The Cox family's home on the web since 2000.

Randy's Scrabble Game Table Project

I Want Your Tiles.

The Plan

I want to build a gaming table covered with Scrabble tiles. Based on the size of a standard card table, the table will be 45 tiles wide by 40 tiles tall (they're not square, you know). That's 1800 tiles. Add another couple of sets for practice and screw-ups, and It looks like I'm going to need about 20 sets to pull this off.

But what should I do about the edge of the table? Cover it with tiles, too? That's a possibility. I think it would be more interesting to use the wooden Scrabble racks as a molding around the edge. It fits the theme, and it would provide a handy place to set cards, pencils, and other gaming items.

FAQ

Q.   Are you going to hide words in the table, like a giant word-search puzzle?
A.   I will probably hide the names of my wife and kids in there, but other than that I plan on laying the tiles (almost) totally randomly, drawn blindly from a sack. The only exceptions will be the initials of my contributors. I will set aside appropriate letters to spell all of their initials, then whenever I draw a blank, I will place initials after it. Hopefully that will make the initials easier to find later. Also, if I happen to see the letters spelling an inappropriate word by chance, then I'll draw different tiles.

Q.   That sounds like a great project. How can I help?
A.   Simple: Donate some tiles! It's likely that you have an old Scrabble game in your closet that you never play anymore because it's missing tiles or something. I'll take it! I'm afraid that I can't afford to pay much for the games, but I'll be happy to reimburse you for mailing. I'll even immortalize you by placing your initials somewhere on the tabletop and place an acknowledgement on this website.

Q.   I'd be happy to donate tiles, but they're not the standard light wood and black letter tiles. Is that okay?
A.   Of course! The table will look cooler with different colors. In fact, if you have a foreign set with accent marks and whatnot, that would be cooler still! The only requirement is that they are official wooden Scrabble tiles and not from some other word game (they need to be the same size, after all).

Q.   I'll do it! Where do I send my tiles and racks?
A.   Write to me and we'll sort out the details.

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Copyright © 2005 by Randy Cox