Scrabble: Junior Edition

There are only about ten words that kids can work to spell, and these are a predictably condescending mix of "easy words" like WATER and GOAT, along with "fun words" like ARCADE, CANDY and TELEVISION. If you play this game a lot, you're stuck spelling the same words over and over, so there's little learning value or reinforcement of new vocabulary.

The other side of the board can be used for a more normal Scrabble experience, but I find my 5-year-old, though she's reading, is a little young for that. My only other complaint is that all the tiles and "points" chips this game uses are thick cardboard, which means that if they sneak into the washing machine, they're toast (I know this from tragic personal experience).

All in all, this game isn't an outright loss, but I was expecting better from a big games company.

Recommended Ages: 4 to 6 years old ONLY (my 6-year old, an avid reader, is bored to tears with this game)

Playability on Shabbat: YES!!! (no batteries, electronics or writing)


A good game for beginning readers   August 7, 2003
Y. Leventhal (Oak Hill, VA United States)
94 out of 94 found this review helpful

I played this game with three kids (5, 6, and 7 )for a week and we all loved it. Some games do not translate well into junior version, but this one is well done. The board has two sides. One side, the easier side, has pre-printed words. Players try to put the letters they have picked onto the board following some very simple and straight-forward rules. There are strategies invovled (such as trying to be the one to put the last letter into a word--one gets a point for completing a word). This part is best for kids 5 to 7 or 8.

The other side of the board is similar to the regular Scrabble board (without the doubling and tripling parts). One can form words without the constraint of pre-printed words. A kid who reads and writes well (7 or 8 year olds, for example), can do well with it.

I like this game because it gives kids a taste of the Scrabble game without making them work unnecessarily too long and too hard at it. (I tried using the standard board with kids. It worked for only a little while.)

All in all, a good game to have, even with the cardboard lettering.


Kind of deficient   December 17, 2003
JK
48 out of 50 found this review helpful

I was excited at the prospect of a scrabble game I could play with the little children I babysit for. Unfortunately, this game relied neither on the luck that evens the playing field nor a skill a young child could pick up quickly enough to start winning enough. So unless I play dumb, I wind up winning each time. Also, I found the layout of the game to be especially poor for two reasons. First, as the featured reviewer noted, the cartoony pictures obscure the first letters of words. Second, the choice of words is so poor, it slows down the spelling process, especially at the beginning, when the variety of options is very limited. It seems the creators of the game just played a few rounds of Scrabble (TM) and said "Hey, this one looks good for kids" and didn't do any playtesting. So in conclusion, rather than looking at an educational game designed for children, what we have is a recognizable brand name that has been adapted to take advantage of a heretofore unregocnized market share. In other words, just trying to make a quick few bucks.


Not quite what I thought...   April 29, 2002
32 out of 33 found this review helpful

For the 4-6 year old still learning letters and basic spelling, this game is OK. For the older child, it gets boring fast. I try to get the older child (7) to work at strategy for playing pieces, to set himself up to finish a word & to prevent someone else from getting a word. The easy side of the board is very decorated, & it's hard to see some of the letters, so it takes careful attention to know where letters can be put. Also, there are only enough letters provided with the game to play the easy side, no extras, so if you lose any, you can't play the game. And it means that when there are no more letters in the pile, you can figure out at that point who is going to win, without finishing, because all the letters have a spot on the board. It also limits your options for the advanced side -- for example, there's only 1 'q' tile. I raided a regular scrabble game for pieces, & found those pieces easier for the kids to handle, too. Using easy, finished, crossword puzzles to map out a game on the advanced side gives the kids some easy games other than the one on the easy side of the board -- but it does require additional tiles & a good bit of work on my part!


Fine for those not quite reading well yet   December 28, 2002
32 out of 35 found this review helpful

My son outgrew this game before 1st grade because to my delight, he is a fantastic speller and reader beyond his grade level. Actually I believe with some forethought on my part, I could have not bothered to buy this version.

The traditional scrabble is also more durable and the letters don't get bent up as these cardboard ones in the Junior version do.

My advice...jump right to the traditional scrabble. Fill in some of the squares on that board with words so it's the same premise as this Junior version. That way the game is also different every time for the child. You won't waste your money on a scrabble set that you'll use for a short time that isn't nearly as durable.

He's in 1st grade now and he got the traditional Scrabble and plays it well enough to hold his own comfortably while playing others. We don't focus so much on score, just on him coming up with the words in play.