A Brief Review of Scrabble

What do we do for fun? There are people who watch movies while there are others who read. If we are neither, perhaps playing some games can make our day exciting and more fun. So, there are many games that we can consider. We can consider kendama as it is popular here in Singapore these days.

Kendama is a traditional Japanese toy. The goal of the game is simple – catching the ball. It does sound simple but wait till we see the players. Kendama is harder than it looks like. We can consider kendama or we can just sit and practice our vocabulary. If we are into word games, scrabble is the perfect one for us.

Unfortunately, not all Singaporeans know about scrabble. Some heard about it but they really do not know what it is. Well, now is the time to be acquainted with the game. Here are some things that we need to know about scrabble:

• Origins: It was Alfred Mosher Butts who started this kind of game in 1938. He called it “Criss-Crosswords”. He made some sets of the game but he was not successful in selling the game to any manufacturers that day time. In 1948, James Brunot bought the rights of “Criss-Crosswords” and named it “Scrabble”.

• Game details: The game can be played by two to four players using a square board. The board features 15X15 cell grids (which are called “squares”). The board is marked with squares called “premium” that multiplies the number of points. In an English set, there are 100 tiles (98 of these are marked with point value and letter ranging from one to ten and 2 blank tiles which can be used as alternates and do not carry point value). Points are determined depending on the letters used. For example, vowels are worth 1 point while Z or Q is worth 10 points.
• Scrabble now: Many people use scrabbles for their pastimes. In fact, there are competitions around the world for this board game. There are a lot of words in scrabble dictionary. As if it is not enough, many words are added like “hashtag” or “twerking”. These words reflect the internet age and the manufacturers revolutionize it. The “Official Scrabble Words” published by Collins show new words that include web pop culture. It does not end there because the official dictionary also added sound-words like “eew”, “yeesh” and “augh”. There are people who are happy of the new addition but there are others that do not welcome the change especially purists.