n.
Game in which two to four players compete in forming words with lettered wooden tiles on a 225-square board.
Words spelled out by letters on the tiles interlock like words in a crossword puzzle. Words are scored by adding up the point values of their letters. The game (originally called Lexico) was developed by Alfred Butts, an unemployed architect, in 1931. It was redesigned and renamed Scrabble by Butts and James Brunot in 1948. Tens of millions of sets have been sold in many languages worldwide.