Word up! Scrabble marks UK lockdown easing with light show

Scrabble words that reflect the mood of the nation as the coronavirus disease lockdown eases are displayed at London Bridge by The Shard (left), at Brick Lane (right), and at Knightsbridge near Harrods (below), in London.

Some of Britain’s favourite words were projected onto buildings around London to mark the easing of lockdown restrictions and National Scrabble Day yesterday. Words like “freedom”, “hope”, and “family” to represent the mood of the nation were beamed in the style of the game’s letter tiles onto a nightspot, shops and locations near landmarks such as the Harrods department store and the Shard skyscraper. “Scrabble is projecting the nation’s favourite words to coincide with the lockdown lifting in the UK and National Scrabble Day,” said company spokeswoman Amarilis Whitty. Scrabble commissioned a survey to find the words that best summed up people’s feelings as months of lockdown began to be eased on Monday. The game that would eventually be called Scrabble was invented in New York by Alfred Mosher Butts, an unemployed architect, during the Depression. National Scrabble Day is celebrated on his birthday. A redesigned version of the game, played in more than 120 countries in 33 languages, is being put on sale with the board rebranded from green to blue. Scrabble said lockdown had boosted sales of the game in Britain by 51.2% in 2020.