Lovers of language and a little friendly competition have played Scrabble for generations, but this bestselling board game has a lesser-known history, which began in our own backyard. ElleMcLogan takes us to Queens to trace the game's origins.
Lovers of language and a little friendly competition have played the game of Scrabble for generations, but this bestselling board game has a lesser-known history, which began in our own backyard.Lynne Sherman, Pauline Bekele and Mona Fabricant first got to know each other in retirement over a game of Scrabble. They've kept their bond strong for years thanks to meetings with the library's Scrabble Club.
"Only people who know about the game of Scrabble are going to know immediately what it is, and that's why it's my favorite sign, because it's unique ... It's an Easter egg," Queens Historical Society executive director Jason D. Antos said. The creator was Alfred Mosher Butts, a Jackson Heights resident who loved puzzles and lived into his 90s.
Butts first conceptualized the game during the Great Depression, when he was a jobless architect living in a fifth-floor walk-up in Jackson Heights. Cutting the lettered tiles by hand out of balsa wood, he tried out various names for his invention, including Criss Cross Words. In those days, he tested prototypes on friends and family. More than eight decades later, the game's name and rules have evolved into a global phenomenon.
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