Scrabble references in popular culture

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This is a list of cultural references to the word game and board game Scrabble.

Scrabble used to try and find the Question to the Ultimate Answer, from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

Scrabble is referenced frequently in pop culture, most likely due to its popularity, accessibility, and universal familiarity. Due to the selection of random letters under an individual's limited control, the device is often used as a method for characters to receive supernatural or occult messages, much like a Ouija board.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

1 Television
2 Film
3 Literature
4 Music
5 Other media

[edit] Television

In Spaced, (BBC TV Series), episode "Epiphanies (Spaced)" (series 1, episode 6), Daisy and Tim substitute a game of Scrabble for sex in order to maintain the platonic nature of their relationship. Tim attempts to defend the word "Shazam" as being a word uttered by Captain Marvel, and Daisy defends "ProV" as being the thing that makes Pantene Pro V shampoo work. Some play fighting with Scrabble pieces ensues, and suddenly the word "fuck" pops up on the table. Tim and Daisy give each other a knowing glance, and the scene ends.
In Red Dwarf (BBC TV Series), episode "Bodyswap" (series 3 episode 4), Cat plays the word jozxyqk, claiming it to be a cat word meaning "the sound you get when you get your sexual organs trapped in something."
In Friends (a U.S. situation comedy), during the first season, the gang plays Scrabble. Monica tries to put down the word "tushie." Ross uses "garge" (which he claims is a nautical term), and Chandler uses Ross's argument for "garge" for a word he invented, "fligament." Later, Ross's pet monkey Marcel chokes on Scrabble tiles. Also, Chandler gives Rachel a Travel Scrabble board for her birthday.
In Will & Grace (a U.S. situation comedy), Episode 117, Jack invents the word "spramp" during a game of Scrabble and rigorously defends it against Will's challenge.
In Little Britain (BBC TV Series) the character Kenny Craig hypnotises his mother to believe that "cupboardy" is a real word so that he can use it to score points in a game of Scrabble (by adding the letter Y to the existing word "cupboard").
In The Simpsons episode "Bart the Genius," Homer plays "do" from his rack of "OXIDIZE" and Bart follows with the phony word "Kwyjibo," worth at least 113 points (2*(5+4+4+8+(1*2)+3+(1*2))+(3+~1)+(1*2+~1)+50, where ~ = 'at least' because Bart's hand blocks the two tiles that appear to be next to B and O (let us assume there are no blank tiles used); the I and O count twice because they would fall on Double Letter Score tiles), according to its placement on the board if we assume the top right corner shown is the top-right Triple Word Score. Homer challenges the word and Bart defines it as "A big, dumb, balding North American ape… with no chin," obviously referring to Homer himself. In the Mattel game "Simpsons Scrabble", kwyjibo is listed, along with other Simpsons-related words, as acceptable for use in the game. One of its Cards however, says instead that Kwyjibo defines a big, dumb, smelly Scrabble Player. Also, after Maude dies, Ned Flanders plays Scrabble with himself, walking back and forth from each players' spot, and ends up spelling "FLANSWERED" as one of Homer's dating tapes used that word.
In a Seinfeld episode Kramer suggests to Jerry's mother that she put down the word "quone". She does and Jerry challenges it. When he doesn't find it in the dictionary Kramer claims it is a medical term. "If a patient becomes difficult, you quone him."
In the final-ever episode of Frasier, there is a discussion between Frasier Crane and girlfriend Charlotte over the Scrabble-worthiness of the word quilty.
In The Critic, an episode shows Jay Sherman playing Scrabble with his boss Duke, trying to ease Duke's depression over an imminent death by a rare incurable disease. Duke puts down the phony word "kwizabuk", which Jay naturally challenges, leading Duke to phone the offices of Webster's Dictionary and pay to make it a real word that means "a really big problem". A doctor shortly after in the episode is seen using the word.
In The Vicar of Dibley (BBC TV Series), whilst playing Scrabble, Geraldine Granger asks how the Geordie exclamation, "why aye!" is spelled. After being informed it is not spelled "YI", she quickly discards the tiles in her hand.
In the King of the Hill episode "Unfortunate Son", Cotton Hill puts down the word "Anzio" in a game of Scrabble at the Arlen VFW.
In the CSI: Crime Scene Investigation episode "Bad Words," a tournament was featured in which participants played LOGOS, a word game similar to Scrabble (apparently to avoid the hassle of obtaining permission to use the actual game).
In Dilbert (TV Series), while Dilbert, Dilbert's Mom, and Dogbert are playing Scrabble, Dogbert lays down "QUIZZES", without using any blank tiles. It is later revealed that he is making his own tiles under the table with a pyrograph.
In That '70s Show, before Scrabble night starts, Red walks in on Bob washing his toupee, which had formerly been a secret. During the very awkward game, Red holds "BALDING", Kitty holds "A BAD RUG", and Bob has "SHOOT ME". Midge passes even though she has "ZYGOTES". Later on Red puts down "CUEBALL" and apologizes to Bob.

In The Sopranos episode "Pine Barrens," Meadow Soprano and Jackie Aprile Jr. play a game of Scrabble in Meadow's dorm room. The none-too-bright Jackie objects to Meadow's playing the word "oblique," thinking it a Spanish word and pronouncing it "ob-LEE-kay."

[edit] Film

In Heartbreakers (from a deleted scene), Sigourney Weaver and Gene Hackman are seen playing a game of Scrabble.
In Sneakers (written by Phil Alden Robinson, Walter Parkes, and Lawrence Lasker), the main character Martin Bishop, played by Robert Redford, and Liz, played by Mary McDonnell, use Scrabble tiles to create anagrams from "Setec Astronomy", eventually coming across "Too Many Secrets", which refers to the hidden function of the black box acquired from a mathematical genius' laboratory.
In the film Two Hands (Gregor Jordan), the character Pando, played by Bryan Brown plays the word "exquisite" down the right-hand side of the board, showing he is more than just your average gangster.
In Rosemary's Baby (Roman Polanski), the main character Rosemary Woodhouse uses Scrabble tiles to create anagrams in an attempt to find a clue to her circumstances. After fruitlessly looking for anagram of a book title, "All Of Them Witches," she sees the name "Steven Marcato" underlined in it, and rearranges the tiles to discover it is an anagram of "Roman Castevet," her mysterious neighbor.
In King Ralph, the main character who is played by John Goodman is seen playing Scrabble on a date in Buckingham Palace.
In Roger & Me, Michael Moore visits a Scrabble convention, where a player talks about a word she used that was not really a word.
Scrabble and the tournament scene revolving around it are the subject of the documentary Word Wars. This film tracks the rise to top contending status of G.I. Joel, as well as the paths of former champ Joe Edley, black militant Marlon Hill, and all-around obsessive competitor Matt Graham.
In The Shaggy Dog, Dave Douglas, who at that point was a dog, used Scrabble pieces to spell "I AM DAD", to tell the kids that he was their father.
In Foul Play (1985), Goldie Hawn's character Gloria Mundy attempts to get the attention of two older women playing Scrabble to help her escape from her kidnappers. One woman ads UCK to a dangling F. Her opponent ads ER to the UCK. The first woman tries to trump the addition by adding the prefix MUTHER. The second woman challenges that the word is spelled with a hyphen.
In Black Hawk Down, Helicopter pilots Michael Durant and Cliff Wolcott argue over the Scrabble-worthiness of the word Limo.
In Comedians of Comedy, Zach Galifianakis explains that the only suitable time to yell out, "I have diarrhea!", is when one is playing Scrabble, because " .. it's worth a shit load of points."
In The Wedding Planner, Maria Fiore's father usually plays Scrabble with others in a game room.

[edit] Literature

In The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams), the main character, Arthur Dent, while stranded on a planet which turns out to be pre-historic earth, creates a primitive set of Scrabble tiles, though he has no viable opponents with whom to play. He later attempts to use these tiles as a method of divining the Ultimate Question to The Answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything by taking letters randomly from the bag and placing them on the board to form the words - 'what do you get if you multiply six by nine?' As the answer is already known to be 42, this prompts Arthur to remark - 'I always said there was something fundamentally wrong with the universe.' Note that in a regulation Scrabble set, this sentence would be impossible to create, as it contains 4 Y's, 2 more than the set contains. (Blanks could be used, however.)
In The Handmaid's Tale (Margaret Atwood), Scrabble is used as a pretext for the commander to have non-sexual interactions with the main character, Offred, though these interactions are forbidden by the laws and customs of their dystopian society.
In the novel Watchers, a genetically enhanced dog learns to communicate with Scrabble tiles.
The Charles Bukowski poem "pulled down shade" ends in the lines "this fucking / Scotch is / great. / let's play / Scrabble".
In the novel Ada by Vladimir Nabokov, the title character scores 383 points on a single turn. She plays a 37 point word across two triple word scores, to which is added a 50 point bonus for playing all of her tiles.
In jPod, a character hands out a list of 3-letter words acceptable in Scrabble -- with a phony inserted. The prize for the first to find it is a Toblerone.
In the Terry Pratchett Discworld novel Jingo, four characters play a game very similar to Scrabble called "Make Words With Letters That Have All Been Mixed Up Game" while enduring a lengthy submarine voyage.

[edit] Music

In the song Seven Days from the album Ten Summoner's Tales, Sting sings, "I.Q. is no problem here; we won't be playing Scrabble for her hand, I fear."
In the song Conventioneers from the album Maroon by Barenaked Ladies, the protagonist goes "Right up to your room for a drink and travel Scrabble."
In the song Hiccups from the album Hello Stranger, Darren Hanlon sings, "Someday, without trying you'll find something that's rare; like an eight letter word on a triple word square."
In the song Your Disco Needs You from the album Light Years, Kylie Minogue sings, "Desperately seeking someone willing to travel; You’re lost in conversation and useless at Scrabble."
In the song Mince Meat from the album Dangerdoom: the Mouse and the Mask, MF DOOM raps, "...And used slang in Scrabble/Rhymed with a Northern drawl, twang and babble."

[edit] Other media

The classic Canadian NFB animated short The Big Snit includes a game of Scrabble where one unlucky player gets a rack of seven Es (EEEEEEE).
In the online webcomic The Order of the Stick, a Mind Flayer plays the word "zyqxuwy" in a game against Elan, claiming it to be "a type of fish". Much to Elan's dismay, the Flayer also played it on a triple-word score.
In Calvin and Hobbes, Calvin scores 957 points for playing ZQFMGB on a double-word score. When Hobbes challenges him, Calvin claims that ZQFMGB is a worm found in New Guinea.
In the December 14th, 1986 strip of Calvin and Hobbes, Hobbes scores 150 points for playing ZYGOMORPHIC on a triple-word score. He follows that by playing NUCLEOPLASM for 40 points during his next turn.
Scrabble appears in various online animations. One of the most well known is CRAZIEST, a short, somewhat satirical movie about obsession with Scrabble.