Following the Great Depression, Scrabble was invented in 1933. Alfred Butts, an architect looking for work at the time, had been analyzing the games people were playing the most.

He broke down his analysis into three different types of games; word-based games, numbers-based games, and games based on the movement of pieces. In his analysis, he came to the conclusion that word games were less popular with people than other types of games because word games didn’t involve keeping score.

This was his inspiration for creating the game now known as Scrabble. As he envisioned it, the game was originally called Lexiko. In the late 1930s and early 1940s, the game was called Criss Cross Words.

It has been rumored that the New York Times front-page helped Butts when it came to how many of each letter to include in the game. His analysis of the English language set the groundwork for Scrabble.

Despite the success the game now enjoys, Butts had difficulty getting a company to distribute it. A chance meeting with an entrepreneur that enjoyed games led to the eventual distribution.

The two made slight changes to the rules of the game and agreed to call it Scrabble. The definition of scrabble is holding onto or grasping something, which they both felt reflected the concept of the game. This led to the trademarking of the game’s name and likeness in 1948.

After obtaining the trademark, they rented space in a school to go about physically creating the game. With the help of friends, they were able to begin making Scrabble tiles.

It still took a while to get the game out to the masses. Four years into the production of Scrabble, Butts and his business partner suffered a $450 loss on 2,400 sets of the game.

It is believed that Scrabble started to become more popular during the 1950s, thanks to Macy’s president discovering the game for himself. He reportedly ordered a supply of the game to sell to his customers. This led to the game being licensed by a manufacturer that agreed to bring Scrabble to stores in Canada and the United States. The manufacturer later went on to buy the rights for Scrabble away from Butts and his business partner.