Developed in 1948 (and originally called Lexico and Criss-Cross Words by creator Alfred Butts), Scrabble is another near-perfect family game. I remember getting a deluxe version (the board was heavy plastic, had indentions to hold the tiles, and spun around) for Christmas one year. One is hard-pressed to think of a better way to remember new vocabulary than winning or losing a word challenge. Nevertheless, the fact that my interest has faded and the luck factor of Scrabble (i.e. which letters are pulled) costs some stars.
