Italian Scrabble

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This is the Spear's "Edizione Italiana" for sale in Italy:


Click on the image above for a better quality image (60K)
"Clementoni vi offre il gioco original e piu venduto nel mondo: Scrabble"
(Clementoni is an Italian games manufacturer)

ITALIAN (EDIZIONE ITALANA)

Letter	Distribution	Face value

A	13	1
B	3	5
C	4	4
D	3	5
E	13	1
F	2	8
G	3	5
H	2	8
I	13	1
L	5	3
M	5	3
N	6	2
O	13	1
P	3	5
Q	1	10
R	6	2
S	6	2
T	6	2
U	5	3
V	4	4
Z	2	8
BLANK	2	0   (blank is called "Jolly" in Italian.  c.f. "Joker")

Total	120	

Compare the above (taken from an actual board) with the values in the spreadsheet from Spear's:

Letter	Distribution	Face value

A	14	1
B	3	5
C	6	2
D	3	5
E	11	1
F	3	5
G	2	8
H	2	8
I	12	1
L	5	3
M	5	3
N	5	3
O	15	1
P	3	5
Q	1	10
R	6	2
S	6	2
T	6	2
U	5	3
V	3	5
Z	2	8
BLANK	2	0  (This page says 7!)

Total	120	

The figures above are confirmed here and here.

This discrepancy is puzzling because if it is a change in the layout from Spear's, it is not in keeping with the changes to other languages with large numbers of tiles, which had them reduced to around 100.

I wonder if perhaps as well as either or both of the Italian layouts above, Spear's has also released a new Scrabble layout for Italian with fewer than 120 tiles?

I have recently discovered that there are two Scrabble games in Italy - Scrabble, by Mattel (aka Spear's Games), and Scarabeo (also deluxe), by Editrice Giochi. Read about them both here in Italian. It appears that exactly the same thing has happened in Italy as happened in Sweden with Alfapet. Once the franchise returned to Mattel, Editrice Giochi continued to market a Scrabble-like game under the name they originally used, Scarabeo. The later game, however, was on a 17x17 board and had 130 tiles.

This distribution is for Scarabeo:

Letter	Distribution	Face value

A	12	1
B	4	4
C	7	1
D	4	4
E	12	1
F	4	4
G	4	4
H	2	8
I	12	1
L	6	2
M	6	2
N	6	2
O	12	1
P	4	3
Q	2	10
R	7	1
S	7	1
T	7	1
U	4	4
V	4	4
Z	2	8
BLANK	2	0  (This page says 15!)

Total	???

Michele Plebani on Scrabble Italia sent this updated information:

The very first editor of Scrabble in Italy was Clementoni, importing a Spear's "italian edition", but with no success at all (Scarabeo was stronger). I have a copy of it in my collection (I found a copy in France a couple of years ago). In the 80s Scrabble was re-introduced in Italy with the current values.

The points of the blanks (7 in Scrabble, 15 in Scarabeo) are the penalties if you have them when the game ends.

Links: Official list of valid 2- and 3-letter words
The link above, to Michele's site, implies that Zingarelli 2000 (presumably now 2003, available at all good bookshops everywhere :-) ) is the dictionary used for adjudication in Italy. Quite possible, and I have never heard of any other dictionary with official status for Scrabble.
"Scrabbolo" for the Macintosh
Also "Scrabble Assistant" for both Mac and PC.
"Crosswords" for the Palm Pilot (dictionary)
Scarabeo on your phone (SMS)
Italian word games
Italian Scrabble discussion group
Enilab word search software
Verbatron anagram generator
Anagram Dictionary (on paper)
Appears to use Zingarelli 2000 as its word list.

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Return to Letter by Letter games, foreign Scrabble section.

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Scrabble is a trademark of Hasbro Inc in the US (formerly Selchow and Righter) and Mattel (formerly J.W. Spears) elsewhere.