Invented and designed by Alfred Butts during the great depression and originally known as “Criss-Cross Words”, Scrabble was renamed into the board game we know today in 1948.
Today, Scrabble is not merely just a board game. It is an internationally competitive “mind sport” with an active competitive circuit, Scrabble Clubs, National Associations and World Championships.
Growth of Scrabble Clubs across the globe continues each year and the standard of competition grows along with it. As a mind sport, Scrabble is quickly approaching the level of intellectual challenge and respect that is held by other mind-sports such as Chess.
The growing popularity of Scrabble today defies the myriad of similar rival word-based board games that have emerged over the past two decades.
Successful Scrabble players know that there is far more to this game than just spelling and vocabulary skills. Scrabble is a mind sport, requiring mathematical skills, analytical and strategic skills, and a mild dose of luck.
To the recreational Scrabble player who enjoys a game with the family over the kitchen table, the lack (or bad luck) of drawing the best (or worst) collection of tiles out of the bag is a major component of whether a player wins or loses. The more advanced and competitive the player, the less luck plays a part. Strategic skills largely eliminate the luck component.
There are several reasons why Scrabble is growing in popularity year by year.
In earlier eras, there were problems with different dictionaries allowing or disallowing various words. Today, Official Scrabble Dictionaries have been almost totally standardized internationally for English language play. There are now just two slightly differing sets of official words - one for North America and another for the rest of the world.
The Scrabble Clubs themselves generate publicity in their communities, offering not just competition, but also a social scene for the less serious yet still enthusiastic recreational player.
Inter-club tournaments, Nation Championships and World Championships draw major media attention.
Even ESPN has trialed televising Scrabble competitions and is believed to be keen on expanding their coverage of Scrabble as a competitive mind sport.
In several countries, Scrabble Clubs and associations are working actively with Government Education Departments to introduce “School Scrabble” - combining the academic and the sporting aspects of Scrabble into the school curriculum.
The internet is playing a role in the growing popularity of Scrabble with numerous websites available for playing Scrabble online. Educational resources and advice from Scrabble experts is also readily available online.
The future growth of Scrabble internationally appears assured. Given that the International Olympic Committee is now considering a number of mind-sports, such as Bridge, for possible inclusion in future Olympic Games, it is not beyond the realms of possibility that at some future point in time Scrabble itself may become an Olympic sport.
Trevor Johnson is the author of the highly acclaimed “Scrabble Bonus Word Techniques” e-book series, available at http://www.bonuswords.com.
Scrabble® is a registered trade mark of Hasbro Inc in the USA and Canada, and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited (a subsidiary of Mattel Inc.) of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England. Hasbro is not affiliated with J.W. Spear & Sons Limited or Mattel Inc.
One of the most useful concepts to grow spiritually and becoming
happier is the method of acceptance or surrender.
I have personally found this method to be perhaps the most
workable and useful in retaining my poise and staying happier as
I go through life. Partly because of my upbringing no doubt, I
have had a life-long habit of being very self critical and
judgmental. I have the habit of criticizing and feeling bad
about myself for every little thing that happened to me -
internally or externally. I tried to reason my way out of this
habit but it did not work - the habit is still with me. I also
feel guilty many times during the day when I am caught up with
my memories of times when I behaved badly.
For anybody in this situation, or anybody who feel negatively
about himself or the situation in which he finds himself the
proper attitude is that of acceptance and surrender. Surrender
to the thoughts and feelings which arise in you. If you are
feeling bad about yourself, or your relationships, or your work
or anything about your life-situation welcome and accept that
feeling. Surrender to it, perhaps it was what was meant to
happen at this time. Watch the feeling with as much detachment
as you can. It will pass as it must; all things in this world
are impermanent.
In the classic spiritual bestseller - The Power of Now - Eckhart
Tolle advises us to treat whatever negative feeling that arises
in your mind as a message saying, “Attention - Here and Now.
Wake up - Get out of your mind - be present”.
Surrender does not mean resignation to your life situation. If
you are stuck in the mud you don’t say “I resign myself to being
stuck in the mud” and do nothing about it. If you have lost your
job, if you find yourself trapped in a bad relationship or in
any situation that you find intolerable then obviously you must
do something about it. We all need to plan and work to change
certain aspects of our lives. I am not telling you to blame your
fate or destiny for everything that happens and do nothing about
it.
What I am asking you to do is to surrender to everything, which
is happening to you - internally and externally at this instant
in your life. If you are trapped in the morning rush during your
daily long commute to work, then accept whatever is happening -
inside and outside - at that instant. Surrender to your feelings
of freedom, irritation and frustration. Don’t repress those
feelings - accept them, surrender to them.
Surrender to the long life of cars or the crowd in the bus or
local train. Accept your present situation - at that instant -
fully and without reservation. This should not prevent you from
changing what can and needs to be changed. Perhaps you can get
another job, or shift to another branch of your company closer
to your home. Perhaps you can take the bus to your office
instead of driving yourself. You can make use or your daily
commute by reading a newspaper or a book or doing some work.
Change what can be changed, surrender to what is happening at
this instant - the one thing that you cannot change.
For a more detailed discussion on the concept of acceptance and
surrender please refer the classic bestseller. The Power of Now
by Eckhart Tolle, available at Amazon. Here is the link to the
site:-
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1577314808/ref=nosim/easte
rnphilos-20
I hope you enjoyed this article and that it will be useful to
you.
If you have any comments or questions, please visit the Eastern
Philosophy Blog and post them. I visit the blog daily and
promise to reply as quickly as I can.
http://eastern-philosophy-and-meditation.blogspot.com/
Stay tuned for more articles in this continuing series.
About the author
Transform yourself through Eastern Philosophy. For a completely
new way of looking at life please visit the Eastern Philosophy
website at
http://www.eastern-philosophy-and-meditation.com/index.html and
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