April 13, 2012 - National Scrabble Day

B-I-R-T-H-D-A-Ynis worth 17 points (without bonus squares)!

nI-N-V-E-N-T-O-Rnis worth 11 points!
n

nAndnB-O-A-R-D-G-A-M-E is worth 15 points!

nTodaynis the birthday of Scrabble inventor Alfred Mosher Butts. Thisnarchitect invented the boardgame, which he called “Criss-Crosswords,”nin 1938 but wasn’t able to interest any major game manufacturer innhis idea and only created a few games to sell himself. After tennyears of little success, Butts sold the manufacturing rights to a mannnamed Brunot, in exchange for a royalty on every game sold. Brunotnsimplified the rules and changed the name to “Scrabble.” He setnup a former schoolhouse as a workshop, and he and his family made andnsold several thousand sets. n

nFinally,nthe game’s big break came in 1952, when the president of Macy’sndepartment store played Scrabble on vacation. When he returned tonwork and told others how fun the game was, he was surprised to findnthat his store didn’t carry the product—and at his insistence,nMacy’s ordered a large number of Scrabble sets. Brunot and his familynfactory couldn’t keep up with the orders, so Brunot sold thenmanufacturing rights to one of the big game companies that hadnpreviously turned the game down. n

nSuddenly,neveryone had to have a Scrabble set!

nThesendays, not only do many families own Scrabble game sets, but there arenScrabble clubs and tournaments, online versions of the game, and evennTV shows such as Scrabble Showdown.

nEnjoynthe day!

nPlayna game of Scrabble. n

nYouncould try variations such as Solitaire Scrabble (just play normally,nbut by yourself—and have fun planning ahead and building on yournown words—then later try to beat your own score) or any these ideas. (I love to play Anagrab!) Or create your own new variation!