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The Buchtelite

The Editorially Independent Voice of The University of Akron

The Buchtelite

The Editorially Independent Voice of The University of Akron

The Buchtelite

Scrabble rules are scrambled

“For 62 years, Scrabble has restricted the use of proper nouns. However, a UK version of the game will be released with an unexpected rule change, shortly followed by a worldwide version. Proper nouns are now allowed in the game of Scrabble. This means that players will be able to use words such as Adidas or Coca-Cola without penalty.”

For 62 years, Scrabble has restricted the use of proper nouns. However, a UK version of the game will be released with an unexpected rule change, shortly followed by a worldwide version. Proper nouns are now allowed in the game of Scrabble. This means that players will be able to use words such as Adidas or Coca-Cola without penalty.

A spokesperson from Mattel told the Daily News that the new edition of Scrabble would be introduced to the UK later this year, claiming that the contemporary version of Scrabble would build on the rules of the classic game to introduce a new dimension to the play format.

An additional explanation to the expansion of the game’s format is that the allowance of proper nouns will let young players participate. But was the original version really that much of a blockade for children?

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It is interesting that Mattel should decide to release the new edition first in the UK, considering that technically, British English is considered to be the correct and proper manner of speech. It will be curious to find out how the people of the UK will react to the allowance of proper nouns.

More importantly, is there not a sufficient amount of words which are legal to use within the game of Scrabble? Without proper nouns, the English language still offers thousands of words which would serve as acceptable contributions to the game.

Furthermore, Scrabble experts are not usually present in your home during a leisurely game of Scrabble to ensure the exclusion of a proper noun, so the current board that players own will serve as acceptable. An entire new version of the game hardly seems necessary just to incorporate a new rule that players have the freedom to implement themselves.

Scrabble has been a classic American board game for decades. It has never permitted the use of proper nouns, so why change it now? Recognizing proper nouns as words that will award points to players compromises the integrity of a game played by its original rules for years. Mattel should not have made the decision to release an entire new version of the game. The decision makes it seem as though something so classic is being abandoned for something contemporary, purely for the actualization of in with the new, out with the old.

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