Scrabble Diamond Anniversary Edition
by Hasbro Games
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List Price: Our Price: $35.99 You Save: $4.00 (10%) Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Buy Used: from $27.86 (click here) Category: Toy See more product details |
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Toys and Games Reviews of Scrabble Diamond Anniversary Edition
Customer Review: GREAT for traveling with your fave word game
Summary: 5 Stars
I have a friend who is a ranked Scrabble champion and she spent some time teaching me the secrets of the game (Here are some: Memorize those 2, 3, and 4 letter words. Block together words to make big scores from a few letters. Memorize the most common racks of letters like A, E, I, N, R and S that lead to "bingos" or using all tiles for a 50-point bonus. Don't box yourself in by leaving useless tiles on your rack; passing and exchanging tiles are valid moves.)
This kit is quite different than the classic Selchow and Richter burgundy cardboard box with the light wood tiles and wooden racks. The entire set is a sort of little briefcase of hard plastic. When you pull it open (there is no button or latch, it just pulls open with a fingernail)--the board is laid out inside on the surface of the case. The first look is a bit strange; the familiar colors of pink, light and dark blue and red squares (double word, double letter-triplet letter, triple word) are different here so if you are a veteran player, this can be a bit off-putting. What is this green square?!) The board swivels on four little wheels on the outside of the case as you place it on a flat surface. Swiveling is nice; each player can rotate the board to face them as they play, no need to learn to read upside-down or sideways like the famous Yeshiva students (they had only one Talmud and one table, so a few of the students could only read it when it was upside-down, supposedly.)
The game pieces are inside two drawers on the outside of the case. One has the velvet bag for holding the tiles, the other the tiles and the racks. Another shocker; the racks are red plastic and curved. The tiles are still maple hardwood, but stained black, with silver printing. They fit into the board to keep from shifting. I actually like the curved racks, though they aren't the same as the straight wooden ones for shifting letters back and forth to find hidden words and word fragments.
WThis set is beautiful for carrying on camping trips, to meetings of other players. I am not sure if it is "recu" at tournaments, where it is true you have to bring your own set but there may be a reaction to the strange colors. But it travels well, and I think this could be a great family gift and something to carry on vacations. There is nothing like a rainy day and a great game of Scrabble and some hot cocoa. And getting a 50 point bingo or arguing that"qanat" and "aa" are actually words. Get an official Scrabble dictionary, take it from me.
Customer Review: Scrabble Diamond Anniversary Edition - More Positives Than Negatives
Summary: 4 Stars
The Scrabble, Diamond Anniversary Edition definitely exceeded my expectations. I have read some criticisms of this edition, and all of them are valid to varying degrees. In changing the color scheme of the tiles, they clearly risked alienating the hard-core scrabble players out there. And the plastic tile holders do seem a little thinner than the wooden ones that come with the original edition. Still, those small cons are eclipsed by many things I enjoy about this edition.
I do not play Scrabble daily as some might. If I can play against an opponent once every other week that is a rare luxury for me. So from that sense I am not married to the original color scheme. I find the board to be attractive, in my opinion. But this is just to point out that those who play Scrabble often and love the original color scheme are perhaps the one group that may not like the updated look of this edition.
The strengths of this board are many.
PROS:
+ Nicely integrated with a hard case with a handle that folds in half for easy transport
+ The exterior is made of hard plastic that seems durable
+ Integrated within each half is a storage tray to hold game pieces and other extras
+ Includes 6 integrated wheels so it spins freely during play
+ The playing surface has grid lines to hold the pieces in place
+ Even though it's mostly made of plastic, the pieces are still wood
+ Curved letter trays are better thant the straight ones for keeping the pieces together, but they are not perfect (see cons below)
CONS:
- Changed color scheme will annoy avid players more than most casual ones
- The letter trays do feel a bit flimsy
- Unlike the folio edition, the letters cannot be locked in place for transit mid-game to be continued later
- I'm not crazy about the big *Scrabble* emblem on both sides of the outside but I can live with it (minor con)
I bought with some hesitation given the complaints some have listed. Now that I have my hands on one I wish I could have bought a few more as extras or gifts. If you play lots and don't want the different color scheme, then this edition is not for you. But if you don't mind different colors, this is a good edition for play at home or taking with you.
Enjoy.
Customer Review: Nice, with some notable drawbacks
Summary: 4 Stars
Pro: I like the semi-portability and ruggedness of the set-- the magnetic clasp is nifty, and being self-contained is nice and elegant (too bad there isn't enough room for a full Scrabble dictionary, but that seems kind of impractical save for an electronic solution). If you want to bring it with you to a coffee shop or something, it beats the basic boxed set and the bigger deluxe sets. The raised grid is nice for protecting against the odd bump to the board or careless brush when placing tiles. The cloth bag is much nicer than the standard plastic one. Very minor plus: wild tiles aren't featureless blank tiles, but have a diamond etched into them, which makes it slightly harder to immediately identify them by touch when fishing for new tiles.
Con: Others have mentioned the odd bonus square coloring, which to me is an issue, albeit a minor one. I don't think the lack of scorepads is a big deal-- I can scare up some paper and pencil. A timer, while nice to have, again isn't a big deal to me. However, one of the tradeoffs for having the raised grid is that cleanup is substantially more tedious than before-- you can't just fold the board and slide all the tiles back into the bag, picking up the few that may have spilled. You need to manually peel all the tiles from the grid, unless you want to dump them on the table/floor first, which really isn't any better, and could lead to lost tiles. The other issue I noticed is that the tiles don't slide as smoothly on the plastic curved racks as on the old wooden ones. It seems like a minor issue, but shuffling the tiles isn't effortless like on the old racks, and I like to shuffle my tiles.
Other thoughts: It would be nice if the tiles couldn't be distinguished by touch, to remove the temptation of fishing for wild tiles or specific letters. Simply painting on the letters seems to be asking for them to wear off, but maybe a thin plastic/epoxy coating or something?
Bottom Line: All in all, I can't say this is a significant improvement over the base set, unless you plan to take it places now and then or are inordinately vexed by shifted tiles during games, as there are non-trivial tradeoffs that largely offset the gains. But hey, it's still Scrabble.
Customer Review: Whadda deal I got on 11 of these great games!
Summary: 4 Stars
I've been a Scrabble buff since I was 13 years old--in 1957!!! What a great game it is, and what a wonderful version the Diamond Edition is. Amazon solved "What do I give the neighbors, the casual friends, and my crusty old brother?" in one fell swoop when they notified me of the introduction of this game, and at an incredible bargain price! I ordered eleven copies without even hesitating, and am glad I did. The recipients of the gifts are glad, too.
This is a unique design, good for travel, but what I like about it best is that it has a "pause" feature: The Scrabble Deluxe edition (with the built-in turntable, etc.) that I've been playing on for years is great, but it has a pretty big footprint. Diamond is wonderful in that my other half and I can play a partial game while dinner is cooking. When we're ready to eat, we roll the board down to the unused end of the table (yeah, the turntable is replaced in this edition with nifty little wheels!), and put our letter trays facing in on the sides. Then, we throw a towel over the whole thing--with the score pad perched right on top--and "unveil" it on the next occasion that we have a little time to play. We no longer feel that we have to set aside a big block of time for Scrabble.
Now, we're in the market for a new Scrabble dictionary. We've misplaced the antique one we've used for years, and no longer own a dictionary of any kind. Going to the computer to check challenges on Dictionary.com isn't a huge hassle, but I think that authority is perhaps more liberal than even the Scrabble dictionary!
I think any Scrabble player would be thrilled to own this set. Thanks, Amazon, for letting me know it was available, and for the great deal you gave me on it.
Jayni Mosher
Customer Review: Scrabble Diamond Edition - great for two people.
Summary: 5 Stars
Preface - I didn't buy this product from Amazon. I bought it elsewhere - used a coupon - and got it for about [...]. Still, I buy a lot of stuff on Amazon, so I thought I'd review it here.
Here's my perspective on this product. I grew up playing on a Scrabble Deluxe Edition board with raised tile indentations, light wood colored tiles, and muted colors on the board. The Deluxe Edition's board was quite large, and it could take four people a good amount of time to play a game. I have never played with a timer but totally understand why some people do. I am buying my own Scrabble board because I am moving out of my parents' house.
Having said that, I really like this Board. I like colorful things, so the bright board appeals to me. (I don't understand why the Scrabble people chose to pair such a bright board with black tiles, but hey, they work.) I wasn't bothered by the color changes in the 'premium' squares. I really like that this product can be stored vertically or horizontally, and granted its smaller size, it should be much easier to store than a Deluxe edition. The quality of the case is good. I like the built-in storage features.
This version may not be great for people who intend to always play Scrabble with more than two players. This board is smaller than other boards I've played on, and if you had three or four players, I think it'd fill up pretty quick. I'll probably usually play with one other person, so this isn't an issue. Happy Scrabble!