THE BIG BOARD

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ton of fun to say the least, that is after you get past the initial disorientation of playing on a board this size. Geez I can't help but wonder if there are any intelligent life forms out there in deep space who might be observing the surface of our planet. I'd imagine they might have reason to pause with curiosity at this open area of my backyard as they try to decipher the strange looking text formations that form spontaneously within this colorful little square!  

This is the giant Scrabble board I built out in my backyard in Bay Shore NY over the summer of 2006. It was somewhat of a task mixing up just the right colors and applying the multiple coats of paint to the cement blocks, 225 in all and setting them carefully into the proper position. The board measures almost 7' across and the wooden racks are over 3' long. Creating the over sized Protiles was another time consuming aspect to this whole project.

Being a printer by trade came in pretty handy in that department. I was able to match the correct type style for the letters and produce them off the computer onto full sheet peel off fluorescent label material which I attached to 1/4 thick oak squares that were cut to the right size. Then came the tricky part of adhering a clear lamination to the surface of the tile so they wouldn't wear out after being constantly shuffled in the bag. So between the shaking up of this weighty duffle bag of tiles and the scurrying around the board to place a particular word, the sedentary nature of this geeky game suddenly becomes a good bit more physical.
In fact, I'm half thinking about introducing an arm wrestle at the onset of a game instead of drawing for the lowest tile to see who goes first. Only kidding... tho after having played a few games on there one quickly realizes the game has transformed into a slightly different dimension. It's a bit like the game Twister meets Scrabble and it's a