Mattel Scrabble Original

Scrabble is a paradoxically simple yet hugely sophisticated word-based board-game that was originally conceived back in the late 1940s. Each player takes 7 individual letter-pieces from a shared pool of unknown pieces and must use those letters to create words on a large board divided up into squares, replenishing their used letters with new one every time they are successfully employed on the board. Players take turns at making words, keeping tabs on the accumulating scores, with different letters being worth more points depending on their rarity and the difficulty of employing them succesfully (eg vowels are worth much less than the more obscure consonants like Q Z and W).

Words can be made both horizontally and vertically on the board, and scores can be greatly increased by placing letters over double/triple letter/word multiplier squares, giving the game a strong tactical element, as players can block their opponents chances to score highly, as well as sit back and wait patiently to get the correct letters in order to place a devastatingly high-scoring word that can change the outcome of the game.

Scrabble is suitable for both the young and old, (with the exception of the very young due to the nature of the game and the large number of small parts) as the level of challenge depends upon the matching of opponents' vocabularies, with games genrally lasting around 30 to 45 mins, meaning that, unlike monolopoly say, games dont go on for too long. Its very addictive, undoubtledly good for the mind and educational as well, with players regularly coming into contact with obscure words created by one's opponent, leading to regular reachings for the dictionary to verify the word in question. A timeless classic.

Summary: A timeless classic thats good for the mind as well