''Alfapet'' was the original Swedish name for the popular
word game
Word games (also called word game puzzles or word search games) are spoken, board, or video games often designed to test ability with language or to explore its properties.
Word games are generally used as a source of entertainment, but can add ...
''
Scrabble
''Scrabble'' is a word game in which two to four players score points by placing tiles, each bearing a single letter, onto a game board divided into a 15×15 grid of squares. The tiles must form words that, in crossword fashion, read left t ...
''.
In 1954, the Swedish
board game
Board games are tabletop games that typically use . These pieces are moved or placed on a pre-marked board (playing surface) and often include elements of table, card, role-playing, and miniatures games as well.
Many board games feature a comp ...
company Alga was granted a license by
J. W. Spear & Sons to market ''Scrabble'' in Sweden. For almost four decades, Alga sold the game under the name ''Alfapet'' (wordplay on ''alfabet'', the Swedish word for "alphabet".)
In the 1980s, Alga was bought by
BRIO, which retained Alga as its board games division.
In the early 1990s, Mattel acquired J. W. Spear & Sons and rescinded the BRIO/Alga license in order to market the game in Sweden themselves as ''Scrabble''.
However, BRIO/Alga retained the right to the name ''Alfapet'', and quickly designed and marketed a similar word game using that name.
The new ''Alfapet'' word game differs in several ways from the international game of ''Scrabble'':
[{{cite web , url =http://www.scrabbleforbundet.se/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=14&Itemid=37 , title =Hem: Välkommen! , website=Svenska Scrabble förbundet , date =2019-11-05 , access-date =2020-02-19 , language=Swedish ]
* The board has 17 x 17 squares (instead of 15 x 15).
* There are more bonus squares (even quadruples) and also reduction squares.
* There are 120 tiles (instead of 100) and the values differ from the Swedish Scrabble set.
* The letter Q has a separate tile (but can only be played with a blank tile in Scrabble).
* There are several rule differences.
See also
*
Scrabble
''Scrabble'' is a word game in which two to four players score points by placing tiles, each bearing a single letter, onto a game board divided into a 15×15 grid of squares. The tiles must form words that, in crossword fashion, read left t ...
*
Super Scrabble
''Super Scrabble'' is a board game introduced in 2004 and a variant of ''Scrabble''. It is played on a 21×21 grid board instead of Scrabble's usual 15×15, and uses twice as many letter tiles.
In North America ''Super Scrabble'' is made and mark ...
Sources
External links
BRIOSwedish Scrabble Association
Board games introduced in 1954
Scrabble variants