scramble your thoughts (Scrabble Original)

Member Name: perfectangel1

Product:	Scrabble Original
Date:	26/08/03 (132 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: fun, playing time is not too long or too short

Disadvantages: complicated instructions

Scrabble ahh one of the most popular games around. Well I?m quite positive everyone has heard of it even if they haven?t played it. When I was little I used to watch my parents and my grandparents play this game, but I was always told that I wasn?t able to play because I was too young to play and I wouldn?t be able to understand. Now I believe them.
From the tender age of twelve I was allowed to play my first game of scrabble although I wasn?t very good at it and I?ll tell you why later.

Anyway enough about myself I better tell you about the game before you get too bored. If you haven?t come across scrabble before it is a word game. And in my opinion the more intelligent you are the more easier it is to win.

~~~History~~~
This game has quite a long history and I think you may find it interesting to read about it if not just skip this section. A man called Alfred Butts invented this game. He lived in New York in America. And had a fascination with games and words. He didn?t really like dice games as they were purely based on luck. And games like chess were too how shall I put it too complicated for the general public? (well that?s what he thought anyway) carrying on, he created a game that was half luck half skill, in 1931 he had created the basic idea of the game which was then called ?Lexico?. This was played without a board, and you scored on the length of the word, you got additional scores for using the letters (B,F,H,M,P,V,W,Y) and even more higher additional scores for letters (J,K,Q,X,Z,).

When he sent them of to a number of games manufacturers they turned him down, so he set off making 200 games himself. But this was as far as Lexico went. But then there was a breakthrough in the name of James Brunot. An owner of one of the first cris crossword games. He was interested in the game Lexico and had the time and effort to make it a commercial success.

He simplified the rules and changed its name to scrabble in 194
8 and the modern day scrabble was born.. Right I wont bore you any longer onto the game

~~Appearance~~
The box is not that eye catching. The majority of it is green with a red border, with the words scrabble in the middle. Actually I?ve just realised dooyoo shows you a picture of this doesn?t it. Well as you can see for yourself the packaging is boring.
When you first open the box you are greeted with the game board. A bag containing plastic tiles with letters on and numbers in the corner, and long plastic things, which I will tell you now are to hold the plastic tiles with letters on.

~~~The game~~~
As you may have guessed this game is based on words. 2-4 players can play it. The aim of the game is to make words and put them on the board in a crossword style. In other words you?ll have to use letters that are already on the board, unless you?re the one that?s starting. And you have to get the most points. I?ll explain how you get points in this game in a minute.

You have to pick seven tiles without looking and put them on your holder. Then you have to look at the letters that you have got and try to make the largest word possible. Most of the time you will not be able to make a word out of all of the seven letters. You place it on the board which has tile size squares on it. And you put your word on across or down not diagonally as that?s not part of the game. Then you add up your score and write it down. All the players continue this but the second player then each turn after has to use one or more of the letters already on the board. For example if somebody put cat down you could ad alogue to make catalogue.

Now I?ll explain more about the points. I mentioned earlier that each tile had a number on as well. The point of this is the less common the letter the higher the number. The number on the tile is what you add up as your points. A common letter like S will only be worth one point. Whereas a uncommon letter li
ke Z is worth 8 points. So you kind of get the jist on getting points. On the board you also have the chance to double or tripple the letter or word score, as there are points on the board where it says double letter score or double word score. If your word is placed over one of these you can do this to your score to get even more point.

~~~My opinion~~~
As you can see I?ve tried to explain it the best of my ability, but as you may have gathered this is still quite a complicated game.. Although its really good and addictive once you learn how to play. Its a great game for adults to play on a Sunday winter evening when there?s nothing on TV and its cold outside. I may be a little strange but that?s the image I get when I imagine people playing scrabble. Its hit off in a number of countries worldwide so it must be popular. Although I do advise you to have a dictionary handy as there are some scheming people which are capable of making words up. So having a dictionary means you can actually check the word is real. I know it may not sound that attractive and lets face it I wouldn?t do very well as a toy saleswomen but give it a go and trust me once you get the hang of it you?ll love it just like many others

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