Scrabble players move toward banning 200+ slurs from tournament play

Enlarge / I had to squint to make sure there weren't any offensive words in this illustrative photo. (credit: Flickr / DavidMartynHunt)

The North American Scrabble Players Association (NASPA) seems poised to remove hundreds of offensive slurs from tournament-level Scrabble play. The proposed move is part of an effort by the group to "support Black Lives Matter and bring justice to our world," as organization CEO John Chew put it in a recent newsletter.

Hasbro, which publishes Scrabble, told The New York Times that NASPA has "agreed to remove all slurs from their word list for Scrabble tournament play, which is managed solely by NASPA and available only to members." The company said it will also be updating the game's rules "to make clear that slurs are not permissible in any form of the game."

But after weeks of debate, NASPA's 12-person advisory board hasn't yet officially voted on the proposal to ban over 200 offensive slurs and variations from tournament play. That vote is set for later this week.

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