We are about to celebrate 90 years since the creation of Scrabble: they say that an American architect, Alfred Mosher Butts, created it in 1938, and since then more than 150 million units have been sold (not counting versions like ‘Intelect’ or, more loosely, ‘Bananagrams’). As you can imagine, over the years there have been hundreds of versions of Scrabble like ‘Super Scrabble’, luxury adaptations or even in braille. Now there is another one. Of course.
Z-crabble
From Mattel, they have announced that this ‘Scrabble’, titled ‘Scrabble together’, will be a less competitive cooperative game than the classic one. Specifically, they have explained that it is a game for the Z generation, who wants a game where you can simply enjoy “words, language, being together and having fun”. And you may ask, “Why are there people who didn’t like it?”. Well, who knows.
In the ‘Scrabble together’ box you will find the original version of the game as well, in case you only want the classic rules, and no one forces you to accept the new features. In this case, players will have new challenges (“Make a word that has the same consonant several times” or “Play a word vertically”) and draw cards that can twist the game, like turning letters into wildcards. If you are reading this and clenching your fists, maybe it’s time to consider why.
No one is affected by there being a new way to play, just like Monopoly with a credit card didn’t affect the traditional bills or ‘Star Trek’ Catán didn’t make the classic disappear from the shelves. If you haven’t been able to adapt to the new times, maybe now is the time to try.
