Bookraft

So called Creative Disruption will be taking place in Scrabble this July as a new British version of Scrabble called Trickster debuts. Will this be "gaga" - allowed or "Lady Gaga" - now allowed too? This all comes about as as Mattel, "Makers of Scrabble" for the rest of the world outside of North America [Hasbro is so far saying "no thank you" for its North American edition of the game], changes the rules of Scrabble to allow Proper Nouns. Yes, this means Samoa and Brontosaurus are now to be admitted onto the Scrabble board. This is simply Mind Boggling[Boggle, the popular word unscrambling game, has long had a much broader dictionary than Scrabble, but even Boggle does not allow Proper Nouns or abbr.]. What happens with proper nouns like "Isthmus of Panama" or "Dark Matter"? Will blanks be allowed? And whats this about stealing others letters. Oh Joe, say it aint so!

How will legitimate proper nouns be decided - if you can Wikipedia or Google or Yahoo it - its a proper noun ? And what is this about drawing a card to decide whether one can use proper nouns, spell a word backwards or steal an opponent's tile. One of the charms of Scrabble has been its comparative simplicity of rules. The new Scrabble Trickster puts this by the side. Thus, me-thinks this Trickster Disruptive Innovation, this Expedient Expanding of the Franchise, this Mattelish Scrabbling of the Rules will become the British Edsel of the Game.