How Scrabble became a business

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bought the

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manufacturing rights from Alfred and

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agreed to give him a royalty for every

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set sold. He copyrighted and trademarked

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Scrabble in December 1948 and then went

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to make the game sets with his family

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out of their

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home. But what about that vacation that

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changed everything?

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Well, legend has it that in 1952, Jack

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Strauss, the then director at the

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renowned Macy's department store, played

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Scrabble while on vacation, and he loved

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it. That prompted him to do a large

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order, and within a year, it was one of

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the most coveted board games. Scrabble

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was a huge success. But Alfred didn't

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want to stop there. He went on to create

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another board game, Alfred's Other Game.

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The board game didn't take off, but

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Alfred couldn't rest easy knowing that

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his hard work had created a worldwide

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sensation. Associations, clubs, and

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tournaments took off. There was even a

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game show in the 80s and '9s. The new

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century saw Scrabble take the internet

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lead, and the worldwide takeover

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continued until today, touching every

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corner of the globe.

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I was born and raised in Nigeria. The

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first time I played Scrabble was when my

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elder brother,