A board and ‘lodging’ affair

I’m talking about Scrabble — that word-building, world-shattering, board game — firmly lodged as a top family entertainer. Back from a US trip in the early ’60s, grandmother brought us the original board, with wooden tiles. Seven “letter” tiles to each player, and each word made to be lodged on the board. She initiated us into the tricks of the trade: the subtle variations that helped us make the most of our letters and score off most. In one respect though, she was old-fashioned — she’d frown at our attempts to use common four-letter words. She preferred the rare two-letter ones: xi, zo, em, en, jo.

Friends would often challenge these “unheard-of” words, now commonly used by professional Scrabble players. But we learnt them years back. She would urge us not to throw away high-scoring tiles, but would patiently ensure we used them skilfully. For example, use the letter “Z” on a triple letter score — get both “Zoo” and “Zo” (minimum 60 points) — for one letter. She would open up the game: give opportunities to create seven-letter words to the eager grandchildren. We grew up scrabbling. So did our children. But of late there has been the copyright lawsuit to save the name. What’s in a name, one might ask? But a “Scrabble” by any other name would never spell the same.