Word games have a huge fanbase, and those who play this ‘mind game’, especially professionally, are a dedicated bunch. One of the most popular word games is, of course, scrabble, thanks to its enduring appeal. It is so popular around the globe that April 13 is celebrated as Scrabble Day in the USA, and in other countries too.
Alfred Mosher Butts, the inventor of scrabble Wikimedia Commons
Alfred Mosher Butts, an architect and an amateur artist born in 1899 in New York, invented this board game. Butts was unemployed when he started working on creating scrabble. His research led him to basing it on crosswords and anagrams to build his version of a new board game. Scrabble was initially called Criss Cross Words. The game was given its present name by James Brunot — an entrepreneur to whom Butts sold the rights of the game.
A Scrabble Association of India event Courtesy: SAI
The Scrabble Association of India (SAI) is a national group for those who love to play the game and want to be a part of a community who share the same passion. SAI was established in 2004 in Mumbai, and currently has 400 members all over India. It has chapters in Bengaluru, Delhi NCR, Chennai, Mumbai, Pune, Vadodara and few other cities. The present president of SAI is Harry Bhatia and the organisation aims to establish scrabble as a competitive sport in the country and make it popular in every state of India.
SAI has a Kolkata chapter too, led by sexagenarian Arindam Basu, a retired corporate and social sector employee.
The Kolkata chapter of SAI was founded in 2019, and is presently 20 members strong. “It was founded informally by two professional scrabble players — Rajnikant Singh and I. We started our practising in places coffee houses, and were gearing up for the national scrabble tournaments,” Basu told My Kolkata.
The Kolkata chapter, which has a mix of professional and amateur players, meet at the branches of 8th Day Cafe. “In scrabble, a lot of effort has to be put into study — so as to keep up with new words and also learn the art of un-scrambling,” said Basu, who has been playing the game since his college days, and professionally since 2015.
While there are several chess clubs in the city, the scrabble community is striving to popularise the game and take it to public spots like Gariahat — where chess lovers unite under the flyover on a regular basis. The SAI Kolkata chapter charges no membership fees.
Basu attributes the popularity of scrabble to constructive use of time and wits. In the age of fleeting attention spans and banking on short-lived engagements to spend leisure hours, scrabble is different, because it takes time to finish a board. “Another reason behind its popularity is that it enhances one’s vocabulary like no other game. Also, once you start concentrating on the game, your focus improves, which is important amidst all the technological distractions,” said Basu.
“I know there are players in Kolkata who are better than me, but they need to come forward. We are yet to hold a tournament here, and we need at least 10 players from the city who regularly participate in tournaments to plan one of our own here,” said Basu before signing out.
Know more about Scrabble Association of India and their chapters here.
