Scrabble Launches Website With Free Online Play
Scrabble has launched a brand new website with tons of new resources for players, including a browser-based version of the game. To celebrate International Scrabble Day (which celebrates the birthday of Scrabble creator Alfred Mosher Butts), Hasbro has announced that the popular word tile game is launching its very own website, Scrabble.com, that includes a free-to-play online version of the game. Scrabble.com will support both PvP and PvE modes along with ranked competitions. Other features include an official Scrabble word finder and dictionary, a Scrabble blog, and a moderated Scrabble forum. The site follows the launch of Scrabble GO, a mobile app version of Scrabble that launched back in March 2020.
Scrabble was first released in 1938 and is one of the most popular board games of all time. The game itself is quite simple – players draw from a pool of letter tiles, each of which has their own score. Players then use those tiles to spell out words on the game board. Each new word must be connected to at least one previous word placed on the tile. Players can score additional points by either forming multiple words during a single play or by placing a tile on a space that grants either a double or triple letter score bonus, or a double or triple word score bonus. The game uses an official Scrabble dictionary that players can use in challenges, with proper nouns not allowable in the game. One-third of American households and one-half of British homes have a Scrabble set, and the game also has a competitive scene with annual tournaments.
Word games remain a very popular pastime for many players, as evidenced by the ongoing popularity of Wordle and its countless spinoffs. Coincidentally, Scrabble's letter tile scores are derived in part by how many times each letter appeared in daily issues of The New York Time, which now owns Wordle.