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Scrabble

Party and Word Games

Scrabble is a word game in which two to four players place letter tiles drawn at random onto a fifteen by fifteen board to build interlocking words, scoring points from each letter's own value and from bonus squares on the board. It was designed in the 1930s by the American architect Alfred Mosher Butts, who worked out the letter distribution and point values by analyzing letter frequency on the front page of the New York Times, first under the names Lexiko and then Criss Cross Words. Butts's own attempts to sell the game to established manufacturers were rejected. In 1948 a friend and entrepreneur, James Brunot, bought the rights, simplified the rules, renamed the game Scrabble and began small scale production; sales took off after 1952, reportedly following word that the president of Macy's own department store had played it on vacation and ordered it stocked in his stores.

Facts
Disputed
Origin Year
1938 1
1938 is when Alfred Mosher Butts had substantially finalized the game design, then called Criss Cross Words, though he was unable to interest a manufacturer at the time. The game was not commercially produced and renamed Scrabble until 1948, under James Brunot, so both an invention date and a commercial launch date are genuinely in use depending on what is being dated.
Originating Region
United States 1
Game Type
Word game, tile based 1
Governing Body
World English-language Scrabble Players Association (WESPA) governs international competitive play; the Scrabble trademark itself is held commercially by Hasbro in North America and by Mattel elsewhere. 1
Classification
Player Count
Small Group (3-6 Players) 1
Sport
Game Type (category)
Word Game 1
Scrabble
Filter Results2 entries
Connections

Ancestor Of

Equate (game), Games
Source Equate (game) (Wikipedia)
Mixmath, Games
Source Mixmath (Wikipedia)

Featured In

Source Wikipedia: North American Scrabble Championship
Source Encyclopaedia Britannica

Long-Form Articles

Played By

Adam Logan, Athletes
Source Wikipedia, Adam Logan
Source Annette Obrestad (Wikipedia)
Source Brett Smitheram (Wikipedia)
Source Wikipedia, Brian Cappelletto
Source Wikipedia, Conrad Bassett-Bouchard
Source Craig Beevers (Wikipedia)
David Boys, Athletes
Source Wikipedia, David Boys
David Eldar, Athletes
Source Wikipedia, David Eldar
David Gibson, Athletes
Source Wikipedia, David Gibson
Source Wikipedia, Harshan Lamabadusuriya
Joe Edley, Athletes
Source Joe Edley (Wikipedia)
Joel Sherman, Athletes
Source Wikipedia, Joel Sherman
Joel Wapnick, Athletes
Source Wikipedia, Joel Wapnick
Mark Nyman, Athletes
Source Wikipedia, Mark Nyman
Source Encyclopaedia Britannica
Source Wikipedia, Pakorn Nemitrmansuk
Source Wikipedia, Panupol Sujjayakorn
Source Wikipedia, Robert Watson
Source Wikipedia, Wellington Jighere
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Found In

Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is found.

Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is found.

Sources
1. Encyclopaedia Britannica
Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
  • entity record, description lead (player-count)
    Scrabble is a word game in which two to four players place letter tiles drawn at random onto a fifteen by fifteen board to build interlocking words, scoring points from each letter's own value and from bonus squares on the board. It was designed in the 1930s by the American architect Alfred Mosher Butts, who worked out the letter distribution and point values by analyzing letter frequenc
  • Featured In: World Scrabble Championship
  • Played By: Nigel Richards
View the Source
Wikidata: Scrabble
Wikidata Q170436, class allow-list match (w-wdresolver-0926)View the Source
Wikipedia, Nigel Richards
Playing history, 2015 section
Quote, Playing history, 2015 section
He does not speak French.
View the Source
Wikipedia: North American Scrabble Championship
Featured In: North American Scrabble Championship, Lead section, first sentence
Quote, Featured In: North American Scrabble Championship, Lead section, first sentence
is the largest Scrabble competition in North America
View the Source
Equate (game) (Wikipedia)
Ancestor Of: Equate (game), Lead section, comparison clause
Quote, Ancestor Of: Equate (game), Lead section, comparison clause
often described as a Scrabble with math
View the Source
Mixmath (Wikipedia)
Ancestor Of: Mixmath, Lead section, description
Quote, Ancestor Of: Mixmath, Lead section, description
It resembles a variant of Scrabble in that tiles are placed on a crossword-style grid
View the Source
Wikipedia, Pakorn Nemitrmansuk
WikipediaPlayed By: Pakorn Nemitrmansuk, Lead sentence
Quote, Played By: Pakorn Nemitrmansuk, Lead sentence
is one of Thailand's top Scrabble players and the 2009 World Scrabble Champion.
View the Source
Wikipedia, Brian Cappelletto
WikipediaPlayed By: Brian Cappelletto, Lead sentence
Quote, Played By: Brian Cappelletto, Lead sentence
is an American Scrabble player.
View the Source
Wikipedia, David Boys
WikipediaPlayed By: David Boys, Lead sentence
Quote, Played By: David Boys, Lead sentence
is a top Canadian Scrabble expert.
View the Source
Wikipedia, Joel Wapnick
WikipediaPlayed By: Joel Wapnick, Lead sentence
Quote, Played By: Joel Wapnick, Lead sentence
is a Scrabble player from Montreal, Quebec, Canada, best known for winning the 1999 World Scrabble Championship (WSC).
View the Source
Wikipedia, Panupol Sujjayakorn
WikipediaPlayed By: Panupol Sujjayakorn, Lead sentence
Quote, Played By: Panupol Sujjayakorn, Lead sentence
is a Thai Scrabble player, an economics graduate at Chulalongkorn University and manager at ExxonMobil.
View the Source
Wikipedia, Adam Logan
WikipediaPlayed By: Adam Logan, Lead sentence
Quote, Played By: Adam Logan, Lead sentence
is a Canadian-American mathematician and tournament Scrabble player.
View the Source
Wikipedia, David Gibson
WikipediaPlayed By: David Gibson, Lead sentence
Quote, Played By: David Gibson, Lead sentence
was an American professional Scrabble player and mathematics professor.
View the Source
Wikipedia, Conrad Bassett-Bouchard
WikipediaPlayed By: Conrad Bassett-Bouchard, Lead sentence
Quote, Played By: Conrad Bassett-Bouchard, Lead sentence
is an American Scrabble player who won the 2014 National Scrabble Championship.
View the Source
Wikipedia, Robert Watson
WikipediaPlayed By: Robert Watson, Lead sentence
Quote, Played By: Robert Watson, Lead sentence
was the American 1988 National Scrabble Championship champion.
View the Source
Wikipedia, Wellington Jighere
WikipediaPlayed By: Wellington Jighere, Lead sentence
Quote, Played By: Wellington Jighere, Lead sentence
is a Nigerian Scrabble player.
View the Source
Wikipedia, David Eldar
WikipediaPlayed By: David Eldar, Lead sentence
Quote, Played By: David Eldar, Lead sentence
is an Australian Scrabble player and pro-amateur poker player who specializes in Omaha hold 'em.
View the Source
Wikipedia, Joel Sherman
WikipediaPlayed By: Joel Sherman, Lead sentence
Quote, Played By: Joel Sherman, Lead sentence
is an American professional English-language Scrabble player and former world champion.
View the Source
Wikipedia, Mark Nyman
WikipediaPlayed By: Mark Nyman, Lead sentence
Quote, Played By: Mark Nyman, Lead sentence
is an English professional Scrabble player originally from London, England and now a resident in Cheshire.
View the Source
Joe Edley (Wikipedia)
Played By: Joe Edley, Lead sentence
Quote, Played By: Joe Edley, Lead sentence
is a professional Scrabble player and author, and the first player to win the National Scrabble Championship three times.
View the Source
Craig Beevers (Wikipedia)
Played By: Craig Beevers, Lead sentence
Quote, Played By: Craig Beevers, Lead sentence
is an English professional Scrabble player and former World Scrabble Champion.
View the Source
Brett Smitheram (Wikipedia)
Played By: Brett Smitheram, Lead sentence
Quote, Played By: Brett Smitheram, Lead sentence
is a British Scrabble Grand Master and one of the most successful players in the history of the game.
View the Source
Wikipedia, Harshan Lamabadusuriya
Played By: Harshan Lamabadusuriya, Lead sentence
Quote, Played By: Harshan Lamabadusuriya, Lead sentence
is a Sri Lankan-born British professional Scrabble player and paediatrician.
View the Source
Annette Obrestad (Wikipedia)
Played By: Annette Obrestad, Lead sentence
Quote, Played By: Annette Obrestad, Lead sentence
is a Norwegian YouTuber, poker player, and Scrabble player.
View the Source

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