Scrabble Diamond Anniversary Edition

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Product Description

Amazon.com Review

Sixty has never looked so good! This Diamond Anniversary Edition Scrabble features sleek black and silver tiles, a rotating board splashed with color, curved letter racks of smoky red plastic, and much more. With two built-in side trays for storing game pieces and a raised grid that keeps your letters in place, this anniversary edition of Scrabble will please all players ages eight and above.

Expert Tips and Fascinating History
If you've never played Scrabble before, the Gameplay Guide explains the rules in a clear, easy-to-read way. It also has lots of tips to sharpen your game (a list of "q-without-u" words, for example). The sturdy plastic board needs no assembly and the storage trays cleverly built into the bottom of the board are easy to find, especially with help from the Gameplay Guide. The game also comes with a Gameplay Guide that offers many helpful hints, as well as interesting historical tidbits (For example, did you know the game used to be called "Criss Cross Words?")

A Sleek New Look for Scrabble
The black-and-silver tiles, the smoky red racks, and the velvety tile pouch give this Scrabble set a touch of class. The curvature of the racks help you to see your letters more easily than you could on the old, straight racks. During gameplay, the raised grid will help keep your tiles firmly in place, even when the board spins towards another player. The pouch helps keep all the letters and racks together during play. Put them in the storage trays when you're done, fold the board back up -- and voila -- you have a carrying case that makes this deluxe Scrabble game easy to take with you.

Fun and Functional
We really liked the look of this colorful board, with its cheerful blue, green, red, and orange "premium" squares. We also appreciated the way the set folds up into a carrying case, complete with the storage trays and handle. It's not advertised as a travel set, but you can use it that way. You just have to be careful to hold the set closed when transporting it, since it doesn't snap shut. Also, the storage trays can get a little full when you try to put all the letters and racks in one tray, so make sure you tuck everything neatly into the tray so it will close.

Millions of people around the world love the game of Scrabble, and we're sure they'll be just as happy as we are to see this new, improved edition with features that make it both more fun and more functional!

What's in the Box
Scrabble board with two built-in storage trays, 100 letter tiles, tile pouch, four racks, and gameplay guide.

Customer Reviews

237 of 238 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A great new version, but not quite perfect, September 27, 2008

By	D. Erbe (Torrance, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Durability:5.0 out of 5 stars Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars Educational:5.0 out of 5 stars

This review is from: Scrabble Diamond Anniversary Edition (Toy)

I'm a longtime Scrabble fan, and a member of the National Scrabble Association, and I've played at clubs and in a couple of tournaments. I'm a bit of a Scrabble collector, and I am kind of obsessed with finding the perfect Scrabble board! This is a really good board for everyday play or for taking with you to play at a friend's house. It's a very elegant design, with many improvements over previous versions, and I like it a lot. But still, it is not quite perfect.

Let's start with the good points:
It folds in half, so it takes much less storage space than previous versions, and there's no cardboard box to get ruined. And the fold is on one of the grid lines, not right through the center of the center column, so it doesn't hurt the aesthetic. The closure is a hidden magnet, which is pretty sleek. And there's even a handle for easy carrying. All the tiles and racks fit into the two slide out trays, so you don't have to worry about pieces falling out when you open the board. There's no clear plastic grid covering the board like the 50th anniversary set and other previous editions, which is great, because I always had a problem with glare on those versions. But there's still a raised grid to keep the letters in place. The entire board rotates on wheels on the bottom of the board, and the wheels are wisely aligned to force it to rotate about a fixed point, instead of rolling all over the table.

I only have a few complaints that prevent me from giving it 5 stars:
1.) They changed the color scheme of the board! They switched the double word and triple word colors, and the triple letter is now lime green instead of dark blue. I guess it doesn't matter that much, but I don't like them messing with tradition in this case, especially on an Anniversary edition board. It just doesn't feel like an official Scrabble board if the colors aren't right. In fact, I probably wouldn't use this board at a club or tournament, just because the color scheme makes it look more like a kid's toy than a serious adult game. I sure hope they go back to the traditional colors on future editions.
2.) The racks are curved - I'm not sure if this is good or bad yet, but I don't really see the advantage to it, and I think it will take some getting used to. The tiles still seem to slide ok on the rack.
3.) The instruction book is just barely too wide to fit in the drawers without bending. Of course I'll never need to use the instruction book, but it seems likely to get ruined this way, and it would be nice to keep everything in good shape. I don't see why they couldn't have made it 1/4" narrower so it fits neatly in the drawer.
4.) Even with the curved edges, the board will still hit your rack when it rotates if you're not careful (but it doesn't knock your letters off your rack, which is good). A completely circular board would be ideal.
5.) The list of 2-letter words in the instruction book is not up to date with the 4th edition word list (QI and ZA are missing), even though it was printed in 2008! Again, experienced players will never look at the instruction book, but that's not good for new players, and it's kind of a suprising oversight.

Most of these complaints are pretty minor. Overall, I'm very pleased with this board, and it seems to me they are one step closer to designing the perfect board!

79 of 87 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars 60TH YEAR ANNIVERSARY EDITION ... I'm Disappointed, September 4, 2008

By	Cynthia J. Salim "LOVE 2 LEARN" (Hawaii) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Durability:5.0 out of 5 stars Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars Educational:5.0 out of 5 stars

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This review is from: Scrabble Diamond Anniversary Edition (Toy)

I love SCRABBLE but I am disappointed with the DIAMOND ANNIVERSARY (60 year) Edition of the game. Perhaps I expected too much based on the wonderful 50 Year Edition of SCRABBLE. I love the 50 year edition and play it often so I jumped at the chance to add yet another SCRABBLE game to my collection. The manufacturer did have an innovative board design which makes the game more portable. The board folds in half to become a hard plastic case with built in handles. Unfortunately, the tile racks are cheap, there is no timer and the colors on the board aren't attractive. I doubt that I'll play with this version of the game unless I am traveling.

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Rugged, portable, self-contained word-fun, September 8, 2008

By	M. Greene (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Durability:5.0 out of 5 stars Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars Educational:5.0 out of 5 stars

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This review is from: Scrabble Diamond Anniversary Edition (Toy)

This is a great edition of the classic Scrabble game. I really liked the design of the molded plastic case which opened up to reveal a raised-grid to keep your tiles in place. The unit is rugged and sturdy and would travel quite well thanks to the built-in handle and all-in-one construction. The bottom of the case has wheels to allow for easy pivoting from player-to-player and has two slide-out drawers that hold all of the game pieces. Speaking of game pieces, this inludes snazzy black wooden tiles with silver lettering, a soft velvety bag to hold them in and futuristic rounded tile-stands in clear red plastic (as opposed to the wooden ones of days of yore). The design of the actual playfield is less striking than previous versions as this one seems "candy-coated", but is still nice enough.

Snap Circuits SC-300

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Product Description

Amazon.com Review

Electronic Snap Circuits by Elenco is an award-winning toy for budding engineers eight years old and above. The SC-300 model includes over 60 parts for creating more than 300 exciting projects. With lights, sounds, motors, and more, you'll not only enjoy creating beeping games, but also learn about basic electronics as well!

Making a simple flying UFO took only a few minutes. View larger.

Create your own complex inventions using parts such as the fan motor, alarm speaker, and over 60 other pieces. View larger.

What We Think Fun Factor: Durability: (what this means) The Good: Makes learning about electronics fun. The Bad: Physics principles can be difficult to understand. In a Nutshell: Interactive, hands-on way of playing with electronics that is fun and educational. At a Glance Ages: 8 and older Requires: 4 AA batteries

Real Electronic Parts
Electronic Snap Circuits includes real circuit components just like the circuit boards inside radios, televisions, computers, and other electronic devices. This set makes it easy for anyone to create simple electronic circuits and devices. To operate, you simply snap the electronic elements onto a plastic grid, and then connect them together with wire pieces that snap easily into place.

The SC-300 lets you build electronic devices such as a whistle chip, speaker, alarm circuit, LED, lamp socket, fan motor, and a speaker. Additional pieces can be purchased separately, or in different models, and they can all be used together to create larger and more elaborate projects.

Making Electronics Fun and Easy
The included instruction manual offers 305 projects ranging from a simple light switch to a noise-activated burglar alarm. We found the color-coded instruction manual clear and easy to understand, and we had no problems creating any of the projects we tried. The projects are organized by levels of difficulty, and each project teaches an objective such as "To show how electricity can only pass in one direction through an LED."

We definitely experienced a sense of satisfaction as we completed each project, and we definitely learned about electronics concepts. The manufacturer recommends the set for ages 8-108; younger engineers should be able to easily follow the diagrams for each project, but will probably require their parents to help explain how everything works. So a word of warning to parents: Brush up on your high school physics! Although the instruction offers some good information, we found that we still needed to brush up on the physics we learned years ago so we could understand concepts such as the difference between a circuit in parallel and in series.

Unique Learning Experience
Creating a flying UFO from "scratch" with rudimentary electronic pieces was highly satisfying to us, and we think Electronic Snap Circuits may well help young students gain and foster an appreciation for, and interest in, how electronics work and are built.

For students who are already learning about electronics in school, this set creates a hands-on experience that makes for more fun than reading about how these things work in a textbook. So don't be surprised if report cards come back with higher grades after playing with this toy.

Parent-Child Bonding Experience
The Elenco Electronic Snap Circuits would make a great parent-child bonding experience that is both educational and fun. As you work through each project with your child, don't be surprised when you, too, are learning something new and interesting. And after you've completed all the projects, you can create your own! The combinations are limitless!

What's in the Box
Plastic "circuit board," over 60 pieces including wire, resistors, speaker, battery holder, motor fan, red led, and lamp module.

Product Description

This educational kit is loaded with more than 300 projects to build. For example, kids can learn how transistors and capacitors function, and how to make time-delay circuits. In addition, this version includes circuits showing how oscillators and photo sensors work. Projects involve an AM Radio, Burglar Alarm, Radio Announcer and more. Contains over 60 parts. Requires 4 "AA" batteries, not included.