The story of the games evolution from underground craze to cultural icon is as American as, well, the SCRABBLE

game. Alfred Mosher Butts, an out-of-work architect from Poughkeepsie, New York, decided to invent a board game. Analyzing games, he found they fell into three categories: number games, such as dice and bingo; move games, such as chess and checkers and word games, such as anagrams. Attempting to create a game that would use both chance and skill, Butts combined features of anagrams and the crossword puzzle. First called LEXIKO, the game was later called CRISS CROSS WORDS. To decide on letter distribution, Butts studied the front page of The New York Times and did painstaking calculations of letter frequency. His basic cryptographic analysis of our language and his original tile distribution have remained valid for almost three generations and billions of games played.

Established game manufacturers were unanimous in rejecting Butts invention for commercial development. Then Butts met James Brunot, a game-loving entrepreneur who became enamored of the concept. Together, they made some refinements on rules and design and, most importantly, came up with the name SCRABBLE, a real word which means to grope frantically. The game was trademarked SCRABBLE Brand Crossword Game in 1948. The Brunots rented an abandoned schoolhouse in Dodgington, Connecticut, where with friends they turned out 12 games an hour, stamping letters on wooden tiles one at a time. Later, boards, boxes and tiles were made elsewhere and sent to the factory for assembly and shipping.

The first four years were a struggle. In 1949 the Brunots made 2,400 sets and lost $450. As so often happens in the game business, the SCRABBLE game gained slow but steady popularity among a comparative handful of consumers. Then in the early 1950s, as legend has it, the president of MACYS discovered the game on vacation and ordered some for his store. Within a year, everyone had to have one to the point that SCRABBLE games were being rationed to stores around the country.

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SCRABBLE is a word game for 2,3,or 4 player. The paly is consist of forming interlocking words, crossword fashion, on the scrabble playing board using letter tiles with various score values. Each player competes for high score by using his letters in combinations and locations that take best advantage of letter values and premium squares on the board. The combined total score for a game may range from about 500 points to 700 or more depending on the skill of the players.

Turn all letters face down at the side of the board and shuffle. Draw for first play. The player drawing the letter nearest the beginning of the alphabet plays frist. Put the exposed letters back ang reshuffle. Each player then draws seven letters anf places them on his rack.

1.The first player combines two or more of his letters to form a word and places them on the board to read either across or down with one letter on the center * square. DIAGONAL words are not permitted. 2.A player competes his turn by counting and announcing his score. He then draws as many new letters as he has played, thus always keeping seven letters in his rack. 3.Play passes to the left. The second player, and then each turn, adds one or more letters to those already played so as to form new words. All letters played in any one turn must be place in one row across or down.

4.New words may be form by: A. Adding one or more letters to a word or letters already in the board. B. Placing a word at right angles t oa word already on the board. C. Placing a complete word parallel to a word already played so that joining letters also form complete words. 5. No letters may be moved after it has been played. 6.The two blank tiles may be used as any letter desired.

7. Any player may use his turn to replace any or all the letters in his rack. 8.Any words found in the dictionary are permitted except proper nouns, etc, usually commencing with a capital letters, those designated as foreign words, abbreviations and words requiring apostrophes or hyphens. 9.Play continues until all tiles have been drawn and one of the players has used all of the letters in his rack or until all possible plays has been made.

10. Keep a tally of each players score, entering it after each turn. 11.The score for each turn is the sum of the score values of all the letters in each word formed or modified in the play plus the premium values resulting from placing letters on premium squares. 12.Premium letters square: A light blue square doubles the score of a letter placed on it ; a dark blue square triples the letter square.

13.Premium word square : the score for the entire word is double when one of its letter is placed on a light red square; it is trebled when a letter is palce on a dark red square. Include premiums for double or triple letter values, if any, before doubling or trebling the word score. If a word is formed that covers two premium word squares, the score is doubled and then redoubled(4 times letter counts) or trebled and then re-trebled ( 9 times letter count) as the case may be . 14.The above letter and word premiums apply only in the turn in which they are first played.

15. When a black tile falls on a light red or a dark red square, the sum of the letter I nthe word is doubled or trebled even though the blank itself has no score value. 16.when two or more words formed in the same play, each scored. The common letter is counted ( with full premium value, if any) in the scores for each word. 17.Any player who plays all seven of his tiles in single turn scores a premium of 50 points in addition to his regular score for the play. 18.At the end of the game each players score is reduced by thr sum of his un-played letters.