Scrabble bans 236 bigoted words, slurs from official list

New York Post ^ | July 2020 | Natalie O'Neill

[Ennis85]

Scrabble just got W-O-K-E.

Players of the classic board game will no longer be able to rack up points for spelling out racial and ethnic slurs, according to Scrabble officials.

A total of 236 bigoted words were removed from the official Scrabble word list used at tournaments — in order to make the game friendlier to all types of people, The North American Scrabble Players Association. said Wednesday.

“Removing slurs is the very least that we can do to make our association more inclusive,” NASPA CEO John Chew said in a statement. “How can we in this day tell prospective members that they can only play with us if they accept that offensive slurs have no meaning when played on a board?”

But not all members of the 10,000-strong group, which was polled about whether to scrap the hateful words agreed — and some were angry about the change.

“Some members threatened to leave the association if a single word were removed; others threatened to leave the association if any offensive words remained. There were a lot of good and bad arguments on both sides,” Chew said in the statement.

The group didn’t say which specific words had been removed but Chew told NPR the “N word” — worth a measly eight points — was among the first to get the boot.

The toy company Hasbro, which owns the rights to Scrabble, backed up the decision by changing the rules of the game “to make clear that slurs are not permissible.”

The firm said it has worked to eliminate offensive words from the game’s dictionary with every new edition that’s released.

[Dr. Sivana]

QUINTESsential

[deoetdoctrinae]

I’m not sure, but I’ll bet that whatever it was, it was perfectly typical or representative of a particular kind of person or thing. In other words, quintessential, lol.

[Tymesup]

That didn’t take long. If I remember correctly, this wasn’t a huge scoring play and there were other places to play all seven tiles.

[Tymesup]

I’m not playing you or Dr. S for money.

[immadashell]

And just who is going to police a game of Scrabble at the dining room table?

All new games produced will contain an enforcer who will instantaneous remove the offending word and send the offender to his room without any supper! The game will now come in a really large box!

[Dr. Sivana]

If I remember correctly, this wasn’t a huge scoring play and there were other places to play all seven tiles.

With that free "Q" thrown in, it can't be that bad. The only question is whether you get a DOUBLE or TRIPLE word score. The 50 point bonus is also a big deal. None of the scorer's letters were worth much, though "s" and "t" are always good to have on hand. When I could, I loved to play off of two words with a perpendicular word that would all but close off much of the board. It doesn't usually garner a lot of points, but it does reduce the opponents' options in that part of the board dramatically.

[deoetdoctrinae]

[Tymesup]

The first time I played at a YMHA, I got the letters EJW. I didn’t know whether to play the slur, but the one spot got blocked.

The second time I played there, I got the same EJW. The one available spot got blocked, so I lucked out again.

As I’m walking in for my third time, I said to myself, please don’t get those three letters. A few racks in, I get DIY, another slur.

[Thank You Rush]

“”The game will now come in a really large box!””

That’s funny. It’s difficult to keep a sense of humor with all the garbage going on every day!! Thanks.