UK Scrabble Boards Add Proper Nouns

Tuesday, 06 April 2010 | by Pat's Picks

Attention Scrabble players: Jay Z isn’t just gold on the radio anymore, now he’s gold (23 points) on the Scrabble board as well. The addition of proper nouns, the first change in Scrabble’s 62-year history, was announced yesterday. The Telegraph says Mattel decided to allow the names of places and people as a way to entice younger player to the game. Upon learning this insider information, I immediately searched the top 40 charts, hoping for a young singer with the name JX-QZ (36 points). But my search seems to be in vain. After the news leaked, Mattel confirmed that the changes will only effect UK versions of the game. That means families in the US and Canada will continue to enjoy decades of heated family arguments. A new version of the game, complete with new rules, will be released in the UK in July.

Image courtesy of theogeo via Flickr.

More about Scrabble on Wikipedia

I found this old episode of Scrabble, the game show, on YouTube. It’s from 1987 and the contestants, a slew of classic game show hosts, really give you a trip down memory lane: