This is a game-changer.
For the first time in 75 years, Mattel is making a major change to the iconic board game Scrabble — and touting a “No More Scoring” gameplay option.
The new launch is a double-sided version of the famous board game — one side with the original game for those who want to stick to the long-time traditional version, and one side with a “less competitive” version to appeal to Gen Z gamers.
The flip side of the classic game, called Scrabble Together, will include helper cards, use a simpler scoring system, be quicker to play and allow people to play in teams.
“The makers of Scrabble found that younger people, Gen Z people, don’t quite like the competitive nature of Scrabble,” Gyles Brandreth, who co-hosts the language podcast Something Rhymes With Purple, told BBC Radio 4 Today. “They want a game where you can simply enjoy language, words, being together and having fun creating words.”
So what’s new exactly? In addition to a dual-sided board, there are helper cards, which provide assistance, prompts and clues and can be selected to match the player’s challenge level of their choice.
In the new version, scoring is a thing of the past — now all one has to do is finish a goal and collect the goal card.
Goal cards include challenges such as: “Play a horizontal word,” “play a three-letter word” or “play a word that touches the edge of the board.”
The player who completes 20 challenges is the winner, while the player who used all their helper cards without completing a challenge is the loser.
Once 20 goal cards are completed, the game is over — that’s it.
Mattel says the new protocols and scoring — no need to do math for each turn— will offer “shorter games.”
“The game speaks to a trend in younger people who want to avoid competitive games, instead favoring teamwork and collaboration working towards a fun goal together,” Brett Smitheram, current UK number 1 and 2016 World Scrabble Champion, said in a statement.
R&I ~ MJM
Bill
Article URL : https://nypost.com/2024/04/09/lifestyle/scrabble-makes-historic-change-for-first-time-in-75-years/