This popular board game was created by Alfred Mosher Butts in the early 1930s and has been revised and reprinted consistently since then. Butts was born on April 13th 1899 and was an architect. He created the game by looking at the frequency of letters in words from a variety of sources including The New York Times. Over the years Scrabble has sold more than 100 million games in 121 countries and 29 different languages.
5 things about Scrabble:
- Apparently, one-third of American homes and half of British homes own a copy of Scrabble.
- There has been a UK National Scrabble Championship every year (apart from 1995 and 2000).
- In the Polish version of Scrabble, the letter ‘Z’ is only worth one point.
- There is a street sign at 35th Avenue and 81st Street in Jackson Heights, New York that uses stylised scrabble-like letters, with their values in Scrabble as a subscript.
- The highest (theoretical) score for a single move is 2044 points!
Word games can also have a positive impact on improving your vocabulary and spelling. Furthermore, word games are engaging and enjoyable, which can reduce stress and result in dopamine secretion, making you feel good.
Nowadays you can show you are honouring National Scrabble Day by using the hashtag: #NationalScrabbleDay
