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This Scrabble Board, Made of Meteor Dust, Is Built to Be Played in Space
Be still our hearts
Who loves Scrabble? Who loves space? Great news—here’s both!
For Scrabble’s 70th birthday, LOLA MullenLowe created a version of the board game that astronauts can play in a zero-gravity environment. And while that’s already pretty neat, this isn’t your grandpappy’s Scrabble set. This is quite possibly the sexiest thing I personally have ever seen. Also, it’s way easier to play than Star Trek chess.
Zero-gravity makes even basic things tricky. Stuff floats around. It gets lost, jammed in gear, you could choke. Consider the effort it takes merely to brush your teeth in this handy-dandy video brought to you by astronaut Chris Hadfield, who’s probably the closest thing we’ve got to a social-savvy astro-anthropologist.
Scrabble tiles—which find a way to get lost even in your dusty, gravity-bound “stuff” closet—are probably the worst things you can bring to a place like, say, the International Space Station.
And yet astronauts do play. In his book An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth, Hadfield himself wrote, “On the International Space Station, our psychologist encourages lots of little habits to help keep us sane. One of these is Scrabble—they recognize that games are fundamental for peace of mind.”
How do they play? With Velcro. Tons of Velcro.
The Scrabble Space Edition casts Velcro to the winds and ups the astro-style ante significantly. Its sleek metallic board is finished with meteor dust, and its tiles are magnetic. We haven’t felt this stoked about a product’s beauty since olden times, when Macs were good.
Editions of Scrabble Space were displayed in Berlin two weeks ago. They also appeared yesterday in a London pop-up in Westfield City, and will pop up in Paris at the Forum des Halles on Nov. 10. While it isn’t clear whether any will ever come up for sale, it’s worth at least checking out in person if you can.
After that, editions will be sent to space stations around the world. As LOLA’s pressie blithely put it, “We got you, Chris.”
CREDITS
Agency: LOLA MullenLowe
Campaign: Scrabble 70th Anniversary
Client: Mattel games
Global Marketing Manager: Gordon Hallman
Associate Marketing Manager: Marco de la Torre
Senior Account Manager PR: Scarlett Ward
Chief Creative Officer: Chacho Puebla
Executive Creative Director: Pancho Cassis
Creative Director: Fabio Brigido, Tomás Ostiglia
Copywriter: André Toledo
Art Director: Manuel Castillo, Diego Limberti, Enrique Torguet
Global Business Director: Tom Elliston
Global Account Manager: Flora Bell
Head of Strategic Planning: Amaya Coronado
Head of Communication: Sarah Okrent
Agency Producer: Sebastián Arce, Mar Capella
Production House: Naturact
Angela Natividad is the European markets editor at Muse by Clio. She also writes about gaming and fashion, and whatever else she’s interested in, really. She’s based in Paris and North Italy, so if you’re local, say hi. She might eat all your food.
