Designer Scrabble

TimesUnion.com: Designer Scrabble
Sign up for Designer Scrabble at: http://drewcapener.com/?/projects/scrabble-1/
Yep, you heard me: Designer. Scrabble. The iconic game has undergone a make-over.*

Designed by Andrew Clifford Capener, the reason for the renewal, “was to excite people about typography by giving them the ability to choose what font their scrabble set would come in. The set would be available in the font of your choice or with an assorted font pack. Additional font packs (including your favorite font) could be ordered through Scrabble’s website.”

As a design fiend (and woodworking lover – the board and storage unit are made of solid walnut and birch), I’m pretty psyched about the prospects this version of Scrabble has to offer. I’m a wordie (similar to a foodie, but, you know, with words), and I will admit I’m a pretty competitive Scrabble player. Or I was, until my husband deemed we are no longer allowed to play Scrabble under our roof since the time he laid down an 80-point word and I kicked the board over. Sore loser? Yeah, I’m that too.

But I do love the classic Scrabbleboard. Sometimes I wonder why people need to play around with a beloved shape or design. Why fix what ain’t broke? Why re-create or introduce a new version of a beloved classic? Is this product marketing to too niche of an audience?

Scrabble is one of the most beloved boardgames around and has a wide customer base. According to the Hasbro website, Scrabble currently has ten different versions of the game on the market. So when is the market saturated? Can we stand another spin-off?

I would say yes. If the product is specific enough to a certain demo- or psychographics, marketers can create new products that expand a brand, based on economic and societal trends.


Think about all the “opoly” games. You know the ones – the bastardized versions of Monopoly that feature a city, sports team, etc. “They” keep making them, and people keep buying them. We all want products that speak specifically to us, whether it be solving a certain problem or highlighting a passion. For design and typography enthusiasts (and those who enjoy hitting triple-score words), this Designer Scrabble series allows them to indulge in said passion while taking part in an enjoyable past time. Products that merge the two, but still maintain core elements of the original version, will have a good chance at success.

There isn’t much to mess with in Scrabble. Change the rules, and it becomes something else that just fits within the Scrabble brand. While changes and updates to the original game have occurred (like Scrabble Slam!), they aren’t actually Scrabble; instead, they just fit within the Scrabble brand (maybe Coca-Cola should have taken note).

So, what say you? Do you like the latest addition to the Scrabble family? What are your thoughts on adapting a classic to meet customer demands, and continued trends towards typography? Leave a comment, email me, or continue the conversation on Twitter (don’t forget to use the hashtag #Hey518).

*The “new Scrabble” isn’t available for purchase yet, but sign-up to boost chances of further production (and it case you are wondering, my birthday is April 28th).

Deanna is a marketing maven, and more on her can be found here.