Scrabble- the board game (Scrabble Original)

Member Name: joannabelle88

Product:	Scrabble Original
Date:	06/07/09 (5 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: encourages creativity, suitable for all language levels

Disadvantages: can go on for a long time, very competitive

Scrabble is a word game aimed at between 2-4 players, although if there are more of you, you can play in teams. The classic version is aimed at people of 10 years and over, although Junior Scrabble is available for younger players.

The aim of scrabble is to make the highest scoring words possible by placing your selected letters on the board. All words must connect, and each player must have 7 tiles at any one time (until all the tiles have been selected).

Each set of Scrabble comes with a set of tiles that cover the whole alphabet. Some tiles such as X and J only appear once, while A and E have several. The rarer the letter, and therefore the harder it is to use in a word, the higher the points for using it. The points can be seen on the front of the tile. There are also 2 blank tiles, which do not score you any points, but can be used as any letter in a word. Ideal when you have a Q and no U! The points available for each of the lettered tiles range from 1-10.

The board: The board is square, and consists mainly of blank squares, upon which letters can be placed. The centre square is stared, and the first word of the game must be placed over this. There are also several double/triple letter squares, which mean that the letters placed on those squares score double/triple their points value. There are also some double word/triple word squares, which doubles/triples the value of the whole word that goes over that square.

The game starts with each player selecting a letter from the bag, the closest to A starts. Each player then selects 6 more letters, and take turns in a clockwise direction to place words on the board. The game ends when one player has used all their letters and there are no more letters in the bag.

Scrabble is a good game, as it encourages creativity with words, and isn't as midless as other board games. However, if you are playing with people who take it seriously, the game can move very slowly, and quite often I get bored waiting for other players to decide where to go. It can also get very competitive, or maybe that's just my family! Generally I'd say it can take anywhere between 45 minutes and 2 hours to play, depending on the people you are playing with.

One good thing with the game is that adults with a wide range of language abilities can all play together, as a lot of the words used are general everyday words, and much depends on luck with which letters you pick. If you get a Z, Q, J, K, F, R, and E, it doesn't matter if you have the broadest vocabulary in the world, you're still going to be struggling. This is why I would recommend it as an alternative to other after dinner games.

Summary: A good traditional word game, that almost anyone can play