April 13 is National Scrabble Day
There is a club in Benoni which meets for a game on Mondays and they always welcome new members
Did you know that April 13 each year is National Scrabble Day around the world?
April 13 is the day Scrabble inventor Alfred Mosher Butts was born. He gave the world an iconic board game and today, more than seven decades later, players live for triple word scores, not to mention, the strategic use of those mysterious blank tiles.
Join a Benoni club
Keep your mind active and meet new people by joining the Benoni Scrabble members at Blue Forest (the Girl Guide complex in Morehill) on a Monday. New players very welcome.
Contact Viv Ridyard on 011 849 5508 or 073 147 5505.
You can also find out more about Scrabble in South Africa at zascrabble.com
The history
Each year National Scrabble Day recognises a game played around the world. National Scrabble Day commemorates the birth of Alfred Mosher Butts, born on April 13, 1899.
Originally named Lexiko and then Criss-Cross Words, Butts eventually settled on the name Scrabble.
The amateur artist and unemployed architect developed the word game in the midst of the depression.
Still, it wasn’t until 1948, a final name change and a trademark that Butts finally began to produce the game.
Scrabble is played with two to four players who score points by forming words from individual lettered tiles on a game board marked with a 15 x 15 grid.
Scrabble is sold in 121 countries with 29 different language versions.
Worldwide, over 150 million sets have been sold with sets being found in nearly one-third of American homes.
• 1984: Scrabble became a daytime game show on NBC.
• 2004: Scrabble was inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame
• Some cities sponsor Scrabble tournaments on the weekend closest to National Scrabble Day.
• The word “scrabble” means to “grope frantically.”
How to observe National Scrabble Day
Call your friends and play a game or two of Scrabble. Mix it up, too. There are several ways to play the game if you want to change things up a bit.
For example, if you’re spending time alone, Scrabble solitaire challenges you at your own game of words.
Another version allows players to only play nouns but they earn bonus points for playing nouns that are both a proper noun and an approved Scrabble word.
Once you’ve played a game, take the final board and create a crossword puzzle using this template.
Develop hints to the words and see if others can solve the puzzle. (Information: www.nationaldaycalendar.com)
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