![\"Board](\"https:\/\/www.davison.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/scrabble-1-300x300.jpg\")
As we prepare to celebrate next month\u2019s National Scrabble Day on April 13th, we\u2019re brushing up our \u201cwordsmith\u201d skills with a brief history of the game that made us all a little more aware of minding our \u201cp\u2019s\u201d and \u201cq\u2019s\u201d\u2026 literally!\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
You can play it online, enjoy a variation like \u201cWords With Friends\u201d and even play a Jr. Edition with the younger set; but, SCRABBLE\u00ae was invented mostly because of tough economic times.\u00a0 Yes, one of the most popular board games of all time was invented because its creator was out of work.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf there hadn\u2019t been any Depression in the thirties, there wouldn\u2019t be any SCRABBLE\u00ae.\u201d\u00a0 So said Alfred Butts, the inventor of SCRABBLE\u00ae, who, incidentally, never made any money from what became one of the most successful board games of the 20th century.\u00a0 Butts was an unemployed architect living in New York in the 30s when he began devising a word game using letters printed on small cardboard squares.<\/p>\n
Butts called his game \u2018Lexiko\u2019 and there was no board.\u00a0 That came later as the game changed its name to \u2018It\u2019 and then to \u2018Criss-Cross.\u2019\u00a0 Butts made a few sets to sell to friends, but it went unnoticed until 1948 when James Brunot thought it might have commercial possibilities.\u00a0 He and his wife began making the game in their home in Newtown, Connecticut.\u00a0 They settled on the name SCRABBLE\u00ae.<\/p>\n
The Brunots only sold 2,000 sets in their first year and sales remained sluggish until 1952, when the owner of Macy\u2019s store, who had played the game while on vacation, told the toy department to stock it.\u00a0 Other toy shops followed suit and the rest, as they say, is history.<\/p>\n
The New York firm of Selchow & Righter, who were making the boards for the Brunots, bought the rights to the whole game in 1953.\u00a0 In Britain, the rights are owned by J. W. Spear and Sons.<\/p>\n
The standard set in the 50s cost $3, but Brunot devised a deluxe version with white plastic tiles, which cost $10.\u00a0 These plastic tiles eventually became the norm.\u00a0 The wooden tiles, which were manufactured of maple in Bavaria, had a grain in the wood that players could memorize to help them pick the letters they needed.<\/p>\n
Since then, SCRABBLE\u00ae has remained a popular choice for young and old to test their word-building skills.\u00a0 Hasbro markets a number of variations on the original concept to appeal to kids as young as three.\u00a0 It is truly a board game with appeal to all ages and for the ages.<\/p>\n
(Information taken from About.com)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
As we prepare to celebrate next month\u2019s National Scrabble Day on April 13th, we\u2019re brushing up our \u201cwordsmith\u201d skills with a brief history of the game that made us all a little more aware of minding our \u201cp\u2019s\u201d and \u201cq\u2019s\u201d\u2026 literally!\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 You can play it online, enjoy a variation like \u201cWords With Friends\u201d and even …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[64,37],"tags":[231,232,233,234,235],"class_list":["post-7034","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-featured-invention","category-product-news","tag-board-games","tag-entertainment-inventions","tag-game-inventions","tag-scrabble","tag-words-with-friends"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n