Changes

==History==

==History==

Alfred Mosher Butts invented the Scrabble [[crossword]] game in its current form in 1948 based, at least in part, on his previous games Lexiko and Criss Cross Words.  He purportedly determined the frequency of the letter tiles in the game by counting letter usage in the New York Time.  He began by selling them individually by mail order until he partnered with James Brunot and his newly formed Production and Marketing company.

Alfred Mosher Butts invented the Scrabble [[crossword]] game in its current form in 1948 based, at least in part, on his previous games Lexiko and Criss Cross Words.  He purportedly determined the frequency of the letter tiles in the game by counting letter usage in the [[New York Times]].  He began by selling them individually by mail order until he partnered with James Brunot and his newly formed Production and Marketing company.

The game struggled in its early years until sales began dramatically increasing in 1952.  The game was purchased by Selchow & Righter in 1971.  Following the windfall created by [[Trivial Pursuit]], and its subsequent crash,  Selchow sold their properties to Coleco Industries in 1986.  Coleco was subsequently acquired by Hasbro in 1988 and Scrabble has remained with them since.

The game struggled in its early years until sales began dramatically increasing in 1952.  The game was purchased by Selchow & Righter in 1971.  Following the windfall created by [[Trivial Pursuit]], and its subsequent crash,  Selchow sold their properties to Coleco Industries in 1986.  Coleco was subsequently acquired by Hasbro in 1988 and Scrabble has remained with them since.

Jim Kramer, a 48 year old proofreader from Roseville, Minnesota, is the reigning United States Scrabble Open champion (2006). <ref>[http://www.scrabble-assoc.com/cgi-bin/player.pl?given=Jim&surname=Kramer&exact=1 Jim Kramer Profile] at www.ScrabbleAssociation.com</ref>

Jim Kramer, a 48 year old proofreader from Roseville, Minnesota, is the reigning United States Scrabble Open champion (2006). <ref>[http://www.scrabble-assoc.com/cgi-bin/player.pl?given=Jim&surname=Kramer&exact=1 Jim Kramer Profile] at www.ScrabbleAssociation.com</ref>

==Gameplay==

==Gameplay==

The game consists of a bag, a set of tiles, and a board divided into a 15x15 grid.  The tiles are each marked with one letter and a point value (except for two blank 'wildcard' tiles).  The tiles are placed in the bag; each player removes 7 of them; the first player uses his or her tiles to form a word and places it on the board, either horizontally or vertically, intersecting the middle square.  The player then draws more tiles from the bag, replacing the ones just played.  The points on the tiles are totalled up and any (because the middle square is a 'double word score' square) doubled; that's the player's score for this turn.  Play then rotates around the board with each player attempting to play his or her tiles to form words; after the first play, each word must use at least one tile already on the board.   

The game consists of a bag, a set of tiles, and a board divided into a 15x15 grid.  The tiles are each marked with one letter and a point value (except for two blank 'wildcard' tiles).  The tiles are placed in the bag; each player removes 7 of them; the first player uses his or her tiles to form a word and places it on the board, either horizontally or vertically, intersecting the middle square.  The player then draws more tiles from the bag, replacing the ones just played.  The points on the tiles are totalled up and any (because the middle square is a 'double word score' square) doubled; that's the player's score for this turn.  Play then rotates around the board with each player attempting to play his or her tiles to form words; after the first play, each word must use at least one tile already on the board.