2/13/12
We all played Scrabble as little kids, and we all used the traditional square chips, deliberately taking them from a wooden stand to the colorful board hoping that the word we were attempting to create was actually in the paperback dictionary that sat next to the stack of encyclopedias (The traditional set up to a proper game). These were the days. No electronic game to be played on iPads or TVs. It was these tangible pieces that taught us how to flip through the dictionary and spell words slowly and with precision. So in the process of surrounding myself with items that take me back to a simpler time, bringing a sense of peace to my overextended world, I decided to buy a set of these on Etsy. Why not? There are worse things I could spend 20 bucks on. Vintage Scrabble letters are fun to keep around the home or to decorate with. Stick a bunch in a container and keep it on your desk. Then bring it out when you have people over and let everyone create their own sentences, just like the letter magnets that find their home on refrigerators and ovens. If you want to get really creative or for anyone in need of a great idea for a coffee shop, bookstore, or hotel, take a main wall and completely cover it in perfect rows of the chips. Make sure that they are about the same shade of wood and the same size. This might be hard as I am sure you will need more than a few different sets. Incorporate words stealthily hidden into the wall of chips so that a quick glance might cause a chuckle to a passerby. If you want to really get inventive, take the chips and find a way to hook them onto horizontal and vertical tracks leaving a void every now and again. This would allow the chips to slide across the track on the wall and words to be created. Interactive and educational!
