Scrabble FCUKed with Proper Noun Rule Change
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Mattel dumb down Scrabble rules to include names and places.
Toy makers Mattel risk the fury of thousands of highly literate wordsmiths today as they prepare a shake-up of the Scrabble rules to allow proper nouns such as Jesus (12 points), Topeka (12 points) and iPad (7 points).
The rules of the famous anagram game have remained the same since it was first trademarked in the US by Alfred Butts in 1948. However, Mattel has made the controversial changes in order to bring the game up to date and encourage more people to play Scrabble.
“These changes will provide a great new twist on the old formula. People who are already fans will enjoy the changes but we will still be selling a board with the original rules,” a Mattel spokeswoman told The Daily Record.
New high scoring combinations will include Jay-Z (23 points), Lexulous (15 points), Xerxes (20 points) and Kyrgyzstan (29 points).
Gyles Brandreth, Honorary President of the Association of British Scrabble Players told The Daily Telegraph: “The joy of Scrabble is that you can play as you please. When I play, it’s with a normal dictionary and I like to play with people who understand the words they are using. I play for the love of language. The modern player plays to win – and will outscore me every time.”
Mr Brandreth accepted that using proper nouns broadened the scope of Scrabble to allow competitive players the chance to broaden their word scores. However, British Scrabble Champion Craig Beevers was unhappy with the announcement: “It’s a gimmick. It’s fine for people to play whatever rules they want at home for fun but they shouldn’t interfere with the serious players.”
What do you think of the Scrabble rule changes? What are your top high scoring word scores using the Scrabble scoring system? Let us know with a comment below.
UPDATE
According to The Washington Post, there has been confusion over the changes to Scrabble rules since the original Mattel press statement. Philip Nelkon, Mattel promotions manager said: “We’re not burying the standard game at all. It’s been around for 60 years, and we wouldn’t do anything to affect the crown jewels.”
The publicity stunt from Mattel paves the way for a new version of the game called Scrabble Trickster. Players will draw cards which allow for special rules such as spelling words upwards, using proper nouns or forfeiting a letter.
Azerbaijan – 28 points
Awesome way to use up X – Axl (10 points)
Jedi (12 points)
Wookiee (14 points)
Jabba (16 points)
Qui-Gon (16 points)
LOL – 3 pts
Scrabble is Da Bomb dude, plain and simple!
Shut the hell up, you late-90′s spambot.
BS = 3 points
BS would actually be 4 points. You would know that if you were a true Scrabble lover!
No word of a lie, the iPhone Scrabble app (the original not the new one) put out ‘fucking’ for 32 points against me. I was sick.
That’s handy.
V-O-M-I-T-I-N-G could score 64, if you use all 7 tiles.
Awh. The struggle is half the fun.
“Chiropractor. Ninety-three letters, ‘chiropractor’.”
Spell as you feel, man. We are all God’s creation.
If you like playing by the letter of the law rather than the spirit, words such as Ee (the fifth letter of the alphabet) Qi (the Chinese metaphysical notion of power or something), Xi (the Greek letter), and Bio (the prefix meaning life) are all legally accepted. I had a big fight with my sister over her use of Bio. I later played Ology to be obnoxious and got slapped. I say, no word fragments, no words that refer to letters (dee, eff, ell), and nothing that would be capitalized in a newspaper.
I’ll believe it when I see it. This reeks of a late April Fools joke. Gnews only has one source, and that source has zero.
On the other hand, ever notice how big corporations will make controversial decisions on or near April 1?
Fuck is in most dictionaries.
Definitely not an April Fool but it’s only really a new idea from Mattel (who control Scrabble outside of the US and Canada).
This won’t affect Hasbro Scrabble players at all.
Some big corporations make decisions near April because that’s often the start of their fiscal year.
Not true.
Firstly it doesn’t make any sense, as any player would simply insist that their random collection of words (“Kwyjibo”) is a proper noun somewhere, there can’t possibly be a dictionary to check against.
The article also lists a number of other ridiculous ideas, one of which is out of Upwords, which is a different game completely.
Finally, Scrabble is owned by Hasbro, not Mattel, they are competing companies.
Whilst I agree that some of these ideas are ridiculous and would destroy the game of Scrabble that we know and love, this is going to happen. The proper noun rule change will become an official part of the Scrabble canon.
Words spelt upwards have not been confirmed but is a change under consideration.
With regards to Hasbro/Mattel – it’s not a mistake, Hasbro owns the trademark in the US but the game is licensed to Mattel everywhere else in the world.
Just make any combination of letters legal. Like QUIKILR.
Scrabble is a great game because it has difficulties – changing again so more people will play is just another example of dumbing down content for the masses.
I know I left out a “B”… but now it is a “seven letter 50 pointer”… AND NOW IT’s OK to use a proper name… so I splelled it rong… Grade Six was the best 12 years of my life, dude!
peace,
Drew
I searched Snopes.com to see if this was a hoax and it doesn’t pop up. So I guess it’s real. My heart is breaking. I hope the computer version doesn’t get these stupid new rules. Where’s the challenge? No Scrabbler left behind, I guess.
We play: opt for Urban Dictionary for 1/2 the points.
That’s great news ! ZRXYWQK is finally allowed…
http://www.scrabblecheat.org/