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What’s better than a good game of Scrabble? Well, apparently for Gen Z, a “less competitive and more inclusive” game of Scrabble.
According to this, a new version of Scrabble is set to be released for the first time in 75 years. The updated rendition of the iconic board game is reportedly aimed at a Gen Z audience.
The makers of Scrabble found that younger people, Gen Z people, don’t quite like the competitive nature of Scrabble. They want a game where you can simply enjoy language, words, being together and having fun creating words.” –Broadcaster and British Scrabble president, Gyles Brandreth
This HAS to be satire. Right?
— Ribz of Tik Tok (@ribzoftiktok) April 9, 2024
No, but we wish it were.
Scrabble has truly stood the test of time as one of the most popular board games in history, and we want to ensure the game continues to be inclusive for all players. For anyone who’s ever thought ‘word games aren’t for me’, or felt a little intimidated by the classic game, Scrabble Together mode is an ideal option.”- Ray Adler, vice president and global head of games at Mattel
So, the revamped version of Scrabble is called Scrabble Together. As in “We’re All In This Together?” I still hate the sound of that phrase, quite honestly. I get 2020 flashbacks to schools being closed. “We’re all in this together” is one of the main reasons, ironically, that these kids DO NOT KNOW HOW TO SPELL.
There's only 1 rule: Any combination of letters identifies as a word and is playable anywhere on the board.
— Rhonda Murphy (@RhondaMurp34661) April 9, 2024
So, if a person puts “xxysyefsffde” on the Scrabble board and says they identify this as a legit word, then it is so. That’s the “inclusive” part, right?
The updated version, to be released in Europe, will include two sides, one side with the original game for players who want to stick to the traditional version and a second, “less competitive” version to appeal to Gen Z players. The second side, called Scrabble Together, will include helper cards, using a simpler scoring system that will be quicker to play and allow people to play in teams. “-Kendall Tietz, Fox News
Helper cards, for those who can’t spell. And an easy scoring system for those who can’t math. But what do we expect of young people who have been locked down in the height of a pandemic and bored with less-than-engaging academic rigor in the classroom?
Teaching with low expectations and little accountability is much easier than holding young people to account for their shoddy behavior and poor performance. Insisting on respectful behavior, setting a high bar, and refusing to let students listlessly stew in their own cauldrons of disengaged indifference actually takes a lot of dedication and teacher professionalism. Who wants to work that hard?”–Jeremy S. Adams, The Federalist
Yes, they actually have to show up.
Currently, Scrabble Together will be available in Europe but not in North America.
Now, I’m not a member of Gen Z but if I were, I would hope that I would be insulated by this notion that “my” generation needs a dumbed-down version of an iconic spelling game. They’re not expected to show up at school. Not held to a standard of completing their work but they want to enjoy language, words and, create new words (when no one playing has ever cracked open a thesaurus much less knows what one is). They don’t like challenges and competition but they want you to know that they are better than you:
I’ve butted heads more than once with a Gen Z employee, because since our company is online-based, they think they know everything about the digital world and that they can teach me. They think they’re better than you, smarter than you, more capable than you, and they will tell you to your face.”-Akpan Ukeme, the head of HR at SGK Global Shipping Services
But they can’t spell or add up a score.
Now do Monopoly and Life. @Mattel
— Chris (@JustChrisCheney) April 9, 2024
Can we imagine the Game of Life? Blue for Male? Pink for Female? Not inclusive enough. Yes, more colors have been added to the pegs for mid-game transitions? Or, let’s envision Monopoly, shall we? Tons of “Get Out of Jail Free” cards. Better yet, no “Go Directly to Jail”. No jails. Everybody takes what they want out of the bank. Everyone owns Boardwalk and Park Place. Personally, I would love to challenge these Scrabble Snowflakes to go up against my dad in a good old game of Monopoly.
Or, maybe these Gen Z’ers can play a game of Risk?
Fuggetaboutit. (Is that a word?)
Photo Credit: thebarrowboy, CC BY 2.0
GWB says: Lisa, did you intentionally choose a graphic with a misspelled word at the center of the board?
“Biten” is not a modern English word. (It is a Middle English version of the modern word “bitten”, but Middle English is not allowed by the strict rules of the game.)
GWB says: BTW, I credit playing Scrabble (and Boggle) with my mom for some portion of my large vocabulary. The other part of the credit goes to reading books “too advanced for my age” – and just lots of books in general. And encyclopedias.
GWB says: if a person puts “xxysyefsffde” on the Scrabble board
Only if you aren’t still limited to 7 tiles on your board. Or someone already managed to play “xxysy.”
And an easy scoring system for those who can’t math.
The old scoring system is a great way to teach the orders of operations and how to use parentheses!
they want you to know that they are better than you
This is what happens when you set your religion (Progressivism) up with worship of youth and presentism. No sense of humility whatsoever.
Fuggetaboutit. (Is that a word?)
I thought it was “Fuggedaboutit” but I think Mom would have whooped my heinie if I’d tried to use either spelling in Scrabble. (No slang words.) 😉
Lewis says: Those videos accompanying this articles? How the ever-lovin’ is a kid supposed to make it to school when his parents are in jail because he didn’t make it to school? What? I can’t read the news anymore!
I’m getting out my old Scrabble board and make up some new words! My darling husband got sent to the principal because he spelled out “sh*t” in school Scrabble! His teacher called, but couldn’t talk to his parents about it because she was still laughing!
Bluegreen kayak says: When I first saw the lead paragraph for this article, I was concerned that it might be about the Scrabble games my husband and I play daily. We enjoy the challenge of figuring out words to fit the board, but we don’t handle being in competition with each other very well. So we modified the rules to make something we call “cooperative Scrabble.” Our goal is to use all the tiles; if we do, then we won the game.
We still use correct spellings, checked in a Scrabble dictionary, and we took out the blank tiles because we tended to hoard them to the end. We play words in ways that the other person can use their tiles; one example is whoever gets the first U will put it out where it can be used with the Q when it shows up. Our minds are challenged, we compliment each other on a particularly long or clever word, and we have fun as a couple. It works for us.
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