Today, one would be hard pressed to find someone who has not  familiar with the game of Scrabble, because the familiar game of letter tiles can easily be considered one of the most well known board games in history.  The birth of Scrabble can be traced back to 1938, where the popular word game was developed by American, Alfred Mosher Butts and named “Criss-Crosswords.”  Butts would sell the rights to Criss-Crosswords to James Brunot, who would later trademark the iconic Scrabble name.  In 1952, Scrabble’s popularity dramatically increased and begin the game’s path towards being an international phenomenon.

On this date, January 19th, in 1955, Scrabble was first sold in the United Kingdom and Australia.  This would mark the game’s first appearance on an international platform and would allow for citizens of the U.K. and Australia to embrace the American creation. Scrabble would go on to sell millions of games throughout these areas.  Germany based J.W. Spear and Sons handled Scrabble’s distribution overseas.

In later years, Scrabble’s popularity would continue to increase.  Scrabble has spawned nights of fun with family and friends, as well as competitive leagues.  Scrabble would even be featured in an NBC television show from 1984 to 1990.