No matter how too-cool-for-school you think you are, there's one dorky pastime even the toughest of us Ivy League badasses can't pass up. Here's a few fun facts that will help you warm up to the nerd sensation that is Scrabble.
by Courtney Guth & Julie Stein
West Philadelphia, Born and Raised
Scrabble has made its way around the world and back, offered in 121 countries and 29 different languages. Its roots, however, can be found at the good ol' University of Pennsylvania. Scrabble inventor and Quaker alum Alfred Butts graduated with a degree in architecture in 1924. In 1933, he combined crossword puzzles and anagrams to create a game that involved a pinch of luck and a dollop of skill. Butts would study the New York Times to see how frequently words were used to help him determine how many of each letter should be included in every set.
Groping: more than just a Thursday night activity
Originally called "Lexiko" and later changed to "Criss Cross Words," the game currently known as Scrabble went through a few names before businessman James Brunot bought the rights from Butts. He changed the name to Scrabble, meaning "to grope about clumsily or frantically." Makes you think twice about your grandmother's aversion to the game, huh?
What they don't tell you in OCR
The National Scrabble Association was created in 1978 and it now manages the 10,000 Scrabble tournament players in North America. Each year, a National Scrabble Championship is held, and the stakes are high. In 2006, the winner took home $25,000 dollars - that's the average annual income of Americans over the age of 18. Made in one day. With a mere 50 tiles. Damn.
As if Scrabble wasn't nerdy enough.
If you couldn't get enough of Dungeon and Dragons and you own a wand, then you'll love "Scrabble: C.S. Lewis Style." In this version of the game, words from any language - real or fictional - are fair game. Even "Elvish," the mythical language from Lord of the Rings, is acceptable, as long as it can be quoted in some work of literature. I wonder how many points "loser" will get you.
Words to love
Scrabble isn't just for those with a lengthy vocabulary. Au contraire, many a time it's those pesky two-letter who-knows-what-the-hell-this-means words that are the key to success. Here's a few tips from us to you on words that will help you bring it home: AA, AE, AG, AR, BO, EF, EL, EM, HM, KA, KI, LO, MU, NA, NE, NU, OE, OM, OS, PE, QI, RE, TI, UM, WO, XI, XU, YA, YE, ZA. And remember it's not cheating if you know ahead of time.
