Donated to the Museum in 1982, the game pictured on the left was published by the Whitman Publishing Company (Racine, Wisconsin, U.S.) and has a copyright date of 1934 printed on the box, though this edition may have been published later.
As a game, Anagrams has a history going back centuries. It has been reported that in the 3rd century BC, a Greek poet received a reward by transposing the name of a king into a phrase meaning "made of honey"! Many newspapers publish a version of the game in their daily editions for use of their readers.
There were many publishers of boxed editions of this game in a number of countries during the 19th and 20th centuries. Since the game had such a long history, the only variation in the boxed versions were the art work on the box, and the type of materials used for the game pieces. Earlier versions of the game were composed of wooden tiles.
The version pictured includes 270 tiles 1.9cm square x .1 thick, each tile imprinted on only one side with heavy black capital letters. The box lid is 13.5cm long x 20.7cm wide x 3.5cm high, the bottom is 13.2cm long x 20.4cm wide x 3.5cm deep.
There are many ways to play Anagrams. A booklet included in the box indicates a number of these games. The most common way to play is to mask the pile of tiles and have each player take a specific number and the winner is the one who uses all their picked letters or most of them to make a word or phrase.
Another common way to play is for an opponent to line up a number of tiles as a word or phrase, and a player then tries to rearrange these into a different world or phrase. Two to six players can play.
On the right is a photograph of another version of Anagrams in the collection. This version features Donald Duck and his nephews Huey, Dewey, and Louie. In this version, there is a board in the bottom of the box on which to arrange the game tiles. This version is just a variation of the same game as a "standard" game of Anagrams.
This Disney version of the game was produced by Somerville Games in a bilingual edition for the Canadian market. The publisher indicates that the game is appropriate for children ages six through ten. To view other Disney Themed Games, click on the left menu item above.
Last update April 1, 2010