Scrabble is one of the most iconic games of the last few generations, combining a player's knowledge of words with the strategic placement of high-scoring bonus tiles to get the most points.
Originally a board game created in 1938, Scrabble has gone on to become one of the most popular video and mobile games in history.
If you're looking to kill some time or compete against friends in Scrabble, you might be surprised to find out that you can play the game entirely for free on several different platforms, including the PC, iPad, iPhone, and Android devices.
PC/Mac
The official Hasbro version of Scrabble is available from popular game developer PopCap who has created a comprehensive, yet simple, version of the game on the personal computer. You play the game against the computer opponent, or play against friends in "Hot Seat" mode on the same computer. There's no online mode available on this one.
Atari has also made an official version of Scrabble for the PC and Mac that sells for $18 on Amazon, and Mattel has also launched a version online for Facebook.
Mobile platforms
Electronic Arts has cornered the market on Scrabble games as it currently offers versions for the iPad, Android, iPhone, Kindle, and Facebook. These games are playable for free with ads, or you can pay a small premium to remove ads.
According to the official game description, you can connect these games to Facebook or your EA Origin account for cross-platform play with friends all over the world. The series of games even has a "teacher" feature that can train you to become a Scrabble master.
In addition to the officially licensed Scrabble game products, there are also very popular imitations that have found a successful niche in themselves.
Words With Friends is one such example that has made a name for itself on its own. In the game, you play crossword-style word games with friends in almost the exact same way as Scrabble is played. Words with Friends is currently available to play cross-platform with users on Android, iOS, Windows Phone, Facebook, Kindle, and Nook. There's even a chat feature where you can talk with your friends within the game while playing against them.
Other games similar to Scrabble include Word Colors, Rex Verbi, Boggle, Tanglet, Wordfeud, Bookworm, Word Social, and hundreds more. When Zynga's Words with Friends became so popular around 2011/2012, the Scrabble imitations really took off, especially for mobile and social platforms.
Scrabble has become such a popular name in gaming that it has branched off into several variations in hundreds of languages around the world. A popular Scrabble TV game show was also developed in 1987, with Scrabble Showdown debuting in 2011.
