Word game

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This editable Main Article is under development and subject to a disclaimer.

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A word game is a game that uses words, letters, sentences or other parts of a language. They are often board games, but are not necessarily; for example, Scrabble Slam does not use a board. Wordplay is often classified with word games.

## History[edit]

One of the first known instances of wordplay is the so-called Sator Square. This was found in an inscription in Herculaneum. It contains five words, each of five letters:

S  | A  | T  | O  | R

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A  | R  | E  | P  | O
T  | E  | N  | E  | T
O  | P  | E  | R  | A
R  | O  | T  | A  | S

The words together form a 25-letter palindrome that can be read vertically or horizontally.[1][2] The Latin means: "Arepo the Sower holds the wheels, his works".

Anagrams were popular in Roman times and the Middle Ages and are still popular today. Crosswords were invented in 1913[3] and Scrabble in the 1930s ('31 or '38 - the precise date varies depending on the source).[4] Many other word games have become popular more recently, such as Boggle and Scrabble Slam - and of course, nowadays these all have online counterparts.

## Examples[edit]

* Crosswords
* Boggle
* Scrabble
* Anagrams
* Palindromes

## References[edit]

1. ↑ Walter O. Moeller: The Mithraic Origin and Meanings of the ROTAS-SATOR Square (Leiden: Brill, 1973).
2. ↑ It is believed it may have been written by Christians as the word PATERNOSTER is contained within. Plexoft.
3. ↑ Crossword Tools
4. ↑ Scrabble history