the less luck plays a part. Strategic skills largely eliminate the luck component.

There are several reasons why Scrabble is growing in popularity year by year.

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. There are now just two slightly differing sets of official words – one for North America and another for the rest of the world.

Internet web-based and IRC-based versions of Scrabble make 24 hour play against all levels of competitors from novice to world class a reality.

The Scrabble Clubs themselves generate publicity in their communities, offering not just competition, but also a social scene for the less serious yet still enthusiastic recreational player.

Inter-club tournaments, Nation Championships and World Championships draw major media attention.

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 several countries, Scrabble Clubs and associations are working actively with Government Education Departments to introduce “School Scrabble” – combining the academic and the sporting aspects of Scrabble into the school curriculum.

The internet is playing a role in the growing popularity of Scrabble with numerous websites available for playing Scrabble online. Educational resources and advice from Scrabble experts is also readily available online.

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.

One guy. One wig. One game of Scrabble. Want to see more of The Fuplers (FOO-plers)? Please subscribe Learn more about making The Fuplers here: mattkoval.com mattkoval.com http facebook.com

Video Rating: 4 / 5

Find More Scrabble Articles

Scrabble: Not Just A Word Game

Scrabble is commonly cited as being the world’s most popular word game. Truly, Scrabble is a popular board game played throughout the world on kitchen tables and in a thriving international tournament scene. Is it, however, accurate to describe Scrabble as a word game?

At face value, a bag of one hundred letter tiles with each player having racks of seven letters at a time from which to form words and place on the board, it may appear to be a word game. On a closer examination, one must question that common assumption.

If Scrabble was truly a word game, one could expect that the most expert players would be those players with the best linguistic skills. These would include authors, journalists, language professors and similar professions. The reality tells a different story. These occupations are a rarity amongst Scrabble players at the top of the international competitive ranks.

If you were to survey the participants at any of the biennial World Scrabble Championships, you would discover a very significant proportion of these elite level Scrabble players come from mathematics, actuarial, accounting, architectural and engineering occupations. These professions reflect the strategic skills, the critical and strategic thinking skills and the mathematical and statistical skills that marks the difference between a winner and loser in Scrabble, or the difference between a masters level competitor and an intermediate or novice player.

Vocabulary is far less important than one might initially imagine in a Scrabble game. Whilst obviously vocabulary plays an important, in fact essential, role in the game, vocabulary alone won’t win many Scrabble games. You could liken it a little to war. In a battle, one side may have a majority of the weapons and even a larger army, though without a solid strategic battle plan the war is all but over before it even begins. Without a strong battle plan, the biggest army with the most weapons will not defeat their opposition.

On the Scrabble board, strategic decisions are made with every move. You may have a great word ready to play, but which is the best position on the board to play it? There will often be multiple positions where a word could be played. Rapid mental calculations need to be made as to which position will produce the highest score. Even then, it may not always be wise to play in the highest scoring position if, for example, it opens up a triple-triple bonus scoring opportunity to your opponent. Settling for a different position on the board for a lower score may sometimes be the better strategic decision.

Likewise, the strategic player considers the balance between vowels and consonants in the rack. It is often the wise choice to play a small scoring word and maintain a well balanced rack than to go for a higher scoring word that leaves you with no vowels at all for your next move.

The strategic player will also consider the statistical probabilities of drawing good tiles from the Scrabble letter bag. Playing away a single tile from your rack in the hope of picking up the Q is generally unwise due to the low probability of actually picking out that Q. The same play for the purposes of picking up a far more common letter that you need to form your next bonus word, such as an E, can more often be rewarding.

To further reinforce the case that Scrabble isn’t primarily a word game, a look at some of the recent victors in international tournaments tells a vivid story. A growing trend is for competitors from countries such as Thailand and Malaysia, where English is not even the primary language, to walk away with the tournament trophies. What these competitors may lack in terms of every day English language vocabulary, they more than compensate with their strategic, mathematical, statistical and logic skills.

Children and Scrabble: the Perfect Match

Scrabble was a tradition in my family. From the time I could barely see the board from my vantage point at the edge of the table, I witnessed the subtle strategies used by my older brother and sisters at play. I dreamed of the day I was old enough to play—how I’d dazzle them all with my victory! But that day was long in coming. If there’s any game that makes kids feel left out, it’s Scrabble. Because it requires reading, spelling, and vocabulary skills, many parents think Scrabble isn’t for the very young. Think again! Parents these days can easily introduce the game to a child as young as four or five years old. With a little time and effort, they can help children even develop advanced skills that many adults don’t know.

After the Official Scrabble Player’s Dictionary, the best Scrabble tool introduced by Hasbro in recent years is the Scrabble Junior Edition. This by far is the best way to introduce Scrabble to your four year old. Play resembles regular Scrabble, getting children accustomed to the flow of the game. First, children draw seven tiles from the pool. In turns they lay down tiles from their racks to match the letters on the board. Letter by letter they eventually spell out entire words, winning points. By game’s end, they will have used over a hundred tiles to work a variety of different words. Few preschool teachers could match that for reading practice!

Children who have mastered this simplified version can then “graduate” to the next level of play by flipping the game board over to reveal another basic version of the classic Scrabble game. Using this board and modified scoring rules, children progress in difficulty and skill level.

By eight years old, most children will be ready for regular Scrabble. Don’t get caught up in talking rules and strategy at first. Just jump right in and let your child experience the game for him or herself. Even better, you might play an opponent as a team, allowing the child to suggest plays and explaining tactics as the game goes on. Even if it’s not the best play, use your child’s suggestions occasionally so that he or she feels like a valuable member of the team and experiences first-hand the triumph or failure of a move. Having a teammate to share the disappointment will help when moves aren’t successful, or when the child doesn’t win.

Particularly in their early years, allow children to use a dictionary while playing. One rule variation used in my home while growing up was that players were allowed to “browse” the dictionary for word options as long as it wasn’t their turn. This way, young players didn’t get bored waiting for their turns, while they acquired a great learning skill! Dictionaries are a terrific safety net and their use can help children broaden their vocabulary base.

Outside actual play there are a few games you can teach that will help children sharpen their Scrabble skills. Using the Scrabble tiles, have your child spell out his or her name. Add up the score. Then spell out the other names of friends and family members, cities, states, countries, or other favorite words, adding and comparing the scores of each. Play for fun, taking off the competitive edge, and allow the child to explore the value of different word options.

Few skills are more important than anagramming to a Scrabble novice, and this is a skill you may want to explain as your child progresses. Give them a word and a time limit, and challenge them to find five, ten, twenty, or even more words using only the letters given. As they improve, encourage them to find lengthier options, maybe even offering a reward for using all the letters. I’ve used this game frequently in the elementary classroom when my class is waiting in line, and I haven’t yet found a youngster who doesn’t like it. Students especially love comparing their lists. If they’ve found a word nobody else found (or a word I didn’t) it is especially rewarding.

You may be surprised how fast your child picks up on more advanced strategies after introducing Scrabble this way. More importantly, he or she will develop an interest in word play, which is infinitely more valuable than alternative interests in TV and video games. Go ahead, invite your child for a game of Scrabble—it’ll be a perfect match!

Super Scrabble Deluxe Edition

• Comes with wooden letter holders
• Rotating Game Board
• Raised Board Grid
• Double the amount of letter tiles
• Comes with tile storage bag

Due to overwhelming demand, the Scrabble game with more spaces, more points and more tiles is now available with a rotating game board and raised grid spaces. 2 to 4 players.

Rating: (out of 88 reviews)

List Price: $ 59.99

Price: $ 39.99