Alfred Mosher Butts
Alfred Mosher Butts (born April 13, 1899 in Poughkeepsie , New York , † April 4, 1993 ) was an American architect. He invented the letter game Scrabble in his birthplace in 1938 .
history
As early as 1931, the then unemployed Butts developed a forerunner of Scrabble called Lexiko . This game was played without a board, only dotted letters. But it was not successful because the game was rejected by the patent office in 1933 and was not approved by the two game producers Parker Brothers and Milton Bradley .
In 1938 Butts changed its development. Crossword puzzles gave him the idea of connecting the letters to a game board on which words could be formed like in a crossword puzzle . But the new concept was not successful either. Since Butts had no way of producing the game, he returned to his old profession as an architect. In 1948 Butts sold the rights to the game to James Brunot, who helped the game to break through.
Ludography
- 1948: Scrabble
- 1985: Alfred's Other Game
Web links
- Alfred Mosher Butts in the Luding games database
- Alfred Mosher Butts in the board game database BoardGameGeek (English)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Butts, Alfred Mosher |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American architect and game designer, inventor of Scrabble |
| DATE OF BIRTH | April 13, 1899 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Poughkeepsie , New York |
| DATE OF DEATH | April 4, 1993 |