English-language Scrabble Japan. English-language Scrabble English-language Scrabble is the original version of the popular word-based board game invented in 1938 by US architect Alfred Mosher Butts who based the game on the letter distribution in "The New York Times" in English. The Scrabble variant most popular in English is standard match play, where two players compete over a series of games. Duplicate Scrabble is not popular in English, and High score Scrabble is no longer practised. Although English is a worldwide language, the official list of allowable words and some tournament rules change between territories. The main Scrabble associations in North America
National Scrabble Association National Scrabble Association The National Scrabble Association (NSA) was created in 1978 by Selchow & Righter, then the makers of Scrabble, to promote their game. It coordinated local clubs and Scrabble tournaments in North America, including the National Scrabble Championship, until 2009. The last director was John D. Williams, who is co-author of the book "Everything Scrabble". In July 2009, the coordination of tournaments and competitive clubs was transferred to a new organization, North American Scrabble Players Association (NASPA). The NSA continued to publish "Scrabble News" and run programs such as the School Scrabble program. The National Scrabble Association dissolved