Scrabble® Trickster from Mattel

To begin with Scrabble® Trickster looks very similar to the orignial Scrabble® game – you begin with seven tiles and combine them to make words that link into each other on the board. But now in stead of hoping for a triple word score you'll be praying you play across on a trick square. For here is your chance to break the rules!

Play across a trick square and you can change the course of the game by stealing your opponent's last score, exchanging any number of tiles from the bag plus make a word  or just swapping racks with another player if he or she is looking too smug. The only problem is your opponents can equally cheat on you!

This is a great family board game – recommended for children from age ten – and because the game can change so rapidly there's little chance of less able word experts getting bored. There are 22 trick cards to ensure that no one player leads the field and for once you may be able to use a proper noun!

It's enough to make the designer of the Scrabble, Alfred Mosher Butts, turn in his grave!

Mattel Scrabble Trickster is available from Amazon.