Scrabble For The Rest Of Us?

And now for some mildly diverting weekend trivia….

As Orlando braces for the arrival of 200 middle school Scrabble experts to compete for the $10,000 National School SCRABBLE® Championship today, long-time Scrabble fans are saying it’s time for a revolution.

Why?

A new version (called Scrabble Trickster) being introduced only in the United Kingdom allows players to use proper nouns, spell words backwards, steal letters from opponents, and place words on the board without connecting them to existing words.

The goal is to “enable younger fans and families to get involved.” Slate’s Josh Levin tells detractors, “Put a sock in it.” Our own Michael J.W. Stickings has a round-up of reaction. Me, I think it’s a great idea.

The old version stays. For those enthusiasts who also happen to be early adopters, Engadget has a review of Scrabble for the iPad. Techmeme has discussion.

Good luck young Pogue!

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