Game Created by Poughkeepsie, NY Man Gets Easy Update

Are you a fan of word games? If you play Scrabble and are competitive, this may irk you just a bit.

However, if you've always wanted to play Scrabble but have been too intimidated to give it a try there's good news heading your way.

Mattel Announces New Change to Scrabble For 2024

CNN is reporting that popular board game company Mattel sent out a press release this week announcing a change to the classic word game Scrabble. The game, which has been around for about 75 years is reportedly a little too intimidating for some players.

In the statement, Mattel writes "a second side to the board that is collaborative and faster-paced to make gameplay more accessible for anyone who finds word games intimidating.”

So instead of competing against each other, those playing will collaborate to "complete goal cards, and there are helper cards it assistance is required." Mattel adds "For anyone who’s ever thought, ‘word games aren’t for me’, or felt a little intimidated by the Classic game, Scrabble Together Mode is an ideal option.”

Easier Scrabble Board Not Coming to the US... Yet

A spokesperson for Mattel tells CNN that Scrabble Together will be available across Europe and not in the US adding "as Mattel does not hold the license there."

CNN explains that this is the first major change to Scrabble, although they do regularly add "new words to its official dictionary in order to keep up as the English language evolves."

Scrabble Invented by Poughkeepsie, New York Man

Scrabble was first created by a man named Alfred Mosher Butts of Poughkeepsie, New York. Butts was an architect at the time but was laid off in 1931. During the time that he was unemployed, Butts created a game called Lexiko.

According to Lemison MIT, Lexiko was played "by selecting nine letter tiles at random and forming words from them." Sound familiar?

Butts tried selling the game to "established manufacturers" but was turned down. That is until 1947 when word game enthusiast James Brunot came along. He purchased the rights to the game, with Butts getting royalties.

Brunot managed the game production and made some changes most notably, renaming Lexiko to Scrabble. And the rest is history.