Tuesday, April 12, 2016

Did You Know Tuesday - Fun Facts About Scrabble

April 13 is National Scrabble Day!   I love Scrabble.   My two all time favorite board games are Scrabble and Monopoly.

The idea of Scrabble is so simple.  You have a playing board with a grid, and little wooden letters.  When it is your turn, you make words with the wooden letters.  Each wooden letter tile has a point value, so you want to make a word with as many points as possible.

This game was created in 1938 by American architect Alfred Mosher Butts.  It was originally called Criss-Crosswords, and he could not find a toy company that wanted to buy.

James Brunot bought the rights to this game in 1948 and made games with his family in Connecticutt.  Jack Strauss, the president of Macy's, played the game on a vacation trip and loved it.  He discovered Macy's did not carry the game ... and he changed that.   It was a huge hit!

Selchow and Righter bought the game rights in 1952.  Rights later went to Coleco, and then Hasbro.

Here are a few fun facts:

Scrabble was a game show on daytime tv beginning in 1984.  It was hosted by Chuck Woolery.

April 13 is Scrabble creator Alfred Mosher Butts' birthday.

Scrabble comes in a Braille edition.

The highest tile points are for Q and Z (10 points each).

The highest possible score word, with 1782 points, is OXYPHENBUTAZONE.

Over 30,000 Scrabble games are started each hour.

Over 150 million Scrabble games have been sold.

53% of all homes in Great Britain own a Scrabble game;  in the United States this number is 33%.

Scrabble tiles have been featured on record album covers by Crowded House and World Party.

A number of books feature Scrabble games, including The Handmaid's Tale, Lolita, and Rosemary's Baby.

Prince Charles and Scrabble both turned 60 the same year.  A portrait of Prince Charles was created with Scrabble tiles to commemorate the event.
 
Scrabble entered the National Toy Hall of Fame in 2004.

I would love to find a Scrabble app for my phone that doesn't drain the battery.  I love Words With Friends, but it really does a number on battery usage!  Is there another app you recommend, or perhaps a tip for Words With Friends usage that will reduce battery drain?

Do you enjoy Scrabble?   Any Scrabble memories?   I'd love to hear from you in the comments, below.    

9 comments:

Barbara said...

Hi Trish, I’m not very good at scrabble, but I do love monopoly. The problem is a game sometimes takes days, and I’m not sure I can spare that much time any more!

Emily Kib said...

I love scrabble! I learned so much by reading this too; how neat!

Beth said...

I didn't realize there was a National Scrabble Day! I always loved how the wood tiles felt in my hand, but the last time I bought the game (for a gift) I could only a version with plastic tiles. I love that it is still popular (at least in an electronic version) today.

Birdhouse Books said...

Thanks for stopping by! I enjoyed reading your comments.

Barbara, I find the same thing with Monopoly -- the games last a long time!

Beth, I agree about the wooden tiles ... I always loved those too.

Trish

Unknown said...

I had no idea about the history of Scrabble -- so fun! One of my favorite games (but my husband hates it!).

Mary Huckaby said...

I love the game of Scrabble so much that I bought the app for my Kindle. Now I don't have to beg anyone to play with me, because I always play against the computer. Very interesting blog telling the history of the game (which I never knew).

Crystal said...

Oh man, finding a way to play "OXYPHENBUTAZONE" is my new life goal! ;)

Laura Hughes said...

I have no idea when I'm going to use that word... but I am going to work it into my vocabulary and be READY for my next scrabble game!

I don't actually own a scrabble board game which makes me sad. My boyfriend and I are inspired by this post so we're going to go buy one tomorrow on scrabble day.

Birdhouse Books said...

Mary, that is neat! I actually am trying Words With Friends again after writing this post ... I have missed playing.

Laura, that is great! Wishing you lots of fun Scrabble games. :-)

Trish