How much is “Brzezinski” on a triple-word score?

Huge news for foreign policy and international affairs junkies: a new version of Scrabble to be released in the U.K. this July allows the playing of proper nouns (among other rule changes). Many are outraged, but I couldn’t be more excited. Finally my dream of using "Reykjavik" (30 base points), "Kyrgyzstan" (30 base points), and ...

Oli Scarff/Getty Images
Oli Scarff/Getty Images
Oli Scarff/Getty Images

Huge news for foreign policy and international affairs junkies: a new version of Scrabble to be released in the U.K. this July allows the playing of proper nouns (among other rule changes).

Huge news for foreign policy and international affairs junkies: a new version of Scrabble to be released in the U.K. this July allows the playing of proper nouns (among other rule changes).

Many are outraged, but I couldn’t be more excited. Finally my dream of using "Reykjavik" (30 base points), "Kyrgyzstan" (30 base points), and countless others (readers, feel free to chime in your favorites) has finally been realized. (Anticipate long arguments over the spelling of "Qaddafi.")

Purists take heart, the classic version will still be available — but I won’t be playing with you.

(Note: there is only one "Z" available for play, but using a blank tile would still give a base score of 24 points for former-President Jimmy Carter’s National Security Advisor.)

**Update: It appears the new version will not be sold in North America, where Hasbro owns the rights to the game (Mattel owns the rights to Scrabble elsewhere in the world.) Perhaps someone should just make my dream come true, and create a (solely) international relations Scrabble edition?

Andrew Swift is an editorial researcher at Foreign Policy.

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