A little *History on the game by Mattel Inc:

"The Scrabble game is being played in 121 countries in the world in 29 different languages. It was invented by Alfred Mosher Butts, an achitect during the depression of 1931 . It was then called Criss-Crosswords. The game was not welcomed at first by the patent board and game manufacturers, even after 1938 when it has gone through many changes, names and forms as well.

The Second World War changed all that. Butts met a couple named Brunots and together they became partners. The Brunots decided that the game needed a few finishing touches. They rearranged the premium squares and simplified the rules, Then they lodged a Copyright application, under the new modern name, "Scrabble". The patent was granted in December 1948.

The game traveled to Autralia, Europe and launched in UK with great success. Orders reached 6,000 pieces per week. The rights for Scrabble in the USA and Canada were purchased in 1984 by Milton Bradley which has turned it down for 53 years.

1991 saw the first world championship take place in London. The second was held in New York City in 1993. Mattel Inc. acquired the rights to the world outside of the US, Australia and Canada in 1994."

*This is an excerpt of an article on www.mattelscrabble.com on the history of the game of Scrabble.