Playing Scrabble is almost a right of passage. When children are old enough to read, they often get to join the family Scrabble game. Even the youngest players have fun with the crossword puzzle type of word game where players draw tiles and take turns creating words on the Scrabble board. Millions of children and adults alike enjoy playing Scrabble as a hobby. It's possible to play Scrabble online and at local Scrabble groups that exist in many cities across America.
History and Basics of Scrabble
Scrabble is a word game that has been around for more than fifty years. The Scrabble game is now marketed by Hasbro. Alfred Mosher Butts invented Scrabble during the Depression by studying the English alphabet and the frequency that each letter is used in the English language. He came up with the game we now call Scrabble. Originally, he called the game Lexico then changed it to Criss-Cross Words.
The game contains a board and 100 tiles with the letters to play Scrabble. Each letter is not represented equally. For instance, there are nine letter A's but only one J, one X, and one Q. The value of each letter differs as well. Each player begins the Scrabble game by drawing seven tiles and players place letters on the Scrabble board building new words off the existing words on the board. When a player uses all seven of their tiles in one turn, it is called a bingo.
Free Internet Scrabble
It's easy to find free Scrabble games online. The official Scrabble game is available to play online. Many other Web sites offer a version of Scrabble to play for free. Facebook, for instance, allows members to play versions of free Internet Scrabble with other Facebook members. These games are not all called Scrabble, but the official Scrabble game is available on Facebook as well as other free Internet Scrabble-like games including Wordscraper and Lexulous.
Playing free Internet Scrabble is a great way to practice playing the game when it's not possible to play in person. Two or more people sign up to play one game and each player takes their turn then the next person plays their turn until the game is over. Some free Internet Scrabble games last for an hour and others last for days or weeks, depending on how fast each player makes their moves.
Playing Scrabble in Local Scrabble Groups
Most major cities have scrabble groups where Scrabble players can compete against other Scrabble players. A quick search on the Internet for "scrabble groups" will provide names of Scrabble groups by city. In most cases, each group has a name along the lines of Peoria Scrabble Group .
Contact information for the group is provided online and includes a physical address of where the Scrabble group meets, a contact person's name, phone number, and email address. The Scrabble groups meet monthly or more often depending on the members' availability and preferences.
Resource: Hasbro Scrabble
Peggy Hazelwood - Peggy Hazelwood+ is a word nerd who has worked as a reporter, proofreader, technical editor, freelance copy editor, and freelance writer ...
Join the Conversation