The History of Scrabble
Scrabble is one of the most popular family board games, loved by generations since it was created in 1938.
This article delves into the history of the game, and details how it grew from it's humble origins into a world famous game.
Scrabble was invented in 1938 by Alfred Mosher Butts, an unemployed architect from New York.
He based his new game on a previous game he had invented called "Lexico" and called it "Criss-Crosswords".
He tabulated the set of Scrabble words and the word frequencies himself - these have mostly remained unchanged.
Unfortunately for Butts, this first incarnation of Scrabble was not successful - he created a few sets himself, but couldn't find a manufacturer who would stock the game.
Ten years later a fan of the original game decided that he wanted to try selling the idea himself.
James Brunot from Connecticut had bought one of the few original sets of "Criss-Crosswords" and loved the game.
He license the rights to manufacture the game from Alfred Mosher Butts, whom he would pay a royalty on every set sold.
He simplified the rules, edited the Scrabble word list, adjusted the position of some of the high-point squares and renamed the game "Scrabble".
Initially Brunot produced around 2,400 sets of Scrabble but did not make a profit, and it looked like Scrabble might be doomed to failure except for a lucky coincidence.
The president of Macy's department store happened to be introduced to the game on vacation and was impressed.
When he returned to his store and realized that they didn't stock the game he placed a large order from James Brunot and within a year it was the 'must have' game.
James Brunot's small operation didn't have the capacity to produce the sort of volume that the markets now demanded, so he licensed the game again to a larger New York manufacturer.
In 1955 the Spears licensed the game for sale in the United Kingdom and Australia.
Throughout the years the rights have changed hands due to companies being bought or going bankrupt, and it is now owned by Hasbro.
Over the years manufacturers have introduced different variations on the Scrabble game, including different Scrabble dictionaries for tournament play, and variations such as travel Scrabble, Scrabble trickster, and pocket Scrabble.
This article delves into the history of the game, and details how it grew from it's humble origins into a world famous game.
Scrabble was invented in 1938 by Alfred Mosher Butts, an unemployed architect from New York.
He based his new game on a previous game he had invented called "Lexico" and called it "Criss-Crosswords".
He tabulated the set of Scrabble words and the word frequencies himself - these have mostly remained unchanged.
Unfortunately for Butts, this first incarnation of Scrabble was not successful - he created a few sets himself, but couldn't find a manufacturer who would stock the game.
Ten years later a fan of the original game decided that he wanted to try selling the idea himself.
James Brunot from Connecticut had bought one of the few original sets of "Criss-Crosswords" and loved the game.
He license the rights to manufacture the game from Alfred Mosher Butts, whom he would pay a royalty on every set sold.
He simplified the rules, edited the Scrabble word list, adjusted the position of some of the high-point squares and renamed the game "Scrabble".
Initially Brunot produced around 2,400 sets of Scrabble but did not make a profit, and it looked like Scrabble might be doomed to failure except for a lucky coincidence.
The president of Macy's department store happened to be introduced to the game on vacation and was impressed.
When he returned to his store and realized that they didn't stock the game he placed a large order from James Brunot and within a year it was the 'must have' game.
James Brunot's small operation didn't have the capacity to produce the sort of volume that the markets now demanded, so he licensed the game again to a larger New York manufacturer.
In 1955 the Spears licensed the game for sale in the United Kingdom and Australia.
Throughout the years the rights have changed hands due to companies being bought or going bankrupt, and it is now owned by Hasbro.
Over the years manufacturers have introduced different variations on the Scrabble game, including different Scrabble dictionaries for tournament play, and variations such as travel Scrabble, Scrabble trickster, and pocket Scrabble.
