News: OMG, Scrabble Trickster Lets Players Use Textspeak… What's Next?

Punaany, lol. I'm going to name my next hamster that.
It is only a matter of times before picture memes are allowed in. Troll Face? 50 points!
Or maybe more commercialized. Get Coca-Scrabble, where any coke spelled product gets you double points!

They already have Scrabble theme games, like Star Trek and The Simpsons which have adjusted rules. I'm okay with those games because they're for fans of Star Trek and Scrabble or Simpsons and Scrabble, but I'd never really play them.

"Textspeak"? not "electronic acronyms"?

They're calling it textspeak (and so is everyone else). Wonder if it means shorthand words, like in this example: "RU cmin out 2nite?" Obviously they're not going to spell "2nite," but maybe that's what's next. Number tiles.

Sheesh, can't people just play original Scrabble?

I think it's okay. people who want to play regular scrabble should just do that, and those who want something different can try this, if that's what they want. interesting to see they were actually offering prizes for the rules picked. looks like thye got about $1500 each for their rules picked. that's pretty cool.

http://www.yorkpress.co.uk/news/9296047.York_puzzle_enthusiast_rips_up_Scrabble_rule_book/

Looks like another of the rule makers has been featured in the news. I was expecting more young adults (or kids).

I'm responsible for the 'Text Speak' rule added to the UK Edition of Scrabble Trickster... It's not a bad thing to want to update and re-invent a classic game in my view. I love the game and I'm really happy to have been given the chance to be part of it. Those people against the addition of fun and quirkiness being incorporated into the game are probably the type of people who still write with ink and quills and send messages via pigeon carrier.

Haha, pigeon carrier. did anybody ever master that anyway? cheers to getting your rule accepted! I'll probably try it out one day.

Well, congrats to getting your rule accepted, Bee! Really. And you're right, it's not a bad thing to update/reinvent the classic game. I'm just starting to fully appreciate the classic Scrabble game and knowing that there's a game out there that's eliminating the challenge and competitiveness of its nature is hard to accept, but I'm getting there (though I don't think I'll ever accept some of those recent CSW additions).

I don't write with ink and quills (I think it's messy) and I send texts just like everybody else these days… but I just never got into the whole textspeak thing. It takes me twice as long to text because I'm making sure everything's capitalized and has all the proper punctuation. I think it's more of an OCD thing (seriously).

thanks to the last two posters...after the furore surrounding the launch of Scrabble Trickster version 1 in the UK last year, I've been expecting a bit of a backlash against my rule being accepted by Mattel UK. I just wanted people to know that I'm a huge fan of the game and to perhaps at least give the 'alternative' version a try before condemning it to the dungeon-for-dummies. There's absolutely no loss of competitiveness, and the 'challenge' is actually heightened because of the extra dimension of the trick cards.
And, Justin...the 'textspeak thing' isn't much different to old-school shorthand used by journalists and secretaries for decades. Breaking the odd grammatical rule doesn't result in the receiving the cane anymore - try it, you'll see...it really doesn't make you naughty or bad.
Scrabble Trickster UK - revised edition with a new rule added by me for only £20. Go buy it!

It's really something special to see fans of Scrabble being able to contribute ideas to the spinoff games. I love Scrabble, but I can easily see myself playing Trickster and learning a whole bunch of "textspeak". Gotta stay hip. Thanks, Bee!