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 S-C-R-A-B-B-L-E IS MORE THAN A CONDITION,
IT’S AN O-B-S-E-S-S-I-O-N!

By Thomas G. Robinson, Fake Reporter

Scrabble … That’s a game, right? Oh, yeah, it belongs in the ‘back in the day’ category of things that were fun then. Well, it’s still fun! It’s still played on a 15”x15” multi-colored board and it still does NOT require electricity or ‘logging in’ or being ‘friended’ or ‘liked’. Yes, it’s still here, only now it’s going to being played in a big way at Russo’s Books at The Marketplace!

Scrabble is a board game that has taken on a life of its own. It was created by American architect, Alfred Mosher Butts in 1938, who couldn’t get a major game manufacturer to buy it. He ended up trying to manufacture it himself and called the game “Criss-Crosswords”.

In 1948, James Brunot bought the rights to manufacture the game in exchange for granting Butts a royalty on every unit sold. He added some slight changes, but left the game pretty much as it was. One major change he did – he changed the name to “Scrabble”, which means “to scratch frantically”.

In 1952, Jack Straus, president of Macy’s, played the game while on vacation. When he returned home he was surprised to see that his store did not carry the game, so he placed a large order. Within a year, it was a must-have game for game-players of that time!

Currently, it is owned and manufactured by Hasbro, Inc., and is sold in 121 countries, been translated into 29 different languages and has sold over 150 million sets worldwide. You can find a Scrabble game in roughly one-third of American homes!*

When I think of Scrabble, I think of the time when I was a kid. Yes, it’s one of those ‘back in the day’ memories that include me being home when the streetlights come on, being outside playing all the time, chasing down the ice-cream truck, and being able to hear your mom call your name from your front porch when you’re ten miles away playing pirates with your childhood friend! Okay, I may have exaggerated the distance from where I could hear my mom’s call, but it sure seemed that way!

Anyway, the point is that even though your childhood friends are all grown up and you no longer have to be home when your mom yells from the porch, Scrabble hasn’t really gone anywhere. It’s still here and it’s still fun! And now, you can even play the game at your local independent bookstore!

Local Scrabble game enthusiast, Devonee Meyer, is a former servicewoman in the military and a current Coldwell Banker employee. She’s also a long-time Scrabble fan who has been playing the game for over 20+ years! She was trying to find others, like her, who still enjoys playing. When she found that there wasn’t an ongoing group to join, she decided to form her own! Enter Tony Russo of Russo’s Books at The Marketplace.

“Devonee called me up at the store and asked if we could host a new game night with Scrabble”, he explained, “I asked her what she had in mind and we decided to meet at the store. It was as simple as that!”

Devonee said that she knew she found the right place in Russo’s when she saw that it was so family oriented and that other popular events, like the Magic: The Gathering and Pokemon games, take place here, too.

Devonee says that Scrabble-Time at Russo’s is from 6:00PM to 8:30PM, and will continue every Thursday. She also encourages you to come and try out this new event and to B.Y.O.B. (bring your own board!) - though, there will be some game boards available to use, but if a lot of people show up we’d like to make sure everyone gets to play.

Rules: Devonee will be the judge and jury for scoring with the Scrabble rules followed. Adults and children (4th grade and up) will be the eligible players. However, if you have children younger than that who really want to play, please bring your own Scrabble Junior game and we’ll throw that into the mix!

Yes, gone are the days when you could go for hours and hours and never hear a cell phone or digital device beeping or playing a ringback tone – but not gone are the games you can play that keep your brain working, your skills sharpened and your friends just a triple-word score away.

SCRABBLE-TIME at RUSSO’S Every Thursday!
Call 665-4686 for questions. Come join the F-U-N!

Russo's Books at The Marketplace is located at 9000 Ming Avenue, Suite I-4.

(*Quick history lesson with the help of Wikipedia)