Oliver Burkeman of The Guardian wrote an extensive article on the history of Scrabble. Gems include:

  • The highest theoretical score in one play (for 1,778 points)
  • 150 million Scrabble sets sold and 30,000 games started each hour (Mattel)
  • A quip about why the luck in Scrabble makes it a better game than Chess
  • “The Study of Games”, the research material Butts compiled to analyze what game to invent
  • Some fresh tidbits about the personal life of Butts after inventing the game

(source)