Fit for a king: UK designer creates magnificent crown made from Scrabble tiles

Scrabble crown celebrates the game's 75th anniversary and King Charles III's birthday
Scrabble crown celebrates the game's 75th anniversary and King Charles III's birthday Copyright EBU
By Theo FarrantEBU
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Fit for a king: UK designer creates magnificent crown made from Scrabble tiles

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In honour of Scrabble's 75th anniversary and King Charles III's forthcoming coronation, renowned British designer Justin Smith has created a magnificent crown, made of 319 Scrabble tiles.

Smith, known for designing couture headwear for Hollywood's elite, including Angelina Jolie, Emma Thompson and Amal Clooney, drew inspiration from the real British Crown Jewels' St Edward's Crown.

According to Smith: "There are some hidden words in the crown, that took a while to do actually, because I laid it all out on a pattern to make sure that it was going to work well around the gemstones." 

EBU
Justin Smith holding his "Scrabble Crown"EBU

Some of the words that can be found on the crown, which took 153 hours to make, include "play," "coronation," and "word." But there are several others waiting to be discovered as well.

For Smith, Scrabble has a personal significance. "I remember playing with it a lot with my nan when I was younger, and it really helped me a lot with dyslexia to actually dissect words and actually have some creativity and have some play and create patterns with words that then really helped me at school and with my dyslexia."

The history behind one of the world's most beloved board games

Wikimedia Commons
Photo of American architect Alfred Mosher Butts (L)Wikimedia Commons

In the early 1930s, during the Great Depression, an unemployed American architect named Alfred Mosher Butts (great name and probably worth a lot of points) was searching for a way to earn some extra cash. 

Butts was a fan of games and puzzles, and he began working on a board game that combined elements of anagrams and crossword puzzles. 

He called the game "Lexiko," and it included a game board and tiles with letters and point values. However, it didn't quite catch on.

Butts didn't give up, though. He continued to tweak and refine his game, and in 1948, he renamed it "Criss-Cross Words." 

He partnered with James Brunot, a game manufacturer, and the two of them began producing the game on a small scale. They changed the name once more, this time to "Scrabble," which means "to scratch frantically."

While it initially struggled to gain much traction, in the early 1950s things began to improve for Scrabble. A few influential people, including a writer for the New York Times discovered the game and word quickly spread about the game (no pun intended). 

In the 1970s, Scrabble became a household name, and today, it's one of the most popular board games of all time.

Now every year, enthusiasts all over the globe celebrate World Scrabble Day on 13 April, the birthday of Alfred Mosher Butts. 

So if you happen to be in London between 13 April and 6 May, be sure to stop by and check out Justin Smith's Scrabble crown, which is being displayed in Westfield White City at The Entertainer Toy Store. 

Check out the video above to see how the spectacular crown was made.

Video editor • Theo Farrant

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