Scrabble To Allow Proper Nouns 377
Hogwash McFly writes "The rules of the popular word game Scrabble are soon to allow proper nouns. Mattel, the maker of the game, hopes the changes made for a new edition, released this July, will 'add a new dimension' to Scrabble and 'introduce an element of popular culture into the game.' With this rule change, the company hopes to target younger fans and families, although they will continue to sell the traditional version where 'Beyonce' and 'Facebook' are not permitted words." Nobody is listening to my suggestion to penalize by one tile any player who has memorized every two-letter English word.
Hmm (Score:4, Insightful)
Wouldn't this mean you could claim that any name that has been given to anyone is a valid word?
Re:Hmm (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Hmm (Score:5, Funny)
Yeah, there's appealing to the masses and then there's making it so your product no longer makes any sense. They've obvious chosen the Michael Bay approach.
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
I think it's called the MS Bob approach. ;)
It's what you get, when you mix up "elegant", "emergent" or "efficient" with "simple", and listen to the loud dumb clients to make the thing useless for everyone with half a brain, while telling the intelligent critics that the dumb would not get it. Some people really think they could make more money that way...
Ahh.. The Apple strategy..
Re:Hmm (Score:5, Funny)
I'm going to start using qwyjibo as often as I can...
Re: (Score:2)
Just start a sourceforge project for every random hand of letters you always get stuck with.
qwyjibo would make a great python framework or something.
Re:Hmm (Score:5, Funny)
I'm going to start using qwyjibo as often as I can...
Why not, it's a perfectly cromulent word.
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
I'm going to start using qwyjibo as often as I can...
Why not, it's a perfectly cromulent word.
I've never heard of it. Clearly I need to embiggen my vocabulary.
Re:Hmm (Score:5, Informative)
Embiggen your minds here, people
Re:Hmm (Score:4, Informative)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Hmm (Score:4, Funny)
Crap - no vowels again! Oh well.. I name this table fhzbgyn. That's a 7 letter word, across two triple word scores! Sweet :D
Re:Hmm (Score:4, Funny)
7 is my pet name for 8.
Re:Hmm (Score:5, Insightful)
E.G.
Zxggrta: The story of a boy playing Scrabble
There once was a boy playing scrabble. He didn't have any real words in his tiles, so he decided to write a short story called "Zxggrta". Since he wrote the story, "Zxggrta" is now a valid word in Scrabble.
The End
Re:Hmm (Score:4, Insightful)
I doubt these new rules will be used in Scrabble competitions.
And they won't cause big problems to most people who understand the unwritten rules of playing games _socially_.
Basically when people play games socially, people will either agree to play according to a set of rules upfront, or they'll accept what the "house rules" are even if they aren't completely aware of all the "house rules".
The general assumption is that the participants will behave reasonably because:
a) they want to continue playing with each other.
and/or
b) they want to win AND have the other person admit that it was won fair and square - makes the victory sweeter for them
So the new rules are only a problem when you are playing with people like that stereotypical nerdy kid who keeps insisting on his really stretched interpretations of AD&D rules[1].
In which case you just don't play with them.
[1] Yes hackers do like stretching/bypassing the limits, but IMO there's not much point "winning" in games/life if nobody wants to play with you.
Re:Hmm (Score:5, Funny)
Some decades after a maternity ward Scrabble game:
"Sir, could please give your full name for the court?"
"Qfuhbix Triplewordscore Inyourface Jones"
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Are they in the dictionary?
No?
Then they don't count, as always.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
just partner with apple, and create an app that tells you whether a word is valid.
why leave it to question when there's money to be made providing the answer?
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Re: (Score:2)
Yes. This will never fly. I will not play Scrabble with such rules.
And if you're too lazy to memorize the 2 letter words, that's just your disadvantage.
Re:Hmm (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
I still think that's ambiguous.
For instance, nouveau riche is a French phrase imported into English. Webster's has it listed, but my spellchecker cries bloody murder when it sees me type it. That's two words; Webster's has an entry for nouveau but not for riche. So is riche an English word?
Webster's has anime as a Japanese import, but not otaku or hentai, both of which are also widely used in the English-speaking world.
Queso may be the Spanish word for cheese, but around these parts we use it as an English
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Fine with me. I wouldn't want to play Scrabble with anyone who would want to use proper nouns anyway. Does that make me a jerk? Probably, but I'm ok with that. I'd rather just not play than play a fundamentally broken game.
Potentially any word or even letter combination... (Score:2)
..can be a proper noun without breaking any traditional English language grammar constraints in regard what can be classified as a proper noun. Well that's the way I see it.
mhm. (Score:5, Funny)
Apu Nahasapeemapetilon, triple word score. Suck it.
Re: (Score:2)
I can taste the curry!
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
theres only 1 of me, u slly goose (2 bd scrbble stll doesnt allow 1-ltr wrds)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Really? I would have thought there were at least 53421 of you...
Re: (Score:2)
Bah, I'm sure that my name will beat you: Zhiwoumxy Quujosva. Placed all my 7 letters, +70. Placed Z and X on triple letter squares, +60. Completed 2 other words with them, +60. And so on...
Uh, how many U's are there in the game?
4 generally, unless you've lost some, i'd be more worried about how he placed his Z and X both on tripple letter scores when there are no tripple letter scores that far apart, or where he got the + 70 when you get 50 points for using all your letters.
Re: (Score:2)
Apu Nahasapeemapetilon, triple word score. Suck it.
Only a quijibo would use a Simpsons reference in a game of Scrabble.
Re: (Score:2)
Apu's name is a perfectly cromulent choice for Scrabble!
Noooo! (Score:2)
I just hope that tournaments will still implement plain old rules!
Hasbro and Mattel (Score:5, Informative)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Has it come across anyone people that they could have been playing by these rules all along?
I don't see why this affects anything at all.
Re: (Score:2)
They have an advertising campaign now:
Now with Proper Nouns! Sponsored by Pepsi.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
"Keep selling a board with the original rules" is not exactly the definition of an optional rule. It's rather taking advantage of the people who never realized that ALL rules are more or less optional.
It shouldn't take the players more than 3 minutes to decide if proper nouns are allowed or not. Sure as hell they shouldn't have to buy a different board for that!
if we're lucky, we might get theleaflet with the "classic" rules as an "expansion set" for half the price of a complete game....
OTOH:
Hasn't everyone
Re:Hasbro and Mattel (Score:5, Funny)
OH MY GOD!
Do you seriously mean to say that Americans are going to be the ones that don't have the dumbed-down version of Scrabble???
Acronyms (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Acronyms (Score:4, Funny)
FU
Sorry...couldn't resist. I tried. I really tried.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
It is a Two Letter Acronym. I don't know what you're talking about.
Re:Acronyms (Score:4, Funny)
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Sigh (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Sigh (Score:4, Insightful)
Most surprising to me is that I even care, but the more I think about it, the more I do. Come on, Mattel!
Re: (Score:2)
I don't think they really care that people see it as a case of watering down an intellectual challenge into a pop-cultural pissing match. All news is good news and they're only in it for the money.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Could it be they're just trying to stir up controversy to increase their head-space and sell more boxes of Old Faithful (TM) before New and Inferior (TM) becomes the norm?
Ah, yes. The rarely seen New Coke [snopes.com] fallacy.
Re: (Score:2)
I believe it was called "Who Want to Be a Millionaire?"
Dumbing things down (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Dumbing things down (Score:5, Funny)
In related news, Parker Bros is releasing a new edition of RISK that uses a single coin instead of 5 dice. Heads you win, tails you lose.
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
When there are 2 defenders there's a possibility both players lose one so you'd need a 3 sided die
But...
3 attackers - 2 defenders (37.2% both, 33.6% one)
3 attackers - 1 defender (66.0%)
2 attackers - 2 defenders (22.8% both, 32.4% one)
2 attackers - 1 defender (57.9%)
1 attacker - 1 defender (41.7%)
are all different odds... so really you need two weighted three sided die, and three weighted coins (which incidentally brings us back up to 5 items, but at least no one needs to figure out which die have the most d
Re:Dumbing things down (Score:5, Funny)
Comedian: "I just flew in from Chicago... and boy are my arms tired! hahaha"
TheCycoONE: "Given the average mass of a resident of Chicago, and comparing it to the minuscule amount of lift that could be generated from human arms, even with vigorous flapping motions, we can extrapolate the following formulas to show the improbability of this occurrence..."
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
wtf? declaring AFTER you see the dice results?
We go one better. We allow an infinite level of 'undo's on any move. After an attack, either player can decide that attack or even the entire turn didn't count and the board is rolled back to a previous state. The benefit of this is we play really sharp games with few sub-optimal moves. The downside is we've never yet finished a game.
memorizing alphabetized letter lists (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
As opposed to.... (Score:2)
Minor correction (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:2, Interesting)
Scrabble, now for stupid people!
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
It's the Scrabble Tea Party Edition! Me fail English? Unpossible. [flickr.com]
lower-case-f-acebook is a word.... (Score:4, Informative)
But... a facebook is a directory of faces and names for cramming before a social event.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/facebook
And Facebook was named after facebook.
I am waiting for the match between... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
I am not fucking accepting a Pokemon character as a valid word, no way.
Yeah, but "qat" is perfectly fine.
"Penalize" by one tile? (Score:2)
So let me get this straight - if I memorize all the 2-letter words, then I can get my 50 point "bingo" bonus on a six tile play instead of seven? Sign me up for that!
(I do agree that it's a bit of a problem when people study the game to the point that they learn useless vocabulary just for the sake of laying down five or six two-letter words in a single play... Though I think this sort of problem is unavoidable. Whatever the conditions of the game, people will find ways to exploit them. Mario Kart penal
Re: (Score:2)
I think a better solution to the two-letter problem might be to just print all the two-letter words on a handy reference card and give copies to all players.)
As is done on Scrabble's online site! Who'd a thunk!
I am not an avid Scrabbler in that I don't go to tournaments or anything like that, but I do pull it out every other weekend to play with either the girlfriend or room mates. Sometimes we don't limit ourselves to the dictionary, in fact, last November we had a "Computer Science Terms" Scrabble, where you would get double the points if you listed a popular Computer entity (Java, or Linux), regular points for computer based acronyms, (HTML), but you had to b
Re: (Score:2)
We play with a House Rule whereby all players are simply given the list of two-letter words. We have no intention of ever competing in a tournament, and this is nearly equivalent to memorizing them.
It actually moves things along. There's enough valid two-letter words that it makes legal moves where there didn't used to be, and now we far more rarely have the problem where the entire board is basically consumed, everybody still has tiles, and there's "nowhere" left to play. Now the play board ends up more co
Was this really necessary? (Score:2, Insightful)
Well like the topic says, did we really need a patch for Scrabble?
I mean it's not like there is something built into the game that prevents people from using house rules , nor is there (far as I am aware) any professional Scrabble scene so it is not like there is any great need for an official revision of the Scrabble rules.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
nor is there (far as I am aware) any professional Scrabble scene so it is not like there is any great need for an official revision of the Scrabble rules.
Don't know what you mean by "professional Scrabble scene" but there are a good number of Scrabble tournaments around the world. I doubt the folks in the Scrabble tournaments play Scrabble as their only job, but there are cash prizes.
I don't know what the tournaments will do with this rule. My guess is that they will ditch it - it would be too hard to adjudicate in a tournament setting, I'd think.
irritating scrabble players (Score:2)
Nobody is listening to my suggestion penalize any player who has memorized every 2 letter english word by 1 tile.
Yep, though you mean "every 2 letter word in the Scrabble Dictionary."
It's basically cheating. If you are a talented scrabble player, you should be better able to use the tiles you have, not memorize crutches.
Re: (Score:2)
If you are a talented scrabble player, you should be better able to use the tiles you have, not memorize crutches.
Right! And this is why any English-speaking Scrabble player should be penaltized! Memorizing the English language is basically cheating at Scrabble.
Wait, what?
And scrubs too (Score:2)
It's basically cheating.
Scrub [sirlin.net].
If you are a talented scrabble player, you should be better able to use the tiles you have
And you are better able to use the tiles you have if you know which combinations of those tiles are a legal play.
Scrabble is pattern matching (Score:2)
Scrabble is not a language game. It's not about being well-read and knowing the definition of many words. It's about memorizing a list of acceptable patterns and applying those patterns to score points while denying points to your opponent.
Allowing proper nouns actually makes the game harder since it produces a much longer list to memorize and much more difficulty in preventing your opponent from scoring. So this optional rules change pleases the newbies ("Wow, that's so much easier!") and challenges the no
Penalize by one tile... (Score:2)
Would a 1-tile penalty really be that much of a disadvantage to someone who’s trying to make 2-letter words?
scrabble to allow LOL and OMG (Score:5, Funny)
Now considered part of online and texting culture, Mattel has decided to allow "words" such as LOL, OMG, and BFF.
To play this enhanced game, Mattel hopes to sell new copies of the game worldwide. Also slated for late 2010 is a version with exclamation points and other punctuation.
A Mattel representative presenting the new variants on the classic brand, "We have not decided if you earn points or lose points for excessive punctuation. LOL!!11!"
Re: (Score:2)
A Mattel representative presenting the new variants on the classic brand, "We have not decided if you earn points or lose points for excessive punctuation. LOL!!11!"
Actually, there will be two generally-opposing scoring categories: “coolness” and “utility”. Now, players can choose how they want to be a winner according to their personal style and preference!
Although long words using uncommon letters are considered “uncool”, they have greater “utility”; whereas “LOL!!11!” has a negative “utility” score but would be scored very highly for “coolness”.
Coming to stores soon...
Can't wait for the "any language allowed" version. (Score:2)
The french version of scrabble has a value of 10 for the W and Y letters, because they are in very few words. If only I was allowed tu use english words....
(And german words. The german language is full of letters never found in any other language).
Re: (Score:2)
I once made a "The Hague" version for a friend of mine, with all kinds of accents that beautify the The Hague dialect. Off course, I also invented some new rules, such as "Wat je leg mot je je bek ùit kunne krège" (You must be able to pronounce what you lay down) and off course all illnesses gave extra points.
Re: (Score:2)
And german words.
Yeah but you'd need an extra 5-gallon bucket full of tiles if you're gonna allow people to use German words.
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
The french version of scrabble has a value of 10 for the W and Y letters, because they are in very few words. If only I was allowed tu use english words....
Why? How would any English words help you?
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
For those who missed the joke, “why” would be a 24-point word.
lolspeak allowed? (Score:2)
FTW (Score:5, Funny)
1) Change your name via Deed-Poll to the letters left in your rack.
2) Place letters on board
3) ???
4) Profit!
Silly (Score:2)
They're selling two different versions of the game? Is the new version the same as the old, with the word "not" whited out in one section of the rulebook?
This should sell well among those people who believe that the rulebooks that come with games are legally enforceable. I've been playing Uno with homespun rules for years, so I guess I'm the type of guy who likes to live on the edge.
Wow (Score:2)
Score 1 for the Idiocracy. Doesn't that undermind the whole fundamental of Scrabble in spelling (yes as in spelling) words correctly and scoring points for doing so?
Stupid (Score:2)
The reason this rule was there in the first place was to prevent two things:
1) "No really! aQrzzxxq! My best friend when I was six!"
2) "No really! aQrzzxxq! I've got the birth certificate right here, and I'll show it to you as soon as I get back from the hospital!"
Re: (Score:2)
3) No really, aQrzzxxq is brand of peanut butter in Upper Mongolia.
silly? yes, but brand names are allowed, and these need not be english brand names. It could be an Upper Mongolian brand, a dutch name or a tunesian company.
One name to rule them all. (Score:3, Funny)
Dubhaltach_Mac_Fhirbhisigh [wikipedia.org]
Doesn't need an official 'rule change' (Score:2)
If you want to play and allow proper nouns, then you don't need an official 'rule change' to do so. You just say to your fellow players "Hey, chaps, shall we allow proper nouns, then?"
And if the new 'offical rules' say that proper nouns are allowed, then you don't have to go along with it. You say to your fellow players "Hey, chaps, let's play Old School Scrabble: no proper nouns!"
Surely people do this all the time, where you have your own House Rules?
'PEDOBEAR' (Score:2)
= 4 + 1 + 2 + 1 + 4 + 1 + 1 + 1
= 15 x 3 (triple word score applied once)
= 45 + 35 point bonus
= 80
House Rules (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
En and em are both printers' units of measure. That's why they are in the dictionary.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
For the record, 'em' and 'en' are typography terms. Granted, they are derived from the 'spelling' of letters, but they're honest-to-god words at this point.
Ooh, they're printing a new bit of paper! (Score:3, Insightful)
Wow, big deal. All they need to do to "change the rules" is to print a slightly different paper to slip inside the box. WTF would they need to "make" two separate editions? Hardly anyone seriously plays 100% by the official rules anyway so it seems a load of bullshit. You could just agree with your partner to follow this rule without buying a new set. This is just PR bullshit.
Continue to sell the traditional version? (Score:3, Insightful)
New Rule at Chez Bemopolis (Score:3, Funny)
And I'm going to film it.
And I'm going to upload the clip to YouTube.
Re: (Score:2)
Then don't buy it, or buy it and play the original rules.
Re: (Score:2)
Those are actually cool modifications...
Does the “Lewis and Clark” tile have to be played on the board, or can it itself be placed off the board? Does one “Lewis and Clark” tile open a new gateway to the frontier so that subsequent words can follow it by playing off the first one (assuming they can’t also span the edge of the board)? Would Lewis and Clark have been successful in their expedition without the guidance of Sacajawea, and should this be woven into the game in some m
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
and yet, it turns out, they did, you didn't.