April 13th is the birthday of Poughkeepsie, New York Architect Alfred Mosher Butts (1899-1993), inventor of the Scrabble game in 1931. Originally called “Criss Cross,” he based it on both the crossword puzzle and anagrams.
In 1948, the game was renamed “Scrabble.” Both Mattel and Hasbro hold the trademarks, depending on whether the game is in North America or Europe. It is said that one-third of homes in the USA have a Scrabble game, along with half the homes in Great Britain.
Oh, and if you want a wildly insane score, theoretically, oxyphenbutazone will deliver a cool 1,778 points if connected to certain other words. Unlikely? Impossible? Okay… you are more apt to hit the highest scoring 7-letter word: muzjiks.
Me? I’ll settle for any word where I can use a “q.”
