Scrabble was invented in 1938 by an architect named Alfred Mosher Butts. He had previously invented a similar game called "Lexiko". He worked out how many points should be given for each letter by looking at books and newspapers and counting how often particular letters are used in the English language. He called the game "Criss-Crosswords". However, he was not successful in selling the game. In 1948 a lawyer called James Brunot bought the rights to make to game. Brunot made some of the rules easier, and changed the name to "Scrabble", which is a real word meaning: “to scratch around frantically”. Soon other firms around the world were buying rights to make the game. It had become so popular by 1984 that it was made into a daytime TV show on NBC television.