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Scots Gaelic version of Scrabble released after Isle of Lewis campaign
Latest edition of the board game which is available in 29 languages will be in 1,500-year-old dialect spoken by 60,000 people
An official edition of Scrabble has been created in Gaelic after members of a small community centre on the remote Isle of Lewis lobbied for a version in the language.
The new edition, in Scots Gaelic, was designed by Dr Teàrlach Wilson, the founder of An Taigh Cèilidh, a cultural centre and community café in Stornoway. About 60,000 people now speak the language, which originated around 1,500 years ago.
It will make its debut at the Gaelic Scrabble World Championships in Stornoway next month.
“I can’t wait to play,” said Dr Wilson, “but if I win, people will think it’s rigged and, if I lose, people will question whether I should have my PhD in Gaelic.”
Invented in 1938, Scrabble has endured for 85 years and is sold in more than 120 countries.
With the addition of a Scots Gaelic version, produced in collaboration with Tinderbox Games, a London-based manufacturer and distributor of specialist Scrabble editions, the game is available in 29 languages. A Welsh edition is known as Scrabble yn Gymraeg and an Irish edition is known as Scrabble in Gaeilge.
Grave accent O scores highest
Unlike the English alphabet, which contains 26 letters, the ancient tongue of Scotland dispenses with J, K, Q, V, W, X, Y and Z. The Gaelic language uses grave accents on five letters which means players can use 23 letters for the new Scrabble edition. The number of letters reflect the frequency of use in Gaelic and the letter scores match how difficult it is to use the letters to spell a Gaelic word.
It means players tackling the Gaelic version will have fewer high-scoring tiles at their disposal. In the English version, Q and Z are the highest value tiles, worth 10 points each. In the Gaelic edition, the highest scoring letter is an O with a grave accent that is worth eight points.
“There are only a handful of words in Gaelic that use that letter,” added Dr Wilson. “We have done lots of test games and they show it is just as competitive as the English version among players.”
Academic research has shown that Scrabble is an effective way to improve literacy, and it is thought that specialist versions can help to popularise the revitalisation of minority and indigenous languages.
According to the 2021 Scottish Social Attitudes survey, the proportion of Scots who can speak some Gaelic doubled in the previous decade from 15 per cent in 2012 to 30 per cent.
More than half of those surveyed (55 per cent) said children in Scotland between the age of five and 15 should be taught Gaelic as a school subject for between one and two hours a week.
Mr Jim Harrison, from Tinderbox Games, which helped bring the Gaelic version to fruition, said: “It’s great to see this latest version of Scrabble joining our successful Welsh and Irish editions, thanks to a lot of hard work over the last couple of years from the team at An Taigh Cèilidh. I hope everyone enjoys playing it as much as we enjoyed making it.”
The Gaelic Scrabble set is available for sale on An Taigh Cèilidh’s website until Dec 1 at a discounted price of £36.