It Really Is Scrabulous

I never liked Scrabble, but I could never really pin-point why. I love words and books and other word games, so Scrabble should have been a good match for me. Yet, it was never a game I would choose to play.

Now, I am addicted to Scrabble on Facebook.com, called "Scrabulous." And is it ever. I can't get enough. So, why now? Why at this time; why in this place?

The truth comes forth. It was not the Scrabble I didn't like as a child. It was those pesky tiles. A clumsy girl with below-average motor skills but also a perfectionist committed to order- I wanted the letters to be lined up perfectly in the little boxes; everything straight and in order. Yet, my awkwardness somehow always caused the tiles to be off-kilter and never quite right.

Computerized Scrabble, though, is, in no uncertain terms, Scrabulous. Point and click and make words. No muss, no fuss. No sideways tiles or an accidental kick of the board causing the whole game to go asunder. The tiles are in a perfectly straight line, each one fitting delicately into the custom-sized box on the board it was made for.

I am a Scrabble convert. Racking up points making words with the computerized tiles gives me the same satisfaction as checking items of a list or filling in a matrix. Which is a lot.