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Scrabble is the world's most iconic word tile-based board game brand, where 2-4 players compete to score points by placing letter tiles into valid words on a 15×15 game grid. It has sold hundreds of millions of copies globally and maintains an active international competitive tournament scene.
Key moments
1938American architect Alfred Mosher Butts creates the original game prototype, first named Lexiko then renamed Criss-Cross Words
1948James Brunot purchases the rights to the game, renames it Scrabble and registers the official trademark
1952Game firm Selchow & Righter acquires the Scrabble brand and launches mass production, triggering widespread mainstream popularity in the U.S.
1986Selchow & Righter sells the full Scrabble brand to Coleco Industries
1989Following Coleco's bankruptcy, brand rights are split: Hasbro owns Scrabble in the U.S. and Canada, Mattel owns rights for all other global markets
Scrabble competes across physical tabletop games and digital word gaming, with the following key competitive dynamics:
In physical board games, direct competitors like Bananagrams and Boggle target casual players with faster-paced, more portable gameplay than traditional full-length Scrabble matches.
In mobile digital gaming, Zynga's Words with Friends is Scrabble's largest competitor, leveraging social connectivity and asynchronous play to capture the large casual audience that has shifted to mobile gaming.
Social party word games such as Codenames compete for group game night market share, drawing players who prefer team-based multiplayer fun over Scrabble's individual head-to-head competition.
Scrabble's key lasting advantage is its decades of global brand recognition and established competitive ecosystem, which keeps a loyal core audience of casual and tournament players.
Scrabble stands as one of the most enduring and culturally embedded tabletop game brands in global history, holding a singular position at the intersection of recreational leisure, linguistic education, and formal competitive tabletop sports. For more than eight decades, the brand has cultivated cross-generational loyalty, with households across dozens of markets retaining physical Scrabble sets as staple family entertainment items that are regularly passed down between relatives.
Its brand identity is closely tied to universally recognizable visual signifiers including the 15×15 grid board, the distinctive colored premium score squares, and the raised wooden or plastic letter tiles printed with bold serif characters, all of which require no additional introduction for most consumers in English-speaking and many non-English speaking territories. The core rule set, which rewards strategic placement of high-value letter tiles and bonus square utilization, has remained largely consistent for generations, creating a shared universal experience for players across disparate regions and age groups.
Unlike many transient game franchises that rely on iterative content updates or licensed media tie-ins to retain audience attention, Scrabble has maintained its simple, accessible core gameplay for most of its lifespan, allowing it to build a stable, trusted reputation that serves as a strong competitive moat against competing word game products launched on mobile and digital platforms in recent years.
Brand Leadership
Score: 92/100
Scrabble is the undisputed market leader in the global physical word tile game sub-category, with no competing word-based board game coming close to matching its global sales volume, cross-market cultural recognition, or dedicated organized player base overseen by more than 30 national governing bodies that regulate official competitive play.
User Community Interaction
Score: 87/100
The brand maintains highly active cross-demographic engagement, spanning casual family players who participate in informal at-home game nights, millions of mobile app users who play daily quick word matches, and elite competitive players who travel to international Scrabble tournaments each year to compete for prize pools and global ranking positions.
Market Momentum
Score: 74/100
While growth in core physical board game sales remains steady, the Scrabble brand has expanded its footprint via licensed digital partnerships, localized non-English language versions for high-growth emerging markets, and limited-edition themed product lines tied to pop culture franchises to attract younger, more diverse consumer segments over the past decade.
Brand Stability
Score: 95/100
Scrabble has not experienced any major sustained decline in consumer demand over its 80+ year commercial history, surviving shifts in entertainment consumption from the rise of at-home television viewing, the launch of mainstream video game consoles, the social media era, and the recent global tabletop game boom without losing its core market position.
Brand Legacy & Age
Score: 94/100
First commercially released in 1948 following its original conceptual development during the Great Depression, the Scrabble brand has accumulated more than 75 years of unbroken commercial operations, making it one of the oldest continuously mass-produced board game brands that is still universally recognized by modern consumer audiences worldwide.
Industry Profile
Score: 89/100
Within the broader global tabletop gaming industry, Scrabble is widely regarded as a benchmark for sustainable, long-running brand success, frequently cited by industry analysts and independent game developers as a model for creating accessible, timeless gameplay that appeals equally to new casual players and long-term dedicated enthusiasts.
Global Reach & Localization
Score: 88/100
The Scrabble brand has been formally localized for more than 30 different languages, with adjusted tile sets and official approved word dictionaries tailored to regional linguistic norms, and has sold more than 150 million total physical copies across nearly every country in the world, building large dedicated player communities in markets far outside its original U.S. home.
This brand value assessment is generated with the support of AI-powered brand performance reasoning frameworks, and all illustrative figures included are for reference and analytical purposes only. To access the official audited, rigorously verified brand value data for the Scrabble brand, please reach out directly to the World Brand Lab for full, standardized official valuation reports.
setup time
2–4 minutes
playing time
Tournament game: 50–60 minutes
random chance
Medium (letters drawn)
skills
Vocabulary, spelling, anagramming, strategy, counting, bluffing, probability
Scrabble is a word game in which two to four players score points by placing tiles, each bearing a single letter, onto a game board divided into a 15×15 grid of squares.The tiles must form words that, in crossword fashion, read left to right in rows or downward in columns and are included in a standard dictionary or lexicon.
American architect Alfred Mosher Butts invented the game in 1931.Scrabble is produced in the United States and Canada by Hasbro, under the brands of both of its subsidiaries, Milton Bradley and Parker Brothers.Mattel owns the rights to manufacture Scrabble outside the U.S. and Canada. As of 2008, the game is sold in 121 countries and is available in more than 30 languages; approximately 150 million sets have been sold worldwide, and roughly one-third of American homes and half of British homes have a Scrabble set.[1][2][3] There are approximately 4,000 Scrabble clubs around the world.[4]
Equipment
Scrabble is played on a 15x15 board, containing 225 squares. Certain squares are premium squares: 8 red triple word score (TWS) squares, 17 pink double word score (DWS) squares, including the center square (H8, often marked with a star or other symbol), 12 blue triple letter score (TLS) squares, and 24 light blue double letter score (DLS) squares. In 2008, Hasbro changed the colors of the premium squares to orange, red, green, and blue for TWS, DWS, TLS, and DLS respectively, but the original premium square color scheme is still preferred for Scrabble boards used in tournaments.[5] Boards with a raised grid and the ability to rotate are standard in tournaments.
An English-language set contains 100 tiles, 98 of which are marked with a letter and a point value between 1 and 10. Each tile's point value is based on its frequency in English, with vowels and common letters such as L, N, R, S, and T worth 1 point, and rare letters such as Q and Z worth 10 points. The remaining two tiles are blank and carry no value. Other language sets use different letter set distributions with different point values. Tiles are usually made of wood or plastic and are 19 x square and 4 mm thick, slightly smaller than the squares on the board. Each player uses a rack that conceals their tiles from other players.
History
In 1931 in Poughkeepsie, New York, the American architect Alfred Mosher Butts created the game as a variation on an earlier word game he invented, called Lexiko.The two games had the same set of letter tiles, whose distributions and point values Butts worked out by performing a frequency analysis of letters from various sources, including The New York Times. The new game, which he called Criss-Crosswords, added the 15×15 gameboard and the crossword-style gameplay. He manufactured a few sets himself but was not successful in selling the game to any major game manufacturers of the day.[7]
In 1948, James Brunot,[8] a resident of Newtown, Connecticut, and one of the few owners of the original Criss-Crosswords game, bought the rights to manufacture the game in exchange for granting Butts a royalty on every unit sold.Although he left most of the game (including the distribution of letters) unchanged, Brunot slightly rearranged the "premium" squares of the board and simplified the rules; he also renamed the game Scrabble, a real word that means "scratch frantically".[7] In 1949, Brunot and his family made sets in a converted former schoolhouse in Dodgingtown, Connecticut, a section of Newtown.They made 2,400 sets that year but lost money.
Rules
Before the game, a word list or dictionary is selected in order to adjudicate any challenges during the game.In club and tournament play, the word list is specified in advance, typically the NASPA Word List, the Official Scrabble Players Dictionary, or Collins Scrabble Words. All 100 tiles are placed into an opaque bag. To decide who goes first, each player selects 1 tile from the bag, and whoever selects the tile alphabetically closest to "A" goes first, with blanks superseding all letters.[19] Each player then draws seven tiles and places them on their rack, hidden from other players.
Gameplay
On every turn, the player at turn can perform one of the following options:
The first play of the game must consist of at least two tiles and cover the center square (H8). Any play thereafter must use at least one of the player's tiles to form a "main word" (containing all of the player's played tiles in a straight line) reading left-to-right or top-to-bottom. Diagonal plays are not allowed. At least one tile must be adjacent (horizontally or vertically) to a tile already on the board. If the play includes a blank tile, the player must designate the letter the blank represents; that letter remains unchanged for the rest of the game unless the play is challenged off. The player announces the score for that play, then draws replenishment tiles from the bag.If the game is played using a
Competitive play
Club and tournament play
Tens of thousands play club and tournament Scrabble worldwide. The rules and equipment in tournament Scrabble differ somewhat from those typically found in casual play. For example, all tournament (and most club) games are played with a game clock and a set time control, and are only between two players (or occasionally, two teams of players).A player who goes overtime does not immediately lose the game (as in chess), but is instead assessed a 10-point penalty per minute.[29][30] Also, the original wooden tiles are not allowed in tournaments as it is possible for players to "feel" the tiles in the bag (especially blank tiles);[11] thus, molded plastic tiles are often used.Players are allowed tracking sheets containing the tile distribution, from which tiles can be crossed off as they are played.
Regularly held major tournaments include:
Software
Computer players
Maven is a computer opponent for the game created by Brian Sheppard.The official Scrabble computer game in North America uses a version of Maven as its artificial intelligence and is published by Atari.Outside North America, the official Scrabble computer game is published by Ubisoft.Quackle is an open-source alternative to Maven of comparable strength, created by a five-person team led by Jason Katz-Brown.[46] A Qt cross-platform version of Quackle is available on GitHub.[47]
Video game versions
Video game versions of Scrabble have been released for various platforms, including IBM PC compatibles, Mac, Amiga,[48]
Variations
Super Scrabble
A new licensed product, Super Scrabble, was launched in North America by Winning Moves Games in 2004 under license from Hasbro, with the deluxe version (with turntable and lock-in grid) released in February 2007. A Mattel-licensed product for the rest of the world was released by Tinderbox Games in 2006. This set comprises 200 tiles in slightly modified distribution to the standard set and a 21×21 playing board.
National versions
Versions of the game have been released in several other languages.
The game was called Alfapet when it was introduced in Sweden in 1954, but since the mid-1990s, the game has also been known as Scrabble in Sweden. Alfapet is now another crossword game, developed by the owners of the name Alfapet. A Russian version is called Erudit. A Hebrew version is called Shabets Na (שבץ נא). Versions have been prepared for Dakotah, Haitian Creole, Dakelh (Carrier language), and Tuvan.[67]
For languages with
Gameboard formats
The game has been released in numerous gameboard formats appealing to various user groups. The original boards included wood tiles and many "deluxe" sets still do.
Tile Lock editions
Tile Lock editions of Scrabble[70] and Super Scrabble[71][72] are made by Winning Moves and feature smaller, plastic tiles that are held in place on the board with little plastic posts. The standard version features exactly the same 100 tiles as regular Scrabble. The Tile Lock Super Scrabble features the same 200 tiles that are in Super Scrabble.
Travel editions
Editions are available for travelers who may wish to play in a conveyance such as a train or plane or to pause a game in progress and resume later. Many versions thus include methods to keep letters from moving, such as pegboards, recessed tile holders and magnetic tiles.
Works related to Scrabble
Books
Numerous books about Scrabble have been published, including nonfiction titles helping players improve their game, and fiction titles using the game as a plot device. These include:
Merriam-Webster's The Official Scrabble Player's Dictionary, the Seventh Edition of which was published in 2023. The OSPD is the consistently best-selling official Scrabble book.
Collins' Scrabble Dictionary: The Official Scrabble Solver, the Sixth Edition of which was published in 2022.
Word Freak by Stefan Fatsis (2001), an introduction to tournament Scrabble and its players. While writing the book, Fatsis became a high-rated tournament player.
The Scrabble Player's Handbook, edited by Stewart Holden and Kenji Matsumoto, and written by an international group of tournament players, which gives the information a serious player needs to advance to successful tournament play. Not to be confused with Drue K. Conklin's 1976 The Official Scrabble Player's Handbook, The Scrabble Player's Handbook is available for free online.[81]
See also
Anagrams – Public domain game, predecessor to Scrabble
Bananagrams
Blanagram
Boggle
Countdown (game show)
List of tournament Scrabble players
RSVP (board game)
Scrabble in Hong Kong
Upwords
Words with Friends
Wordscraper
Jenga
Further reading
An article relating how Scrabble has been adapted to other languages, describing how it was prepared for the Tuvan languages, and giving directions about how to adapt it.
– Game apparatus – Expired patent for the jagged edges of bonus squares, which were added so that one need not lift previously placed tiles in order to see the bonus
In 1952, unable to meet demand himself, Brunot licensed the manufacturing rights to Long Island-based Selchow and Righter, one of the manufacturers that, like Parker Brothers and Milton Bradley Company, had previously rejected the game."It's a nice little game. It will sell well in bookstores," Selchow and Righter president Harriet T. Righter remembered saying about Scrabble when she first saw it.[10] In its second year as a Selchow and Righter product, 1954, nearly four million sets were sold.[11][7] Selchow and Righter then bought the trademark to the game in 1972.[12]
Selchow and Righter imported Scrabble tiles for the North American market from a factory in Germany until 1979, when they, and subsequent owners of the Scrabble brand, moved North American tile production to the United States for roughly two decades. From 1979 to 1998 Scrabble tiles for the North American market were produced in Fairfax, Vermont, and packaged for distribution and sale in East Longmeadow, Massachusetts.At its busiest, the 55,000-square-foot Fairfax factory produced over one million Scrabble tiles a day and employed more than 150 people.[13]
Meanwhile, J. W. Spear & Sons acquired the rights to sell the game in Australia and the UK on January 19, 1955.[7] In 1986, Selchow and Righter was sold to Coleco, which soon afterward went bankrupt.Hasbro then purchased Coleco's assets in 1989, including Scrabble and Parcheesi.[12]Mattel then acquired JW Spear in 1994.[7] Since then, Hasbro has owned the rights to manufacture Scrabble in the U.S. and Canada, and Mattel has held the rights to manufacture the game in other parts of the world.[12]
In 1984, Scrabble was turned into a daytime game show on NBC.The Scrabble game show ran from July 1984 to March 1990,[14] with a second run from January to June 1993.The show was hosted by Chuck Woolery.Its tagline in promotional broadcasts was, "Every man dies; not every man truly Scrabbles."[15] In 2011, a new TV variation of Scrabble, called Scrabble Showdown, aired on The Hub cable channel, which is a joint venture of Discovery Communications, Inc. and Hasbro.
Scrabble was inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame in 2004.[16]
Evolution of the rules
The "box rules" included in each copy of the North American edition have been edited four times: in 1953, 1976, 1989, and 1999.[17]
The major changes in 1953 were as follows.
The major changes in 1976 were as follows.
The editorial changes made in 1989 did not affect gameplay.[17]
The major changes in 1999 were as follows.
It was made clear that:
words could be played through single letters already on the board,
a player could play a word parallel and immediately adjacent to an existing word provided all crossing words formed were valid,
the effect of two premium squares was to be compounded multiplicatively.
The previously unspecified penalty for having one's play successfully challenged was stated: withdrawal of tiles and loss of turn.
It was made clear that the blank tile beats an A when drawing to see who goes first.
A player could pass their turn, doing nothing.
A loss-of-turn penalty was added for challenging an acceptable play.
If final scores are tied, the player whose score was highest before adjusting for unplayed tiles is the winner;[18] in tournament play, a tie is counted as half a win for both players.[5]
It was made clear that:
a tile can be shifted or replaced until the play has been scored,
a challenge applies to all the words made in the given play.
Playing all seven tiles is officially called a "bingo" in North America and a "bonus" elsewhere.
A change in the wording of the rules could have been interpreted as meaning that a player may form more than one word on one row on a single turn.
clock
, the player starts the opponent's clock after announcing the score and before drawing tiles.
Players may keep track of tiles played during the game.
If a player has made a play and not yet drawn a tile, any other player may choose to challenge any or all words formed by the play. The challenged word(s) are then searched in the agreed-upon word list or dictionary. If at least one challenged word is unacceptable, the play is removed from the board, and the player scores zero for that turn. If all challenged words are acceptable, the challenger loses their turn. In tournament play, players are not entitled to know which word(s) are invalid or the definitions of any challenged words. Penalties for unsuccessfully challenging an acceptable play vary in club and tournament play and are described in greater detail below.
Pass, forfeiting the turn and scoring zero.
Exchange one or more tiles for an equal number from the bag, scoring zero. This can only be done if 7 or more tiles remain in the bag.
Play at least one tile on the board, adding the value of all words formed to the player's cumulative score.
End of game
The game ends when either:
At the end of the game, each player's score is reduced by the sum of the values of their unplayed tiles; if a player plays out, the sum of all other players' unplayed tiles is added to that player's score. This scoring adjustment differs slightly in most tournaments; a player who plays out adds twice this sum, and the opponent's score is unchanged.
One player has played every tile on their rack ("playing out") and no tiles remain in the bag.
At least six consecutive scoreless turns have occurred and either player decides to end the game.[5]
In tournament play, when either player exceeds 10 minutes of overtime.
End of game
The game ends when either:
At the end of the game, each player's score is reduced by the sum of the values of their unplayed tiles; if a player plays out, the sum of all other players' unplayed tiles is added to that player's score. This scoring adjustment differs slightly in most tournaments; a player who plays out adds twice this sum, and the opponent's score is unchanged.
One player has played every tile on their rack ("playing out") and no tiles remain in the bag.
At least six consecutive scoreless turns have occurred and either player decides to end the game.[5]
In tournament play, when either player exceeds 10 minutes of overtime.
Scoring
Every letter is assigned a point value between 1 and 10, inclusive, with blanks worth zero points. The score of a play is calculated using the following rules:
Scoreless turns can occur when a player passes, exchanges tiles, loses a challenge, or otherwise makes an illegal move. A scoreless turn can also occur if a play consists of only blank tiles, but this is extremely unlikely in actual play.
The score of a play equals the sum of the scores of all new words formed on that play.
The score of every new word formed equals the sum of the point values of the letter(s) in that word. If a play covers any premium squares (such as DLS or TWS squares, including the center star H8), the point value of the corresponding letter or word is multiplied by 2 or 3 respectively.
Premium squares only apply when newly placed tiles cover them. Any subsequent plays do not count these premium squares. A play that covers a DWS or TWS multiplies the value of the entire word(s) by 2 or 3, including tiles already on the board.
If a newly placed word covers both letter and word premium squares, the letter premiums are calculated first, followed by the word premiums.
If a word covers two DWS squares, the value of that word is doubled, then redoubled (i.e., 4× the word value). Similarly, if the main word covers two TWS squares, the value of that word is tripled, then re-tripled (9× the word value). Such plays are often referred to as "double-doubles" and "triple-triples" respectively.
A play using all 7 of the player's tiles (known as a "bingo" in North America and as a "bonus" elsewhere) earns a 50-point bonus to its score.
Scoring example
See the example game at right.
Alice opens with QUITE at 8D, with the Q on a DLS and the E on the center star (H8). Because the center star is a DWS, the score for this play is points.
Next, suppose Bob extends the play to form the word MES(QUITE) at 8A with the M on the TWS at 8A. The score for this play is points. In particular, the Q is not doubled, since it was not played on this turn.
Next, suppose Alice plays MOD(U)LAR at E5. Because this word covers two DWS squares on E5 and E11, the score for this play is quadrupled. The score for this play is points.
Next, suppose Bob plays CHEF at F3, forming the words ME and OF. Because the F is on a TLS at F6 and is used in the newly-formed words CHEF and OF, the TLS is applied on both words:
The score for this play is points.
Next, suppose Alice plays JOCKEyS at I2 with a blank representing the Y, forming the word MESQUITES. The O and blank Y cover the DLS squares at I3 and I7:
Because this play used all 7 of Alice's tiles, a 50-point bonus is added. The score for this play is 20+20+50=90 points.
Score for CHEF: points
Score for ME: 3+1=4 points
Score for OF: points
Scoring example
See the example game at right.
Alice opens with QUITE at 8D, with the Q on a DLS and the E on the center star (H8). Because the center star is a DWS, the score for this play is points.
Next, suppose Bob extends the play to form the word MES(QUITE) at 8A with the M on the TWS at 8A. The score for this play is points. In particular, the Q is not doubled, since it was not played on this turn.
Next, suppose Alice plays MOD(U)LAR at E5. Because this word covers two DWS squares on E5 and E11, the score for this play is quadrupled. The score for this play is points.
Next, suppose Bob plays CHEF at F3, forming the words ME and OF. Because the F is on a TLS at F6 and is used in the newly-formed words CHEF and OF, the TLS is applied on both words:
The score for this play is points.
Next, suppose Alice plays JOCKEyS at I2 with a blank representing the Y, forming the word MESQUITES. The O and blank Y cover the DLS squares at I3 and I7:
Because this play used all 7 of Alice's tiles, a 50-point bonus is added. The score for this play is 20+20+50=90 points.
Score for CHEF: points
Score for ME: 3+1=4 points
Score for OF: points
Score for JOCKEyS: points
Score for MESQUITES: points
Acceptable words
All words of length 2 to 15 letters that appear in the agreed-upon dictionary or lexicon are acceptable words in Scrabble, as are all their inflected forms and plurals. Several popular lexica are used in English-language Scrabble tournaments, including but not limited to:
NWL is prominently used in the United States and Canada, while CSW is more prevalent in the rest of the world and is used in adjudicating World Scrabble Championships.
In general, proper nouns, contractions, and other words requiring capitalization or other punctuation are not allowed unless they also appear as acceptable entries; for example, words such as HERES, JACK, and TEXAS, while typically containing an apostrophe or considered a proper noun, have unrelated definitions and are therefore acceptable in major Scrabble lexica.Similarly, acronyms and abbreviations are generally not allowed unless they have separate entries (such as AWOL, RADAR, SCUBA, and WYSIWYG[20]). Variant spellings (such as COLOUR vs. COLOR, or TSAR vs. CZAR), slang or offensive terms, archaic or obsolete terms, and specialized jargon words are acceptable if they meet all other criteria for acceptability, but archaic spellings (e.g., NEEDE or MAKETH) are generally not acceptable. Foreign words are generally not allowed in English-language Scrabble unless they have been incorporated into the English language, such as QI[21], KILIM, and PATISSERIE.Notably, transliterated spellings of letters (such as ALPHA, XI, BETH, ALIF, D|DEE, and H|AITCH) are acceptable in all major Scrabble lexica.
Vulgar and offensive words are generally excluded from the OSPD but allowed in club and tournament play. The North American Scrabble Players Association removed slurs from its lexicon in 2020, after conducting a poll of its members.[22] Mattel removed 400 derogatory terms from its official word list in 2021, in response to the Black Lives Matter movement, with the company's head of games saying: "Can you imagine any other game where you can score points and win by using a racial epithet? It's long overdue."[23] This does not exclude players from playing these words, as it is within the rules of the game to play unacceptable words (at the risk of losing a challenge).
NASPA Word List (NWL, formerly known as OTCWL, OWL, and TWL)
Collins Scrabble Words (CSW or "Collins", formerly known as SOWPODS and OSW)
Official Scrabble Players Dictionary (OSPD)
NWL and OSPD
Today's NASPA Word List (NWL), published by NASPA Games, descends from the Official Tournament and Club Word List (a non-bowdlerized version of the Official Scrabble Players Dictionary) and its companion Long Words List for longer words.The current version of NWL is NWL2023,[24] effective February 2024, and the Official Scrabble Players Dictionary, published by Merriam-Webster, is currently in its seventh edition of 2022.NWL includes all current OSPD words, plus several hundred offensive words and genericized trademarks such as KLEENEX; as of 2020, it no longer includes words judged to be personally applicable offensive slurs.
The NWL and OSPD are compiled using a number of major college-level dictionaries, principally those published by Merriam-Webster. If a word appears, at least historically, in any one of the dictionaries, it is included in the NWL and the OSPD. If the word has only an offensive meaning, it is included only in the NWL. The key difference between the OSPD and the NWL is that the OSPD is marketed for "home and school" use, without words which their source dictionaries judged offensive, rendering the Official Scrabble Players Dictionary less fit for official Scrabble play. The OSPD is available in bookstores, while the NWL is available only through NASPA.
Collins Scrabble Words
NWL and OSPD
Today's NASPA Word List (NWL), published by NASPA Games, descends from the Official Tournament and Club Word List (a non-bowdlerized version of the Official Scrabble Players Dictionary) and its companion Long Words List for longer words.The current version of NWL is NWL2023,[24] effective February 2024, and the Official Scrabble Players Dictionary, published by Merriam-Webster, is currently in its seventh edition of 2022.NWL includes all current OSPD words, plus several hundred offensive words and genericized trademarks such as KLEENEX; as of 2020, it no longer includes words judged to be personally applicable offensive slurs.
The NWL and OSPD are compiled using a number of major college-level dictionaries, principally those published by Merriam-Webster. If a word appears, at least historically, in any one of the dictionaries, it is included in the NWL and the OSPD. If the word has only an offensive meaning, it is included only in the NWL. The key difference between the OSPD and the NWL is that the OSPD is marketed for "home and school" use, without words which their source dictionaries judged offensive, rendering the Official Scrabble Players Dictionary less fit for official Scrabble play. The OSPD is available in bookstores, while the NWL is available only through NASPA.
Collins Scrabble Words
In most other English-speaking countries, the primary competition word list is Collins Scrabble Words 2024 edition, known as CSW24. Historically, this list has contained all OTCWL words plus words sourced from the Chambers and Collins English dictionaries, but recent editorial decisions have caused greater discrepancies between CSW and NWL.
Tournaments are also played using CSW in North America, particularly since Hasbro ceased to control tournament play in 2009. NASPA, the Word Game Players Organization, and Collins Coalition (CoCo) all sanction CSW tournaments, using separate Elo rating systems.[25]
Other lexica
The Word Game Players Organization, a separate organization which sanctions Scrabble tournaments throughout North America, uses its own lexicon, WGPO Official Words (WOW24).[26] This lexicon retains the offensive slurs which were removed from NWL. However, there are several other discrepancies between the two lexica; for example, words such as SKIWEARS and GEEKING, which appear in NWL2023, do not appear in WOW24.
Challenges
The penalty for a successfully challenged play is nearly universal: the offending player removes the tiles played and forfeits their turn. The penalty for an unsuccessful challenge (where all words challenged in the play are deemed valid) varies considerably, including:
A fourth option, known as void or void challenge, is sometimes used in online versions of Scrabble, as well as related games such as Words with Friends. In this setting, unacceptable words are automatically rejected by the program. The player is then required to make a different play, with no penalty applied.
Double challenge, in which an unsuccessfully challenging player must forfeit the next turn. This penalty is most common in North American (NASPA- or WGPO-sanctioned) tournament play, and is the standard for North American, Israeli, and Thai clubs. Because loss of a turn generally constitutes the greatest risk for an unsuccessful challenge, it provides the greatest incentive for a player to "bluff", or play a "phony" – a plausible word that they know or suspect to be unacceptable, hoping their opponent will not challenge it.
Single or free challenge, in which no penalty whatsoever is applied to a player who unsuccessfully challenges. This rule is sometimes used in Australia[27], but is largely out of favor in major tournaments as a player can freely challenge words in order to unfairly gain extra playing time.
Modified single, penalty, or 5-point challenge, in which an unsuccessful challenge does not result in the loss of the challenging player's turn, but is penalized by a 5-point (or other specified point) penalty. The rule has been adopted in Singapore (since 2000), Malaysia (since 2002), South Africa (since 2003), New Zealand (since 2004), and Kenya, as well as in contemporary World Scrabble Championships (since 2001) and North American (NASPA-sanctioned) Collins tournaments, and particularly prestigious Australian tournaments.[28] Some countries and tournaments (including Sweden) use a 10-point penalty instead. In most game situations, this penalty is much lower than that of the "double challenge" rule. Consequently, such tournaments encourage greater willingness to challenge and discourage playing dubious words.
Other important tournaments include:
Scrabble clubs typically meet weekly and may typically hold one or more open, sanctioned tournaments per year.
1) The WESPA Championship (formerly the World Scrabble Championship): an invitational championship organized by WESPA.
2) The Scrabble Players Championship (formerly North American Scrabble Championship): organized by NASPA Games, an open event attracting several hundred players, held around July–August every year in the United States.
3) The National Scrabble Championship: organized by the Association of British Scrabble Players (ABSP) and held every year in the United Kingdom.
4) The Brand's Crossword Game King's Cup: the largest tournament in the world. Held annually in Thailand around the end of June or the beginning of July.
5) The UK Open: the largest Scrabble tournament in Europe, held annually in Coventry in England, since 2008.
1) The World Youth Scrabble Championships: entry by country qualification, restricted to under 18 years old. Held annually since 2006.
2) The National School Scrabble Championship: entry open to North American school students. Held annually since 2003.
3) The Canadian Scrabble Championship: entry by invitation only to the top fifty Canadian players. Held every two to three years.
4) The Singapore Open Scrabble Championship: international Singapore championship held annually since 1997.
Records
The following records were achieved during sanctioned competitive club or tournament play, according to authoritative sources, including the book Everything Scrabble by Joe Edley and John D. Williams Jr. (revised edition, Pocket Books, 2001), the Scrabble FAQ[31], and the NASPA Wiki[32], which maintains a more comprehensive list of records. Separate records are listed based on different official lexica:
A high game of 1,049 points[40] by Phil Appleby (UK) was recognized by Guinness World Records in 1989 but was not in a sanctioned club or tournament. Additional record scores are believed to have been achieved under a British format known as the "high score rule", in which a player's tournament result is determined only by the player's own scores, not by the differences between their scores and the opponent's scores. This format is currently out of favor.
Moreover, much higher-scoring plays are possible (e.g., plays covering three TWS squares) but extremely unlikely to occur without cooperation from both players. The highest reported score for a single play is 1,786 points,[41] with OXYPHENBUTAZONE and seven other words created simultaneously.[42] By adding the word SESQUIOXIDIZING to these official lists, one could theoretically score 2015 (OSPD) and 2044 (CSW) points in a single play.[43] The highest reported combined score for a theoretical game based on SOWPODS is 4,054 points, constructed by Nathan Hedt of Australia.[44] Other records are available at Total Scrabble, an unofficial record book that includes the above as sources and expands on other topics.
In August 1984, Peter Finan and Neil Smith played Scrabble for 153 hours at St. Anselm's College, Birkenhead, Merseyside, setting a new duration record.A longer record was never recorded by Guinness Book of Records, as the publishers decided that duration records of this nature were becoming too dangerous and stopped accepting them.[45]
1) NWL (NASPA Word List), formerly known as TWL and OTCWL.
2) CSW (Collins Scrabble Words), formerly known as SOWPODS and OSW.
The Nintendo DS version of Scrabble 2007 Edition made news when parents became angry over the game's AI using potentially offensive language during gameplay.[57]
Web versions
Scrabble can be played online against other users on several websites, such as the Internet Scrabble Club, Pogo.com from Electronic Arts (North America only), and woogles.io.
Facebook initially offered a variation of Scrabble called Scrabulous as a third-party application add-on.On July 24, 2008, Hasbro filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against its developers.[58] Four days later, Scrabulous was disabled for users in North America,[59] eventually reappearing as "Lexulous" in September 2008, with changes made to distinguish it from Scrabble.By December 20, Hasbro had withdrawn its lawsuit.[60]
Mattel launched its official version of online Scrabble, Scrabble by Mattel, on Facebook in late March 2008.[61][62] The application was developed by Gamehouse, a division of RealNetworks that was licensed by Mattel.[62] Since Hasbro controls the copyright for North America with the copyright for the rest of the world belonging to Mattel,[61] the Gamehouse Facebook application was available only to players outside the United States and Canada.[62] The version developed by Electronic Arts for Hasbro was available throughout the world.
When Gamehouse ceased support for its application, Mattel replaced it with the Electronic Arts version in May 2013. This decision was met with criticism from its userbase.[63] The Hasbro version continues to be available worldwide but now uses IP lookup to display Hasbro branding to North American players and Mattel branding to the rest of the world. Electronic Arts have also released mobile apps for Android and iOS, allowing players to continue the same game on more than one platform.
As well as facilities to play occasional games online, there are many options to play in leagues.[64]
In 2020, the license for Scrabble passed from Electronic Arts to Scopely, which launched the app Scrabble GO on March 5, 2020, with the Electronic Arts version discontinued on June 5, 2020.[65] The new app was very different, leading to protests, and Scopely soon began to offer a 'Classic' version, without some of the extras initially offered: "this updated mode is reimagined to reflect the ask for a streamlined experience. Features such as boosts, rewards and all other game modes are disabled", the company announced.[66]
digraphs
counted as single letters, such as
Welsh
and
Hungarian
, the game features separate tiles for those digraphs.
An Irish-language version of Scrabble was published by Glór na nGael in 2010. The previous year the same organisation published the Junior version of the game and two years later it republished Junior Scrabble using a two-sided (and two skill level) board.
Television game show version
In 1987, a board game was released by Selchow & Righter, based on the game show hosted by Chuck Woolery that aired on NBC from 1984 to 1990 (and for five months in 1993). Billed as the "Official Home Version" of the game show (or officially as the "TV Scrabble Home Game"), gameplay bears more resemblance to the game show than it does to a traditional Scrabble game, although it does utilize a traditional Scrabble gameboard in play.
Games based on Scrabble
There are numerous variations of the game. While they are similar to the original Scrabble game, they include minor variations. For example, Literati draws random tiles instead of providing a finite number of tiles for the game, assigns different point levels to each letter and has a slightly different board layout, whereas Lexulous assigns eight letters to each player instead of seven. Words with Friends uses a different board layout and different letter values, as does Words of Gold.
Duplicate Scrabble is a popular variant in French speaking countries. Every player has the same letters on the same board and the players must submit a paper slip at the end of the allotted time (usually 3 minutes) with the highest scoring word they have found. This is the format used for the French World Scrabble Championships but it is also used in Romanian and Dutch.There is no limit to the number of players that can be involved in one game, and at Vichy in 1998 there were 1,485 players, a record for French Scrabble tournaments.
is a variant that is much more popular in Italy than the original game. It features a 17×17 grid of cells and peculiar rules.[68]
Popular among tournament Scrabble players is Clabbers. In Clabbers, any move that consists of anagrams of allowable words is allowed. For example, because ETAERIO is allowable in ordinary Collins Scrabble, EEAIORT would be allowable in Clabbers.[69]
A junior version, called Junior Scrabble, has been marketed. This has slightly different distributions of frequencies of letter tiles to the standard Scrabble game.
Word games similar to or influenced by Scrabble include Bananagrams, Boggle, Dabble, Nab-It!, Perquackey, Puzzlage, Quiddler, Scribbage, Tapple, Upwords, and WordSpot.
There are also number-based variations, such as Equate.
Players' trays are also designed with stay-fast holders.
Such boards are also typically designed to be reoriented by each player to put the board upright during the game, as well as folded and stowed with the game in progress.
Production and Marketing Company, 1954 – metal hinged box, Bakelite tiles inlaid with round magnets, chrome tile racks, silver-colored plastic bag and cardboard box covered with decorative paper. The box, when opened flat, measures 8+1/2 × and the tiles measure 1/2 in square.
Spear's Games, the 1980s – boxed edition with pegboard, plastic tiles with small feet to fit snugly in the pegboard. Racks are clear plastic, allowing some sorting while holding tiles fairly snugly. The set comes with a drawstring plastic bag to draw tiles and a cardboard box. It is possible to save a game in progress by returning the board to the box. There is a risk of players' trays being mixed and upset, and the box lid, held on by friction, is subject to upset.
Selchow & Righter, 1980s – pocket edition with plastic "magnetic" board and tiles. Tile racks are also plastic with an asymmetrical shape to provide a handhold. All elements fit in a plastic envelope for travel and to permit a pause in the game. Plastic letters are very small and tend to lose their grip if not placed with slight lateral movement and if they are not perfectly clean. The game format is extremely small, allowing Scrabble games for backpackers and others concerned about weight and size.
Hasbro Games, 2001 – hinged plastic board with clear tile-shaped depressions to hold tiles in play. Board is in a black, zippered folio such that board and tiles may be folded for travel, even with the game in play. The reverse side of the board contains numbered mounts for racks, holding tiles face down, allowing secure and confidential storage of tiles while a game is paused. Some versions have tile racks with individual tile slots, thus not permitting easy sorting of tiles in a rack. The board, when opened up, measures 24.5 ×, and the tiles are 12.3 × in size.
Deluxe editions
At the opposite end, some "deluxe" or "prestige"[73] editions offer superior materials and features.These include editions on a rotating turntable, so players can always face the board, with the letters upright and a raised grid that holds the tiles in place.[74][75] Also available are alternative Scrabble boards, often made of glass[76] or hardwood, that have superior rotating mechanisms and personalized graphics.
Large print and braille editions
An edition has been released (in association with the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB))[77] with a larger board and letters for players with impaired vision.[78] The colours on the board are more contrasting, and the font size has been increased from 16 to 24 point.The tiles are in bold 48 point, and have braille labels.A separate braille edition is also available.[79]
World's Smallest edition
Released by Super Impulse, "World's Smallest Scrabble"[80] measures 3 × 1.75 × 0.5 inches. It has the full gameplay of the standard version, with a board, a case, and 99 magnetic tiles. It is available worldwide, with Hasbro branding in the U.S. and Canada and Mattel branding elsewhere.
Documentaries
Numerous documentaries have been made about the game, including:
Scrabylon (2003), by Scott Petersen, which "gives an up-close look at why people get so obsessed with that seemingly benign game"
Word Slingers (2002), by Eric Siblin and Stefan Vanderland (produced for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation), which follows four expert Canadian players at the 2001 World Championship in Las Vegas
Lost for Words (2004) by Joshua Whitehead
Word Wars (2004) by Eric Chaikin and Julian Petrillo, about the "tiles and tribulations on the Scrabble game circuit"
Game shows
Scrabble has been adapted into multiple television game shows.
Scrabble, hosted by Chuck Woolery, aired on NBC from 1984 to 1990, and again in 1993.
TV Scrabble aired on the British channel Challenge TV from 2001 to 2003.
13.Ben Heintz in the Vermont Digger, Dec. 26th and 27th, 2019. https://vtdigger.org/2019/12/26/three-shifts-at-the-scrabble-factory-the-inventor/; https://vtdigger.org/2019/12/27/three-shifts-at-the-scrabble-factory-the-manager/^
67.Voinov, Vitaly. 2010. Words should be fun: Scrabble as a tool for language preservation in Tuvan and other local languages. Language Documentation & Conservation 4. 213–230.^
In most other English-speaking countries, the primary competition word list is Collins Scrabble Words 2024 edition, known as CSW24.
Historically, this list has contained all OTCWL words plus words sourced from the Chambers and Collins English dictionaries, but recent editorial decisions have caused greater discrepancies between CSW and NWL.
Tournaments are also played using CSW in North America, particularly since Hasbro ceased to control tournament play in 2009. NASPA, the Word Game Players Organization, and Collins Coalition (CoCo) all sanction CSW tournaments, using separate Elo rating systems.[25]
Other lexica
The Word Game Players Organization, a separate organization which sanctions Scrabble tournaments throughout North America, uses its own lexicon, WGPO Official Words (WOW24).[26] This lexicon retains the offensive slurs which were removed from NWL. However, there are several other discrepancies between the two lexica; for example, words such as SKIWEARS and GEEKING, which appear in NWL2023, do not appear in WOW24.
