Back in 1931 architect Alfred Butts invented a game called Lexiko. It was based on an older game named Anagrams and was modified to use English language letter frequencies in the letter pool. While a sound idea to make the game more realistic and more fun, Lexiko was never a commercial success.

In 1938 Butts made significant revisions to his word game by adding a game board. He used the same 100 letter tiles, but instead of simply creating words out of a random set of letters, the words had to be played on the board in a crossword style layout (left to right and top to bottom). The letters each had a numerical value, roughly proportional to the frequency with which the letter appears in the English language. The 15 by 15 square board also had spaces which would magnify the value of the tile placed on them or magnify the value of the entire word. This new game was called Criss-Crosswords. Like its predecessor, Lexiko, Criss-Crosswords did not find its market and game manufacturers showed no interest in buying the game.

Scrabble

In 1948 James Brunot purchased the rights to Criss-Crosswords from Butts. He renamed the game Scrabble and mass produced it, but public interest in the game remained elusive. Then, in 1952, Jack Straus, president of Macy’s, played the game and immediately fell in love with it. He placed a large order for Macy’s to carry, forcing Brunot to license the game to Selchow and Righter, a game manufacturer, to produce the required quantities of the game.

With Macy’s backing it, Scrabble became an overnight sensation and in the first two years four million sets of the game were sold. In 1972 Selchow and Righter bought all rights to Scrabble. By now the game was a household name and also sold internationally. In 1986 Caleco Industries purchased Selchow and Righter and in 1989 Hasbro purchased the primary assets of Caleco.

Scrabble Tournament by Unjoanqualsevol/Wikimedia Commons

Today Scrabble remains one of the most popular games of all time. There are national and international Scrabble tournaments with winners being awarded prizes as much as $25,000. The game was made into long running television contest shows (Scrabble and Scrabble Showdown) and has been made into countless computer and internet game versions. It is estimated that today one in three American households owns a copy of Scrabble.

Coming in at #4 is a relative newcomer among the other games.

Settlers of Catan by Klaus Teuber.

Settlers of Catan was conceived by Klaus Teuber, a German game designer. It was first published in Germany under the name Die Siedler von Catan in 1995 and immediately began its meteoric rise to fame. The year the game war released, it took the gaming world by storm, earning top awards from Spiel des Jahres, Deutscher Spiele Preis, Essen Feather and Meeples’ Choice Award. In 1996 Settlers of Catan came to America and landed the prestigious Origins Award for the Best Science-Fiction/Fantasy Board Game.

The game sold well over a million copies per year over the next decade and was translated into more than 30 languages. People around the world fell in love with Catan and Klaus Teuber churned out new expansion sets virtually every year, building out the world of Catan and gaming options and special rules. The four player game was expanded to six players and included historical scenarios, including Cheops (Pyramids of Egypt), Alexander (Alexander the Great), Troy (Trojan War), Great Wall (Great Wall of China). Game set rule expansions included Seafarers of Catan, Cities & Knights of Catan, Traders & Barbarians and Explorers & Pirates.

Esoteric expansion sets included The Volcano of Catan, The Great River of Catan and The Fisherman of Catan. These sets added specific tiles or game pieces which enhanced the game’s rules.

Star Trek Catan

Catan also included a number of spin-off games: Starfarers of Catan, Star Trek Catan, Starship Catan and the religious themed Settlers of Canaan.

Over the years a multitude of Catan computer games also became available.

Settlers of Catan progresses with players cultivating natural resources – brick, lumber, wool, grain and ore and using these resources to build settlements and towns, roads and ships. Scores are based on the size and strength of the “empire” that a player creates and the game usually lasts until a predetermined score is reached.

The allure of Catan is the novel way in which players participate in the game. Catan allows players to decide where on the game board they focus their resources by removing the traditional structured elements of die rolls to determine the move along a sequential track, such as in Monopoly and Life. Players are also encouraged to barter with each other, trading resources and establishing personal monopolies.

Twenty years after being released, Catan remains a popular game with many play options that evolved over the years. Catan fans participate in annual tournaments at large gaming conventions such as GenCon.

[whohit]2014-11-25 National Games Week Countdown – #4 Settlers of Catan[/whohit]

Clue was invented in 1944 by Anthony Pratt.

We will start the National Games Week board game countdown with the #5 place selection, the classic detective game Clue.

Clue, or Cluedo in England, is a murder mystery game with the objective of identifying the murderer of Mr. Body in the United States or Dr. Black in England. The sleuthing must include the identity of the killer, the instrument of the murder and the location of the deed. Three to six players take on colorful roles of the sleuths – Miss Scarlett, Professor Plum, Mrs. Peacock, Mr. Green, Colonel Mustard and Mrs. White – attempting to solve the mystery and out one of the sleuths as the killer.

The 1985 movie “Clue” was released in theaters with three different endings.

The game was invented in 1944 by Anthony Pratt and was originally titled Murder! It was published in England in 1949 under the name Cluedo and in the United States under the name Clue.

Over the years Clue had numerous spin-off and themed games, including video and computer variations. There were several standalone books and book series based on the game. There was also a 1985 movie, released with three different endings, a 2011 television miniseries, a 1985 stage play and a 1997 musical. Both the play and the musical required audience members to randomly select three cards from a game deck and place them in an envelope. The cards determined the ending of the show, resulting in 216 possible resolutions.

Clue also inspired humorous parodies on the game, such as 13 Dead End Drive and its sequel 1313 Dead End Drive, where players attempt to murder their competitors at the mansion of the recently departed Aunt Agatha in an attempt to be the last one left in order to claim the inheritance.

13 Dead End Drive is one of a number of Clue parody games.

[whohit]2014-11-24 National Games Week Countdown – #5 Clue[/whohit]

National Games Week takes place over Thanksgiving week, from the Sunday before Thanksgiving to the Saturday after. The event is the brainchild of Mark Simmons, former publisher of the now defunct Games Quarterly magazine and the Executive Director of GAMA, the Game Manufacturer Association, a non-profit trade organization dedicated to serving the tabletop game industry.

The idea behind National Games Week was to step away from electronic single player games and engage in traditional game play with friends and family. Thanksgiving was chosen because this it is the time of the year when families and friends tend to come together.

Since its inception in 2004, the National Games Week has grown by leaps and bounds. The rules of the holiday are simple. Put your Xbox away. Hide the PlayStation. Pretend like there are no games on your computer, tablet or smart phone. In short, if it’s electronic, pretend that a massive solar flare took it out. We know that this is hard for some people, but keep in mind, this type of game play is fairly new. The early versions of electronic games came in arcades in the 1970s and migrated into the home via Atari, Apple and Commodore computers in the early 1980s. Just give it a try. Grab a beer and relax. It’s okay. The world has not ended. By turning all these electronics off, you’re saving on your electric bill. That’s a good thing.

Here’s the good news. Electronic games as we know them today have been around for about forty years and while they have evolved massively over that time, they are still relatively new. People have played games since the dawn of time. At least forty centuries worth of documented historic time and while we can argue that traditional games have evolved very slowly, they have been around for nothing short of forever.

National Games Week is easy to celebrate and is very inexpensive. All of us have a stash of traditional games in the back of the closet or under the bed. It’s time to pull them out, dust them off and invite friends and family to gather around the table to partake in tradition. The tradition is family and community and traditional games are the means of bringing everyone together to play, talk and laugh.

Over the next week we will profile some of the most popular games of modern times to celebrate this family oriented holiday.

[whohit]2014-11-23 It’s National Games Week![/whohit]