Scrabble Game

I am comparing the Scrabble game by Hasbro Gaming in a bright red box with white "SCRABBLE" on front and pictures of lots of letter tiles that I purchased on July 13, 2019 ..... AND a Scrabble game I purchased over 40 years ago that came in what I consider a purple box, some may call it dark burgundy or dark wine. My old game has gold lettering on the box, no pictures, and the box is kind of a textured cardboard, not smooth and glossy. COMPARISON: For anyone who just wants the main two differences without reading everything: 1. The new game has a larger board, but the actual playing area of the board is almost the same. The new board has a wider strip down one side to say "SCRABBLE" and to tell you how many of each letter there are. It tells you this on both sides of the border, facing the player who sits on either side. 2. The new game has lightweight red plastic racks to hold your letters. My old game has heavy duty wooden racks. Both WORK fine, but I prefer wood personally. If you want more exact specs and differences, as well as what HASN'T changed, read on: Old Board measures a tad over 14 1/4 x 14. The actual playing area is 12 1/4 x 11. New Board measures just shy of 15 1/2 x 14. The actual playing area is 12 1/2 x 11 1/4. Both boards fold in half. Mine is still in great condition. Hopefully new board will hold up as well. The backside of the old board is purple (or wine?). The back side of the new board is black. The instructions are printed inside the lid on the old game; on a nice brochure in the new game. The box for the old game measures 14 1/2 x 7 1/2 and is kind of textured heavy duty cardboard. The new game box measures 15 3/4 x 7 1/2 and is a lighter weight standard cardboard game box. The old game tells you only on one end of the board how many of each letter, so it is upside down and hard to see for the person sitting on the opposite side. The new board has it printed on both ends of the wide border, facing in the direction of the person sitting on either side, so it's easy to read for both. The Double Letter, Double Word, Triple Word colored squares on the board are the same on both. The letter tiles are the same size in both and definitely look and feel like wood to me, in both. There are 98 letters and 2 blanks in both games, and the same number of each letter in both games. (There are more of commonly used letters such as vowels, especially E and A, and N's and R's. And only one of letters like J, Q, X and Z, but the same number of each letter in both games.) The really big difference: the nice wooden racks in the old game vs. the cheap red plastic racks in the new game. Although I greatly prefer the wooden ones, I did not deduct a star for three reasons: 1, people who have never used the old game with wooden racks would probably think nothing of the plastic ones since most games these days have everything plastic everything. (Had the letter tiles been plastic, I WOULD have deducted a star!) 2, the plastic racks get the job done, no problem. 3, the price of this game, $11.99 when I bought it, is very reasonable for what you get, so it wouldn't be fair to expect the same quality of a game you pay considerably more for. The letters look to me like they are printed in slightly larger, thicker type on the new tiles, which is a GOOD thing. Still black letters, against very light wood tiles, which is best. The new game came with a black drawstring back, plenty large enough to hold all the letters with ease. My old game did not come with a bag, but I am fine with keeping them on the bottom of the box under the board. I consider this game a good value for the money and I would definitely recommend it, although I would point out to anyone I recommended it to that it has plastic racks, so they aren't disappointed.

Has held up the test of time...nice game and no issues. The board is just like it was when it was brand new!

LOVE LOVE SCRABBLE! Great value, good game. It even works for my own invention, which I call, "Hooked on Puhonnix" (patent pending) which is based on phonetic spelling and which derives its name from the OJ trial. So, before the OJ trial captivated a nation, WBCN BAWSSSTON (RAWWWK RADIO!) had evidently sold a lot of ad space to the Hooked On Phonics people. Once OJ's grammatically hapless notes to Nicole became public, WBCN created and played all these fake ads wherein OJ (via voice impersonator) is trying to pronounce the words in front of him, which became "hooked on puhonnix?" ... Which in turn became this version of Scrabble, in which all words must be spelled phonetically, yet with the strict rule that no excess letters can be used. Like the letter H; it seems to attract lazy sorts, so where a phonetic masterpiece like, "zew" (one of the most hilarious creations to date. this game is hilarious) could take advantage of the silent H and become the greater-points-bearing, "zehhw." I can see one H but two is taking advantage, IMHO. So one must have a judge and jury in place when playing my creation. Life must be fair. yeah, I regularly digress.

Excelente

For a cheaper option, this set is fine and allows for great game playing. A few minor 'grouses'. The tiles are not very consistent in size - not bad, but not all exactly the same size. The wood of the tiles is very light (I'm not sure what type of wood, but not the heavier beech wood that my old set was made from). Now a few good points. The printing is clear and easy to see (my wife doesn't have very good eyesight, but can see these tiles easily). The board seems substantial enough for longevity, although the side panel seems to be bigger (wider) than necessary. All in all, good value.

This is just like the Scrabble game I grew up with in the 70s/80s. The wood (tiles and tile holders) is good quality, and the gameboard is good quality too. We got it to play with our 9-year-old son, and he enjoys it. It's fun to watch him work creatively with words. And he's learning to work the board for points now too. The other day he played a single tile for 32 points. That was great to see. And he was pretty proud of it. Also, this is a game you can play with your kid and one or two of his grandparents. That's a nice family time. If you've got a kid that likes words, Scrabble is a great choice.

It's Scrabble. A fun game since I was younger. I love using it to play with my son now that he's old enough. It's been a great way to encourage learning without telling him he's learning. If your child likes board games its a great way to integrate fun and learning. Classic game and love that I can still get it :)

If you haven't played Scrabble before, you are missing out! It's such a fun word game that really makes you think and stay engaged (if you want to really be competitive and play). It's fun to play with just one other person, or with a group. This one was good quality and will probably last a very long time. It comes with a nice bag for the tiles. All you need is a notebook and pen to keep score! Buy it!

Awesome value for money. I grew up playing Scrabble and I wanted to get one for my 6 year old who loves word games. This is the perfect version to start him on. Pros: - value for money at $20+ - wooden tiles instead of the usual plastic ones - you can’t try and feel for any alphabets - large enough to start a young child on the game Cons: - no “legs” to fix the tiles on the board unlike the travel version

Good quality fun game, very nice for a gift, good for giving your brain a work out 😀

Nuevo Scrabble amigable con el medioambiente. Sus piezas están hechas de materiales reciclables y las letras vienen en una simpática bolsita en donde poder guardarlas siempre. Recomendable

I use this with my wife who's second language is English. She hates studying but really enjoyed this game.

It's an age-old classic and one that I thoroughly enjoy playing. I do remember the tile boards being wood as well, but I suppose the plastic will have to do.