Talk:Anagrams (game)

Timeline issue
"Reputed to have originated as a Victorian word game, Anagrams have appeared in many published versions in the last century. The first modern version seems to have been the game Anagrams published in 1934 by the manufacturer Selchow & Righter, who would later publish Scrabble in 1953. " - saying 'reputed to have ...' suggests that perhaps the author thinks it actually was created later than in Victorian days. That would certainly not be the case. It may well have been created before the Victorian era, but I haven't personally seen any documented evidence of that. This is however ample evidence of it existing during the Victorian era. It is definitely misleading to suggest as this does that the game was popular in Victorian days, then disappeared, and was resurrected by Selchow & Righter in 1934. The game was in continuous manufacture (by various companies) and use from when it was invented until indeed the present day - just browse some of the examples in the links to confirm this. Because there was no copyright or patent protection on games in the Victorian era and the early 20th Century, it was common for manufacturers to blatantly copy games from other manufacturers, and various forms of the Anagrams game (with wooden tiles, cardboard tiles, small playing cards, and large playing cards) were perhaps the most copied games of all - until the invention of Scrabble(tm) which became the de-facto standard for word games.

By the way, the reference to playing anagrams with Scrabble(tm) sets - the game is known as "Clabbers" (which is of course an anagram of Scrabble).

T71024 18:47, 17 August 2008 (UTC): That is not entirely accurate. Clabbers is played on a regular Scrabble set, but the letters of each word may appear in any order. The reference means that you can take the tiles only from two (or more) Scrabble sets to build an ad-hoc Anagrams set. Both Clabbers and Anagrams, along other word games such as Boggle, are popular after-hour activities among Scrabble tournament players. I do find that the references to Scrabble tiles in this article are not very well organized (Scrabble tiles are mentioned many times but the reference never seems to fit in context). Some rewording or reorganization might be justified.

I would suggest changing the wording of that introductory paragraph. I'll be happy to do so myself (and will do so after waiting a few days for comments) unless there's any objections. 129.113.28.125 19:40, 21 August 2007 (UTC)

And people always think that these people on Wiki are always right, well they aren't!!!!!!! — Preceding unsigned comment added by 11jamesl (talk • contribs) 18:03, 4 March 2012 (UTC)

Image copyright
By the way, the image accompanying this article was taken from a collection of images at my site (www.gtoal.com). I don't object, but it's not my image and I can't give permission to use it - I collected a large number of images from eBay postings, and placed them in a holding area while I attempted to get copyright clearance from the auction holders for many of them. Very few people replied to my requests. That's why I haven't included many of those images along with the descriptions of the games at my own site. Of course it is now some years later, and no-one has objected to my having put them online, but I suspect that the unattributable image is probably not within Wikipedia's policy.

On the other hand I do own several of these games myself and could probably find the time to photograph one to replace the image for this article.

129.113.28.125 19:47, 21 August 2007 (UTC) (Graham Toal)


 * I've checked and this was Image:Anagrams-embossco-redbox.jpg, deleted below a year later. --Lord Belbury (talk) 08:59, 4 September 2020 (UTC)

Fair use rationale for Image:Anagrams-embossco-redbox.jpg
Image:Anagrams-embossco-redbox.jpg is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.

Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to ensure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.

If there is other fair use media, consider checking that you have specified the fair use rationale on the other images used on this page. Note that any fair use images lacking such an explanation can be deleted one week after being tagged, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you.

BetacommandBot (talk) 00:07, 8 March 2008 (UTC)

Dispute 'first modern version' in 1890
"The first modern version seems to have been the game The Game of Letters and Anagrams on Wooden Blocks published by Parker Brothers around 1890"

I believe that "Word Making and Taking" by C.E. Hammett Jr should be defined as the same game, and there is evidence of it being published in 1877. is a listing on ebay, where the year and instructions are clearly visible.

If this is indeed the same game, the title of this game should also be added to game title variations, i.e. "also known as..."

If no objections arise I will make this change.

Craiggrummitt (talk) 17:36, 25 November 2015 (UTC)