Scrabble celebrates easing restrictions in the UK with a light show

LONDON (Reuters) – Some of Britain’s favorite words were displayed on buildings across London to celebrate the easing of restrictions and National Scrabble Day on Tuesday.

Words such as “freedom,” “hope,” “family,” and “beer” were chosen to represent the state of mind of the nation and are displayed in game chip style in pub and department stores and near famous places such as Harrods Department Store and the Shard Skyscraper.

“Scrabble is displaying the nation’s favorite words to coincide with the lifting of restrictions in the UK and National Scrabble Day,” company spokeswoman Amaryllis Whitty said.

Scrabble commissioned a survey to find words that better summarize people’s feelings as restrictions began to ease on Monday.

Alfred Mosher Potts, an unemployed architect, invented the game that would eventually be called Scrabble in New York during the Depression. National Scrabble Day is celebrated on his birthday.

A redesigned version of the game, which is played in more than 120 countries in 33 languages, is being sold with the blue board instead of the green one.

Scrabble said the quarantine boosted sales of the game in Britain by 51.2 percent in 2020.

(Written by Giles El Jud, and edited in Spanish by Lucila Segal)