Hasbro GamingScrabble Game

Has held up the test of time...nice game and no issues. The board is just like it was when it was brand new!

I am comparing the Scrabble game by Hasbro Gaming in a bright red box with white "SCRABBLE" on front and pictures of lots of letter tiles that I purchased on July 13, 2019 ..... ANDa Scrabble game I purchased over 40 years ago that came in what I consider a purple box, some may call it dark burgundy or dark wine. My old game has gold lettering on the box, no pictures, and the box is kind of a textured cardboard, not smooth and glossy.COMPARISON:For anyone who just wants the main two differences without reading everything:1. The new game has a larger board, but the actual playing area of the board is almost the same.The new board has a wider strip down one side to say "SCRABBLE" and to tell you how many of each letter there are. It tells you this on both sides of the border, facing the player who sits on either side.2. The new game has lightweight red plastic racks to hold your letters. My old game has heavy duty wooden racks. Both WORK fine, but I prefer wood personally.If you want more exact specs and differences, as well as what HASN'T changed, read on:Old Board measures a tad over 14 1/4 x 14. The actual playing area is 12 1/4 x 11.New Board measures just shy of 15 1/2 x 14. The actual playing area is 12 1/2 x 11 1/4.Both boards fold in half. Mine is still in great condition. Hopefully new board will hold up as well.The backside of the old board is purple (or wine?). The back side of the new board is black.The instructions are printed inside the lid on the old game; on a nice brochure in the new game.The box for the old game measures 14 1/2 x 7 1/2 and is kind of textured heavy duty cardboard.The new game box measures 15 3/4 x 7 1/2 and is a lighter weight standard cardboard game box.The old game tells you only on one end of the board how many of each letter, so it is upside downand hard to see for the person sitting on the opposite side. The new board has it printed on both ends of the wide border, facing in the direction of the person sitting on either side, so it's easy to read for both.The Double Letter, Double Word, Triple Word colored squares on the board are the same on both.The letter tiles are the same size in both and definitely look and feel like wood to me, in both. There are 98 letters and 2 blanks in both games, and the same number of each letter in both games. (There are more of commonly used letters such as vowels, especially E and A, and N's and R's. And only one of letters like J, Q, X and Z, but the same number of each letter in both games.)The really big difference: the nice wooden racks in the old game vs. the cheap red plastic racks in the new game. Although I greatly prefer the wooden ones, I did not deduct a star for three reasons: 1, people who have never used the old game with wooden racks would probably think nothing of the plastic ones since most games these days have everything plastic everything. (Had the letter tiles been plastic, I WOULD have deducted a star!) 2, the plastic racks get the job done, no problem. 3, the price of this game, $11.99 when I bought it, is very reasonable for what you get, so it wouldn't be fair to expect the same quality of a game you pay considerably more for.The letters look to me like they are printed in slightly larger, thicker type on the new tiles, which is a GOOD thing. Still black letters, against very light wood tiles, which is best.The new game came with a black drawstring back, plenty large enough to hold all the letters with ease. My old game did not come with a bag, but I am fine with keeping them on the bottom of the box under the board.I consider this game a good value for the money and I would definitely recommend it, although I would point out to anyone I recommended it to that it has plastic racks, so they aren't disappointed.

LOVE LOVE SCRABBLE!Great value, good game. It even works for my own invention, which I call, "Hooked on Puhonnix" (patent pending) which is based on phonetic spelling and which derives its name from the OJ trial.So, before the OJ trial captivated a nation, WBCN BAWSSSTON (RAWWWK RADIO!) had evidently sold a lot of ad space to the Hooked On Phonics people. Once OJ's grammatically hapless notes to Nicole became public, WBCN created and played all these fake ads wherein OJ (via voice impersonator) is trying to pronounce the words in front of him, which became "hooked on puhonnix?" ...Which in turn became this version of Scrabble, in which all words must be spelled phonetically, yet with the strict rule that no excess letters can be used. Like the letter H; it seems to attract lazy sorts, so where a phonetic masterpiece like, "zew" (one of the most hilarious creations to date. this game is hilarious) could take advantage of the silent H and become the greater-points-bearing, "zehhw."I can see one H but two is taking advantage, IMHO.So one must have a judge and jury in place when playing my creation. Life must be fair.yeah, I regularly digress.

This is just like the Scrabble game I grew up with in the 70s/80s. The wood (tiles and tile holders) is good quality, and the gameboard is good quality too. We got it to play with our 9-year-old son, and he enjoys it. It's fun to watch him work creatively with words. And he's learning to work the board for points now too. The other day he played a single tile for 32 points. That was great to see. And he was pretty proud of it. Also, this is a game you can play with your kid and one or two of his grandparents. That's a nice family time. If you've got a kid that likes words, Scrabble is a great choice.

I ordered this game to use at the monthly "Secret Headquarters Comics and Games for Everyone Off-Site Game Night" in Tallahassee. (Yeah, it's a long name, but now Brian, our Genial Host, owes me one!) Anyway, I brought Scrabble, mainly because I did not know how to play any of the other games.When we opened it up, I think we were all expecting the look and feel of the "classic" Scrabble of our childhoods. You know, heavy, smooth finished tiles and tile racks and a game board that felt like it could take years of carting around and gaming.This game is sort of a lightweight version. Everything is there, but it's just feels a bit small and less substantial . The tiles and racks have minimal finish on them, and the board is thinner.Now, as far as playing, this is a fine set. However, do not be expecting the original-feeling Scrabble game. I think if you want the truly "classic" set, you have to spend a little more.Why 4 Stars: The product lives up to its description (if not my nostalgic expectations). The price is right, and amazon delivered in a timely manner.Problem: This may be an isolated problem; however, one of the tile racks was missing. When I alerted amazon to this, as per its usual excellent customer service, it immediately arranged a replacement game to be sent to me. That's another reason for 4 stars--I love good customer service.BTW, I learned to play two new games last Friday: Flux and Ticket to Ride Europe. And by "learned," I mean that I lost my shirt. I will have to see if amazon carries these games, so I can catch up on some of this new-fangled stuff!UPDATE-24 hrs. later: The replacement Scrabble game has arrived, and all 4 tile racks are there!