For the first time in more than 75 years, Scrabble is getting a redesign. Mattel, which owns the rights to the board game in Europe, has released a new version of the classic word-building game featuring gameplay intended to make it faster, easier, and less intimidating. Yet the move to make Scrabble less competitive has provoked a highly divided reaction from fans.
Aimed at players of all ages, the new board is double-sided, allowing players to choose between the classic version and a team-focused game known as Scrabble Together that eliminates the traditional scoring system and the competitive elements. Rather than trying to place words that earn the highest number of points, players work as a team to finish Goal Cards such as “Play a word containing at least three different consonants" or “Play a two-letter word.” There are also Helper Cards that make it easier to come up with words. The Scrabble Together format makes for shorter games, as all that is required for the players to collectively win is to complete 20 cards.
The reasoning behind the new format is to make the game more accessible and encourage more people to play Scrabble, which, perhaps unfairly, is assumed to be aimed at those with large vocabularies full of long words. However, as experienced players know, Scrabble gameplay involves tactics beyond having a wide vocabulary. Sometimes, a short and simple yet well-placed word can be the difference between winning and losing.
Some Scrabble fans who have played the new edition have missed the feeling of competition and accused it of “dumbing down” the game, while others have praised the effort to attract new players, especially from younger generations. Many reviewers found it enjoyable to play and appreciated the emphasis on tactics and strategy.
Is Scrabble better “together”?
- Hasbro licenses Scrabble in the United States and Canada and currently has no plans to release any new updates to the game (though a “Junior” version has been available for decades).
- According to Mattel, around 1.5 million Scrabble games are sold annually. It is available in 120 countries and in 28 different languages.
- Originally known as Lexiko and later Criss Cross Words, the game that was trademarked Scrabble in 1948 was created by Alfred Mosher Butts, an out-of-work architect, during the Great Depression.
- The Official Scrabble Players Dictionary features over 100,000 words ranging in length from two to eight letters. The dictionary’s seventh edition, published by Merriam-Webster in 2022, features 500 new words, including some that might surprise linguists, such as “bae,” “adorbs,” and “hangry.”
