Realizing the toll that Scrabble has taken on families when it comes to accurately keeping track of the score, Hasbro is introducing an updated version of the game that among other improvements, now includes an electronic score tracker. So no longer will your mom or dad’s questionable math affect the outcome of a game.
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In this day and age, it can be pretty difficult to find children or the younger ones to like boardgames. After all, this particular generation has grown up on a steady diet of video games as well as having things in an instant, or at least, they demand it that way. How about engaging them in some word games with the $29.95 Walk By Scrabble Board? Chances are when they first take a look at it, they would be wondering how come this Scrabble Board is quite unlike anything that they have ever seen before, that is, it does not come with any kind of touchscreen, but gasp! You will need to manipulate the tiles physically. Now that is definitely a novel idea for them.
The Walk By Scrabble Board is wall mounted so that it will be able to carry out leisurely, ongoing contests with family members, co-workers, or roommates. The board’s regulation surface comprises of tin, allowing the 100 magnetic tiles to remain firmly affixed, even if there is a tremor in the vicinity. Each time you walk by, you can always make a move and stash your letters on the metal strips that hang from the board’s base. Of course, once your turn is done, just flip the strip over for secrecy. There is a dry-erase message board located next to the playing surface for the players to keep track of the score, and I guess it is the ideal game to promote the virtue of honesty as well.
[ Walk By Scrabble Board jogs your mind as you pass copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]
Do you hear that? That’s the sound of your Christmas shopping getting ever so slightly easier this year thanks to Andrew Capener. The creator of the original stunning Scrabble Typography Edition
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Scrabble can be a lot of fun. But if you and your friends are good at the game, you can finish a round pretty quickly. But where there’s a First World problem in this day and age, there’s a solution.
What you’re looking at here is a custom Scrabble board called SUPER DUPER SCRABBLE. This oversize board measures 28×28″ square, and has a grid of 31×31 spaces – a little more than 4 times more spaces than a standard 15×15 Scrabble board. The 31st row and column are so it’s got an even number of spaces on each side of center.
Of course, you’ll need some extra tiles to play on such a big board, so creator Craig Woodworks includes a bag of 400 tiles to keep you playing for hours and hours.
The handmade wood board also includes a lazy susan turntable mechanism on the bottom, so you can easily spin it around on the table. Just hope the cat doesn’t start walking across this board, or you could end up with a huge mess on your hands.
SUPER DUPER SCRABBLE is available over on Etsy for $300(USD). And if you’re just looking for a big Scrabble game without all of the extra spaces, you could always go for this version.
Wordsmiths go to great lengths to master a game of Scrabble or Words With Friends. Rarely are their efforts quite so calculated, however, as what we’re seeing today. After Google research director Peter Norvig used his company’s search engine to determine letter frequency in the English language, Deadspin and developer Kyle Rimkus compared it against Scrabble’s point system and available words to determine which letters generate the most value relative to how often they can play. In short: H, Y and Z produce the most bang for the alphabetic buck, while J and Q are plagues on the rack that are seldom worth saving for a special moment. We can’t guarantee that following the Google-derived tips will have serious opponents begging for mercy — a wide vocabulary is often the real clincher — but they may help a few of us wondering what to play on that triple word score.
Filed under: Gaming, Internet, Alt, Google
Source: Peter Norvig, Deadspin
We all know how easy it is to come up with the title of “the most expensive (insert item name here)” by slapping on a few precious jewels, and you are good to go. After all, the Vertu range of mobile phones do a pretty good job at that – even though the innards underneath the hood are far from satisfactory, of course. Well, what about board games? I am quite sure if you were to have a diamond studded board game, you would most probably display it behind a secure glass cabinet instead of having your kids throw it around in a temper tantrum whenever they are on the losing end of things. However, this Scrabble board is very different from the rest – especially when Mind Sports International gave their take on a classic board game, updating it so that it remains technologically relevant in the 21st century.
For starters, this spanking new Scrabble board looks pretty ordinary from the outside at first glance, but it was specially constructed by using RFID chips within each tile, allowing it to detect just where each letter is placed, while transmitting the data to an online channel in a near instantaneous reaction. Not only does this allow folks to follow the game live in a different manner remotely, it also reduces the incidences of potential cheating. All the necessary electronics remain hidden from sight though, thanks to the raised platform.
The 100 letter tiles, as mentioned, will contain a unique RFID tag, while all nine circuit boards are connected to 225 RFID antennas – meaning one for each square on the board, where these will help monitor just where each letter is placed. Your tile rack is not just wood, as it contains RFID sensors as well, helping scan the play area for each tile, takes approximately 974 milliseconds while they are at it.
Just how much would such a Scrabble board cost you? Mind Sports invested more than £20,000 (around US$31,800) to construct each new board, not to mention taking months to test. You take a good guess at what the final sticker price will be like then.
Source
[ Most expensive Scrabble board yet copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]
If you thought that playing Scrabble on your mobile device was considered high-tech, you might want to rethink that. In preparation for the Prague Mind Sports Festival, the organizers have spent a whopping £20,000 building a Scrabble board that comes with some serious hardware built into it. While we doubt you will be able to take one home for yourself, this Scrabble board comes with integrated RGB controlled LED lighting, nine embedded circuit boards and 225 RFID antennas – basically one per square, and specially created game pieces whereby each game piece will have an RFID tag built into them. So why the sudden need for such an advanced Scrabble board? The idea is to that using the RFID tags and antennas and custom software, this will allow the organizers of the event to broadcast the event as it is happening in real time as the system is capable of reading the board in just 974 milliseconds. Whatever happened to good old top-down camera angles anyway? In any case if you’d like to catch the event for yourself, the tournament will be taking place on the 1st of December. More information on the Mind Sports Festival can be found on its website.
By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Official Scrabble game now on Android, Scruble Cube offers something different for brainiacs,
This is the world’s most advanced Scrabble set. Packed with LEDs, RFID sensors and fancy software, it’s the cutting-edge in boardgames—and it’s worth a cool $30,000. More »
Used to be, the Scrabble app was the techiest way to play the venerable vocabulary game, but the folks at Mind Sports have given the analog version some serious geek cred. In preparation for the Prague Mind Sports Festival, the organizers spent £20,000 building a Scrabble board with integrated RGB controlled LED lighting, nine embedded circuit boards and 225 RFID antennas (one per square). Plus, special game pieces were crafted containing RFID tags. Why? Well, the wireless tech combined with some purpose-built software lets tournament organizers broadcast games online in real-time — the system reads the board in a mere 974 miliseconds. Those wishing to see the ultimate Scrabble system in action can do so when the tournament starts on December 1st, and there’s more info in the PR after the break.
Scrabble board packs RFID technology, broadcasts tournaments online in real-time, costs 20,000 pounds originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 15 Nov 2012 16:56:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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