Makers of a Well-Known Game Are Making a New ‘Less Competitive’ Version

The landscape of "games" has changed so drastically in the last forty years. When you would ask someone to play a game, even twenty years ago, you could have been talking about Mario Brothers or Monopoly.

Now there are even more options for electronic games like new versions of Mario and games like Halo along with a million others. Many younger people aren't as interested in playing board games as younger people did years ago. Mostly they pick electronic versions now.

You have probably heard this phrase a million times, "Change is inevitable."

And, it's true. Change is a fact of life, and change is good.

"Scrabble" lovers, the 75-year-old game is about to change.

According to a BBC article, the new edition of Mattel's "Scrabble" game will offer two games in one with the traditional board on one side and a new version that is "less competitive" on the other side.

It's a whole different twist on the game "Scrabble". In the traditional version, you get seven tiles as well as the other players, and you compete to make the longest words, words that will get on special spaces to increase your score, and the person with the greatest score at the end of the game wins.

That's still going to be available on one side of the board, but the other side will offer a new version of the game that comes with "help" cards. Also with the new version, you can play in teams if you would like.

The name of the new game is "Scrabble Together".

Why Is Scrabble Changing?

Well, in the interview with the BBC, officials with Mattel found that younger people were not interested in the game, and they didn't really care for the competitive nature of the game.

This new version offers players a chance to change things up allowing them to focus on being less competitive and focus on just being together enjoying a game.

The vice president and global head of games at Mattel, Ray Adler says,

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.

Another aspect of the redesigning of the game centered on making an option that feels less intimidating to players.

In an article at fastcompany.com, they mention that part of the Mattel research found one of the reasons people are motivated to play board games is the following; "51% of players use it as a way of unplugging from social media.

By the way, the new version of the game is only available in Europe.

Ross McKenzie, Scottish Scrabble Association, spoke about the changes to the game: