Butts created a game during the Depression where lettered tiles were assigned points on a crossword puzzle-style grid. Butts came up with names for the game like CrissCross Words and Lexiko before licensing the idea to James Brunot, who called it Scrabble. Sales were fairly abysmal at first...
Sitting in his usual spot in the corner is my grandfather. He looks up for a quick “hello” before heading back down to the crossword puzzle in front of him. “So, how is this one coming along?” I’ll ask. With a failed laugh, he’ll slide the crossword toward me. Carefully ...