After more than 75 years, Scrabble is making a major change to the game. Mattel’s new version — Scrabble Together — is intended to be more collaborative and less competitive than the original. The new take comes with helper cards and allows people to play in teams.

The updated game adds “a second side to the board that is collaborative and faster-paced to make gameplay more accessible for anyone who finds word games intimidating”, according to Mattel. “Scrabble has truly stood the test of time as one of the most popular board games in history, and we want to ensure the game continues to be inclusive for all players. For anyone who’s ever thought, ‘word games aren’t for me’, or felt a little intimidated by the Classic game, Scrabble Together Mode is an ideal option,” said Ray Adler, global head of games at Mattel.

The new game is also different from Scrabble Junior, which is more of a crossword puzzle, with letters already on the board.

The original game dates to 1938, when Alfred Mosher Butts, an American architect, invented the game, which had several names, including Lexiko. The game received the Scrabble title and trademark 10 years later. At the moment, Scrabble is produced in 28 languages. More than 165 million games have been sold in 120 countries since 1948, according to Mattel.

Brett Smitheram, the current UK number one and 2016 World Scrabble Champion, said: "The game speaks to a trend in younger people who want to avoid competitive games, instead favouring teamwork and collaboration working towards a fun goal together."

Though this is the first major change to the look of the Scrabble board, the game regularly adds new words to its official dictionary. In November 2022, more than 500 new words were added to the seventh edition of the dictionary.