Scrabble: Traditional brain training (Scrabble Original)

Member Name: englishrose

Product:	Scrabble Original
Date:	27/02/09 (44 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Gets the brain working.Gets everyone away from the electronic boxes for a bit.

Disadvantages: I can't think of any. Some people might say it's boring.

As we all sat around the table last night, I was inspired to write this review of good old Scrabble. Everyone knows of Scrabble, as it's been around forever.

I've noticed that there are now versions available on Nintendo DS and of course you can play it online, which is all excellent, but there's nothing to beat the classic board game version, a group of you sitting around the table with a drink and a snack....bliss!

Our game was a gift a couple of years ago, and I think it cost around the £30 mark - That does seem quite high for what is essentially just a board and a load of plastic squares, but the set will last you forever, and if you like Scrabble now, you love it forever. It works out to be very good value.

The beauty of it is that it's exactly what you make it: For instance, in our game last night, the ages of players ranged from 6 to 61, and everyone could make words at their own level.

In fact, we were given a Junior Scrabble Set but actually sold it on because the original board game is Junior if you want it to be: So no need for a seperate children's version.

For anyone who doesn't know, it's a game for up to 4 players (it could be more, but there are only 4 holders for the letter tiles). Everyone picks 7 letter tiles out of a bag without looking, and then has to try and create words from what they have got.

Each letter of the alphabet has a points value, with higher points for those letters that are harder to use: for example, vowels have 1 point, whereas letters like Q or Z have 10 points.

Strategic placing on the board is very important too, as you can gain extra points if you land on a square such as 'Triple Word Score' etc. This continues until all the letters are used up, or as many as possible.

Okay so you might be thinking that doesn't sound very exciting, but the enjoyment is in the banter that it induces between players, and it gets your brain working too.

Scrabble has also been instrumental in getting my young child to practice reading and writing: Normally it's a struggle to get her interested at all , yet when we play Scrabble she will happily practice reading everyone's words that they have made, counting up the letter scores and acts as scorekeeper, writing the numbers down in columns etc. All this as well as thinking up her own words too of course - what a brilliant educational tool Scrabble is too.

Overall, a great old-style game that will probably be around forever. Gets the family or friends together and away from the electronic boxes. And there's nothing to beat that smug feeling *when you come up with a word that contains Q, X and J and you can place it on a Triple Word Score square :)







*okay, i admit it....that hasn't actually happened.....YET. But I live in hope !

Summary: Great for family and friends gathering.