From Criss-Crosswords to Scrabble — The Invention Story
Every Scrabble game you have ever played traces back to a single unemployed architect in Queens, New York, trying to invent something during the Great Depression. Alfred Mosher Butts combined his love of crossword puzzles with a statistical analysis of letter frequency, creating a game that was rejected by every game company in America — before eventually becoming one of the best-selling board games in history.
1938
First prototype created
1948
Commercial production begins
0
Game companies interested initially
150M+
Sets sold worldwide
Alfred Butts and the Great Depression
In 1931, Alfred Butts was laid off from his architecture firm during the economic collapse. With time on his hands, he studied the American game market and identified three categories: number games (dice), move games (chess), and word games (anagrams). He saw an opportunity for a game combining skill with the crossword puzzle format that was sweeping America in the 1920s-30s.
💡 The Method
Butts spent months counting letter frequencies on the front page of the New York Times. He tabulated how often each letter appeared, then created a tile distribution and scoring system that reflected real English usage. E appeared most? Give it 12 tiles but only 1 point. Z appeared rarely? Give it 1 tile but 10 points.
The Name Changes
| Year | Name | Creator | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1933 | Lexiko | Alfred Butts | Letter-drawing game (no board) |
| 1938 | Criss-Crosswords | Alfred Butts | Added crossword board — full game concept |
| 1948 | Scrabble | James Brunot | Brunots wife suggests the name for commercial launch |
| 1953 | Scrabble (mass) | Selchow & Righter | Name becomes globally recognised |
The Rejection Years
Between 1938 and 1948 — a full decade — Butts tried to sell Criss-Crosswords to every major game company in America. Milton Bradley, Parker Brothers, and others all rejected it. The common complaint: too intellectual, too slow, not enough mass appeal. Butts eventually gave up on commercial production and made sets by hand for friends.
Milton Bradley rejection: Too complicated for mass market — ironic given it would sell 150 million units
Parker Brothers rejection: Not enough action or visual appeal — they wanted faster-paced party games
Self-production: Butts made ~200 sets by hand between 1938-1948, selling to friends and acquaintances at cost
The Brunot connection: James Brunot, a social acquaintance, saw the game at a dinner party and immediately recognised its commercial potential
James Brunot Takes Over
In 1948, Brunot offered Butts a royalty deal: Brunot would handle all manufacturing and sales; Butts would receive a per-set royalty. Butts, exhausted from a decade of rejection, agreed. Brunot refined the board design, renamed the game Scrabble, and began hand-producing sets in his Connecticut home.
🧩 The First Year of Scrabble
1948: Brunot produces 2,400 sets in his living room — loses money on every one
1949: Production increases slightly — still not profitable, word-of-mouth growing
1950-51: Slow steady growth — Scrabble appears in small shops and bookstores
1952: A Macy's executive plays Scrabble on vacation — orders sets for the department store
1953: Orders explode to 4,500 sets per WEEK — Brunot licenses to Selchow & Righter
📚 Dig Deeper
Key Takeaways
✓ Summary
▶ How Alfred Butts invented Scrabble during the Great Depression.
▶ Use our free word finder tool to explore these concepts in practice.
▶ Check the related articles below for deeper dives into connected topics.
🔗 Try our free Scrabble Word Finder — instant results as you type
Open Word Finder →
Loading comments...