More Woke stuff: Scrabble being dumbed down

Not sure if I'd classify this as "woke". It's a company trying to market a rejig of a game to sell more. 😂

Not sure how this qualifies as "Woke". Has the meaning of that word changed that much since I first heard it? Anyway:

"The much-loved board game will now be printed with a simpler version on the back of the original board"

So nothing is actually being "dumbed down"? They are adding a completely new game to the other side of the board so you are getting two games in one. The Original Game as it always has been, and a new "Co-Op" style game?

So rather than "dumbing down" they are simply adding a separate extra game to the box?

"The new game has been designed for those aged eight and over as it is set to be a family-friendly game that can be shorter than the original head scratcher."

Also does not sound like "Dumbing Down" here so much as a new mode aimed at younger players to attract them into the game in the hope they will progress to using the original later on. I assume the long existing "Scrabble Junior" also had the same intent. Just like Catan Junior is a good gateway to Catan. And so on.

Also CO-OP games are great. I am all for adding CO-OP games to existing competitive games. In our house we quite like Pandemic and Castle Panic - and all the add ons. CO-OP games are a good market and it is good to see Scrabble entering it.

There was a junior scrabble set in our house 25 years ago. I think it was my Dads from when he was in primary school, so its not new.

Man doesn't understand capitalism. Blames wokism. More at 11.

This thread should be pinned to the home page as a monument to how stupid all this anti "woke" conspiracy stuff has gotten.

Woke once used to mean being aware of social and racial injustices. Then it slowly became about being angry at women & black people simply existing. Nowadays it just means "thing I don't like" by pea-brained morons.

A phrase a Boards User once used stuck with me. "A word that comes to mean everything - ends up meaning nothing" was essentially the phrase. Some useful words or phrases have been lost to this in the past. My feeling is the more useful a word originally was the more potential it has to fall into this trap.

From "woke" to "racist" to "nazi" to "toxic masculinity" to "mindfulness" to "holistic" - words that had genuine meanings that may even have been useful at the time - are now so diluted as to mean almost nothing but are used for almost everything.

But that aside - I am genuinely struggling how to see this game as being "dumbed down" when the game has not been edited or changed in any way. That's like saying by leaving something on the ground you are actually levitating it. It's nonsense. Unless I am misreading the articles (possible I admit) all they are doing is shipping a second game alongside the unedited original.

Sometimes they ship Draughts pieces in the same box as a chess set. Is that two games for the price of 1? Or are they also magically "dumbing down" chess by the insidious move of not actually changing chess in any way whatsoever? :)

Sounds to me like it's not the board games that need dumbing down but the articles written about those board games maybe. Because some on this thread (me?) clearly read them and understood nothing!

Show me on the teddy where woke touched you.

Dumbing down is the more appropriate reaction. Smacks very much of the thinking of 'a medal for every kid in the class/ race'. You can all be winners, just buy our game.

The flippable board is a smart move. Don't have the stigma of buying the "thicko" board.

Could equally get people playing who never have and eventually they might be comfortable playing the standard one... Either way, I'm not sure what the issue is.

Depends on what words are being banned, I guess. If any.

At a guess, I'd say they're just trying to tap into the market that is the newest generation.

And better they play scrabble in whatever form than staring at braindead short videos on TikTok.

Out raged at the use of the word inclusive, you are trying to take this parody post to far.

The biggest issue with scrabble is the cheap ass boards that you get nowadays, tiles sliding across with any movement. I have a classic board that holds pieces in place and can twirl around while doing it.

Its either that board or no scrabble at all in my book

People who think this is "woke" still aren't smart enough to play this easier version. They probably think Playdoh is the woke dumbed-down version of Cluedo.

Thread started out well, but has been dumbed down since.

Perhaps I'm misremembering this - but wsan't there already a "scrabble-lite" version on the opposite side of the scrabble board?

So it eventually reached peak snowlfake then?

Bleeding heart nonsense led to the thread being put out of its misery. Participation trophies were handed out first though.

https://apnews.com/general-news-national-national-63d0afc65fdc4a878527e49c161426c3

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Authorities say an inmate at a Wisconsin jail locked a deputy in a cell and made threats with a knife-like weapon he had apparently whittled from a Scrabble game letter tray.

That thread would make an interesting psychological study into how peoples brains rot.

I'm centre left. But there's stuff to the left and right of me that I would consider "too far". And pretty much everyone is like that. We all see stuff, on both sides of the political spectrum, that we think has gone too far.

Unfortunately there's some people who take absolute drivel to extremes. And this thread is a perfect example.