when was scrabble invented

Scrabble, as we know it today, grew out of a series of word-game experiments created in the early 1930s, with the key invention date usually given as 1931.

Quick Scoop: Short Answer

• The original concept for Scrabble was invented in 1931 by American architect Alfred Mosher Butts, under the name Lexiko.

• A revised, board-based version called Criss-Crosswords appeared around 1938.

• The game was renamed and copyrighted as “Scrabble” in 1948 by James Brunot, who licensed Butts’s design and refined it.

So if you’re answering “when was Scrabble invented,” most historians and game references point to 1931 as the invention year , with 1948 marking the birth of the branded Scrabble game we recognize today.

Mini Timeline

• 1931 – Butts designs the first version, Lexiko , a tile word game without a board.

• 1938 – He adds the 15×15 grid and racks in a version called Criss-Crosswords.

• 1948 – James Brunot acquires rights, tweaks the layout and rules, and renames it Scrabble ; game is copyrighted and trademarked that year.

• Early 1950s – Scrabble becomes a mass-market hit after big retailers start selling it widely.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.