Friday, May 30, 2008

Scrabble is 60 years old

ScrabbleLindsay McIntosh writes in The Scotsman: 'There are no flashing lights,
interactive car chases or shoot 'em ups and although it can now be played online, it has steadfastly refused to be corrupted by the digital revolution ... Yet Scrabble -- the word game consisting solely of a board and some tiles printed with letters -- has endured through the generations to celebrate its 60th birthday this year.'

I am not a great Scabbler but I don't know of anyone who reads who has never heard of the game or played it before. Here is some trivia from the story in The Scotsman:
  • In 1949, Scrabble sold 2,413, and in four years, that is in 1953, it sold almost four million. To date, approximately, 150 million sets have been produced.
  • 30,000 Scrabble games take place in the world every hour. (Multiply that appropriately to determine the number of games and players every day, every week and every month. Grand Theft Auto? Take a number.)
  • Scrabble is available in 29 languages.
  • The highest number of points that can be scored on the first go in
  • English is 128 -- with muzjiks -- which means Russian peasants.
  • The highest score ever was by one Dr Karl Khoshnaw -- 392 points with
  • caziques -- the plural for a West Indian chief.

The Scotsman

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