Bitches be playin games
"Spell My Name": Beyoncé lands a spot in Scrabble
Photo by John Rowley
At last, we all now have a chance to score with Beyoncé.
Starting in July, the Houston queen of R&B will maintain a spot on the Scrabble board, much to the dismay of purists.
Toy company Mattel tells The Times of the Scrabble dictionary additions: "These changes are the biggest news for Scrabble lovers in the history of the game and will provide a great new twist on the old formula."
Ms. Knowles isn't the only one bringing it to the table — in fact, the game's makers are throwing out the old rule book and allowing any proper nouns. The new game not only permits the names of places, trademarks and people, but even words spelled backwards or placed unconnected to other pieces.
Mattel is defending the puzzle revolution by suggesting it will level the playing field between experienced players and novices. The revamped game allows thousands of new combinations, but perhaps because of her inherent name recognition, renowned literacy or triple-word bonus caché, the media is particularly "Crazy in Love" with Beyoncé's inclusion.
No need for old school devotees to fret, however. Elaborates a Matell spokeswoman, "We believe that people who are already fans will enjoy the changes but some people will want to continue playing the old way so we will still be selling a board with the original rules."
Judy Newhouse, Director of the Official Houston, Texas Chapter of the National Scrabble Association adds, "They really aren't changing the rules. It's just a variation of the game we all know. It will not affect club and tournament players because we use the Official Word List for Club and Tournament Players (OWL) as our word source."
This is the first-ever edit to the official rules of Scrabble, but it's not the only instance in which the innocent time waster has been attached to scandal. American architect Alfred Butts developed the game in New York while unable to find work during the Great Depresh, eventually selling the rights to entrepreneur James Brunot, who renamed it Scrabble, a word meaning "to grope frantically."
Jay-Z best put a ring on it before frisky word nerds try to win with the siren of all things bootylicious (19 points).
