Posted 16 Dec 2008

It is produced in 29 languages and somewhere out there are a million missing pieces – and today Scrabble celebrates its 60th birthday.

Over 150 million games have been sold in 121 countries around the world and the game can be used as a way to teach English abroad, the Daily Telegraph reported.

But before people plan to use it in their lessons, it is worth noting that the game can vary a lot from country to country.

It is not possible to play Scrabble in Japanese or Chinese so they play in English with a rule book written in their own dialect.

And there are the most tiles in Italian and Portuguese versions of the game as they have 120, compared to 100 in England.

If you do play the English version of Scrabble to teach, be careful your pupils do not beat you by too much – there is a one in eight chance that the player who selects the first round of letters can make a seven-letter word, meaning high points.

The manufacturers of Scrabble say that famous players of the game include Mel Gibson, Keanu Reeves and the Queen.

Category: Teaching and Learning