Stumbling-Blocks

Stumbling-Blocks is one of the first word board games, published by Hildesheimer & Faulkner, founded in 1881 and renamed in the 1890s.

It has a box of about 150 letter tiles, and a board on which they are played. The board is an 8x8 grid, every other square of which is marked with spot; the rules say you can play draoughts (checkers) on the board. It also has thicker borders around the central 6x6 and 4x4 squares, and the letters of the alphabet (except 'I') arranged in a 5x5 square. It has rules for several games.

I. Stumbling-Blocks. 2-6 players decide on the size of the board being used, and draws an equal number of tiles, enough to barely fill the board. (For example, if 5 are playing with the full 8x8=64 squares, they each draw 13 tiles. Tiles are all kept face up so all players can see them. A turn consists of placing one of your unused tiles on an empty square, and scoring for any words completed with that letter. Words must be spelled in an uninterrupted straight line in any orthogonal or diagonal direction. (The rules point out that players may want to play to block another's good score rather than to make a word, which is useful since all the tiles to be played are visible.) A word scores one point per letter. The winner is either the one with the highest score when the board is filled, or the first to reach a pre-arranged total, e.g. 30 points.

II. Letter Square. Same as Stumbling-Blocks, except that tiles are all placed face down, and players draw one randomly on their turn.

III. Spot and Blank. Same as Stumbling-Blocks, except there are only 2 players, with one playing on the spotted squares, and the other on the blank squares -- which are arranged like black and red squares on a checkerboard.

IV. Alphabets. A game for 3-6 children. Each takes an equal number of tiles, which are kept face-down. On their turn a player reveals one of their face-down tiles, and places it on the board space labeled with that letter if it is empty. If it is not empty, they keep the tile, face up. There is no 'I' space, so I's are all left face up on the table when revealed. When all the letter tiles are filled, the player with the fewest face-up tiles wins.