History TabletopGame / Scrabble

''Scrabble'' has also been adapted into two different [[GameShow game shows]]. First, an Creator/{{NBC}} [[Series/{{Scrabble}} series]] hosted by Chuck Woolery in the 1980s, which simplified the rules even further and set up each word with an {{Pun}}. 2011 saw the debut of ''Series/ScrabbleShowdown'' on Hasbro-owned Creator/TheHub; this version was hosted by [[Series/WinLoseOrDraw Justin Willman]] utilized different mini-games (often based on some of the more arcane Hasbro-invented variants) before moving onto a final round more like the 80s series.

* WritingAroundTrademarks: In areas where Hasbro doesn't hold rights to ''Scrabble'', some of the spin-offs are released under other names- ie. ''Scrabble Flash'' became ''Boggle Flash''.

''Scrabble'' is a long-standing board game involving words and letters. The game traces back to 1938, when Alfred Mosher Butts invented ''Criss-Crosswords'', a game with a 15×15 board and individual letter tiles. He tabulated the frequency of various letters to determine the frequency and letter value of each tile.

* NotCheatingUnlessYouGetCaught: It is, technically, perfectly legal to play words that lexically don't exist — you just have to pay the penalty (taking back your word and earning no points) if you're challenged. If you can bluff your opponents into thinking it's a real word and not challenging, you're good to go. In fact, if a word is challenged but turns out to be good after all, the ''challenger'' has to pay a penalty, traditionally, losing their turn, i.e. after challenging a PerfectlyCromulentWord they cannot play a word themselves. (This last rule holds in America but is not universal — in some places there is no penalty for an incorrect challenge, or there is a five-point penalty, which is still more lenient than losing your turn, especially if you can make a good word). This even works in tournaments. While in electronic Scrabble games, the computer typically won't let you play unapproved words, the judges at tournaments understand that this is a part of the game and will not point out that a word is invalid unless the word is challenged.[[note]]The British BluesRock band of the 1970s and early 1980s, Foghat, got their name from this. Guitarist Dave Peverett made up the word in a game with his brother.[[/note]]

* NotCheatingUnlessYouGetCaught: It is, technically, perfectly legal to play words that lexically don't exist — you just have to pay the penalty (taking back your word and earning no points) if you're challenged. If you can bluff your opponents into thinking it's a real word and not challenging, you're good to go. In fact, if a word is challenged but turns out to be good after all, the ''challenger'' has to pay a penalty, traditionally, losing their turn, i.e. after challenging a PerfectlyCromulentWord they cannot play a word themselves. (This last rule holds in America but is not universal — in some places there is no penalty for an incorrect challenge, or there is a five-point penalty, which is still more lenient than losing your turn, especially if you can make a good word). This even works in tournaments. While in electronic Scrabble games, the computer typically won't let you play unapproved words, the judges at tournaments understand that this is a part of the game and will not point out that a word is invalid unless the word is challenged.[[note]]The British HardRock/BluesRock band of the 1970s and early 1980s, Foghat, got their name from this. Guitarist Dave Peverett made up the word in a game with his brother.[[/note]]

''Scrabble'' has also been adapted into two different [[GameShow game shows]]. First, an Creator/{{NBC}} [[Series/{{Scrabble}} series]] hosted by Chuck Woolery in the 1980s, which simplified the rules even further and set up each word with an IncrediblyLamePun. 2011 saw the debut of ''Series/ScrabbleShowdown'' on Hasbro-owned Creator/TheHub; this version was hosted by [[Series/WinLoseOrDraw Justin Willman]] utilized different mini-games (often based on some of the more arcane Hasbro-invented variants) before moving onto a final round more like the 80s series.