Let the games begin now that I have my Franklin's Scrabble Dictionary!
Written: Sep 25 '03
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Fun for the entire family!
Cons: For some, the cost...
The Bottom Line: We found this Franklin's Scrabble Dictionary to be very user friendly, even for our eight-year-old!
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| sblaydes's Full Review: Electronic Handheld Official Scrabble Players Dict... |
Do you and your family enjoy playing Scrabble? Are you the type of family that needs to lug out the old Webster Dictionary each game just to make sure that your other teammates aren't cheating? Or, perhaps you yourself need to check Webster for the correct spelling of a word? Does any of this sound just a wee bit familiar?
Well, when I was approached a few weeks to try out an advanced copy of the Electronic Handheld Official Scrabble Players Dictionary from Franklin, I jumped on the opportunity for several reasons. First, it had been a while since this family of four had played Scrabble. We were long overdue for family game night. Second, now that my youngest is eight-years-old, I knew that she would enjoy playing this game a heck of a lot more than she did over six months ago. And last but not least, I had a feeling that both of my kids would really enjoy using this electronic dictionary as opposed to lugging out the old Webster Dictionary. I don't know what it is but every time I suggest they look up a word in the dictionary they both cringe. This is especially true of my twelve-year-old son. He would much rather look it up on the computer, or... better yet have good old Mom give him the definition. I was really intrigued to see how both of my children felt about this new gadget we were going to give a try!
~ Let the game begin! ~
When I got the Electronic Handheld Official Scrabble Players Dictionary in the mail it did not take this family of four long to whip out the old Scrabble game and get all set up. Missing from the kitchen table was the heavy Webster Dictionary and in its place was a small electronic unit that was just itching to be played with. Considering that this Electronic Handheld Official Scrabble Players Dictionary has the ability to validate over 100,000 words, I figured we would be safe for at least a game or two. Ha!
For the remainder of this review I will be referring to Electronic Handheld Official Scrabble Players Dictionary as the Franklin's Scrabble Dictionary...
Before you begin fighting over who gets to use the Franklin's Scrabble Dictionary first you will need to install four AAA batteries, which are not included. Installation of these batteries is quick with the proper tools, a Phillips screwdriver. Included in the instructional booklet that comes with your Franklin's Scrabble Dictionary are instructions on how to properly install and maintain these batteries. I found these directions to be very easy to follow.
Depending upon your needs, you are able to adjust the contrast on your Franklin's Scrabble Dictionary. I thought that this was a nice detail to include and one that we discovered we used a few times when in use, especially in the evening with the glare from our kitchen light. Changing the screen from lighter to darker is simply done by using the up arrow key and the down arrow key.
Every time we turned on our Franklin's Scrabble Dictionary a Quick Demo appeared. While you can stop this demo at any time by pressing clear you may want to consider disabling this function. Disabling is easy to do by following the instructions in the instructional booklet. I can tell you that this is definitely one function that we would disable as we found it to be slightly annoying to have this demo appear each time after repeated use.
The Franklin's Scrabble Dictionary will turn itself off if no key has been pressed within two minutes. I don't know about you, but I have always found this to be a great feature and one that I have come to appreciate.
~ Are you sure that is the correct spelling? ~
So, are you curious yet as to what this Franklin's Scrabble Dictionary can do? As I mentioned above, this dictionary will validate over 100,000 words. According to details on the box, the Scrabble Dictionary uses the Merriam-Webster Dictionary. You can use this Franklin's Scrabble Dictionary to do the following:
~ Check to see if your word is a valid Scrabble word.
~ Check word spellings. This was a big plus for both of my children!
~ The ability to build words from your letters (and blank tiles).
~ You can enter patterns of letters that are already on the board. Then you can fit your tiles to those patterns. Isn't this considered cheating?
~ Help in finding double and triple letter and word scores. I should have used this more!
~ Play a couple of fun word games.
I will tell you right now that the function we used most often were the top two listed above, checking to make sure we had a valid Scrabble word and double checking the spelling. Believe me, my husband didn't need any help in building letters from his tiles or finding double and triple letter and word scores. In fact, we shouldn't have let him use this Franklin's Scrabble Dictionary at all! Just kidding... well, maybe!
As I mentioned above the instructions that come with the instructional booklet are easy to follow and definitely something that you will want to keep with your Franklin's Scrabble Dictionary at all times. Why am I mentioning this? If I were to go into great detail on each function that this Franklin's Scrabble Dictionary has to offer, this review would never end. Okay, that isn't true but you would be reading for a long, long time. Trust me when I tell you that using the Franklin's Scrabble Dictionary is quite easy and that when needed, the instructions are easy to follow. These directions give input on the following:
~ Getting Started
~ Key Guide
~ Building Words
~ Filling Patterns
~ Correcting Misspellings
~ Finding Spellings
~ Defining Words
~ Playing the Games
Using this Franklin's Scrabble Dictionary really was a lot of fun, and all four of us couldn't wait to get our hands on it. We found ourselves often complaining that someone was taking up too much time with this dictionary and in the end had to give ourselves a time limit. No, we aren't competitive, why do you ask? Ha!
I was really anxious to see how my eight-year-old would do with this Franklin's Scrabble Dictionary. She absolutely loved it! It gave her the ability to type in the word that she thought she could use with her tiles and let her know if it was a word for one, and... if it was spelled correctly. The other great benefit that she found was if it was not spelled correctly, it would give her a correction list. Sometimes she could find another way to use her tiles that she hadn't even thought of. I really believe that she enjoyed playing the game of Scrabble a great deal more now that she could be independent.
Do you remember up above when I mentioned was this considered cheating when you were able to fit your tiles to those patterns already on the board? This question was raised to a member of the Franklin staff and I must admit that they had a really good answer and suggestion for me. It seems that through family testing done prior to this product being introduced to the market some conclusions were made with this feature. "Though they may seem like cheating devices, the Pattern and Double/Triple word score features can be great aids to family play. Try setting up rules for family games; the youngest kids can use these features 4 times per game, the older kids only twice, and the parents not at all. Adjust the number of times to fit your child's needs. This helps family members of various ages and skill levels to play together and gives the younger kids a better chance of scoring points." What a great idea! I look forward to being able to introduce this new concept to my kids on our next family game night of Scrabble.
Now, as you may have figured out by reading this review my husband creamed us way too many times! It is a good thing that this Franklin's Scrabble Dictionary also gives you the definition because there were many times that we all sat there looking at him with blank expressions wondering just "what" that word meant. It then became a game between my son and I to see who could come up with a word that our husband didn't have a clue as to what it meant. Yes, that means that you would have found my son and I typing in some sort of sequence of letters just hoping that a word would pop up. For example, if I type in the letters "neu" the correction list gives me new, gnu, knew, know, naw, no, nee, nu, neum, neuk, neb, and net. Just out of curiosity, do you want to know what neuk means? It is a noun meaning nook. This little tool helps out with some of those odd tiles like z, q and x.
~ Wondering where you can get one of these? ~
When you glance at the box that Franklin's Scrabble Dictionary comes in it will remind you a great deal of the box that the Scrabble game itself comes in. The box is red and features not only a photo image of the Franklin's Scrabble Dictionary itself on the front, but of the game as well. When you turn the box to the backside you will get a close up look of this dictionary. In fact, it is almost true to size. Explanations are given for most of the function keys on this dictionary. For example, the skill function allows for an adjustable skill level for word building exercises.
The Franklin's Scrabble Dictionary is not large in size measuring in at 5" by 5". Don't be fooled by its size because it does pack quite a punch! I will try and give you a brief description of this product, but the photo image above will give you the best visual to work with.
The base of this dictionary is red and this is where the battery placement is located. The front side of this dictionary is where the action is. Beginning from the top I will work my way to the bottom of this dictionary. The company name of Franklin is located on the left-hand side right above the screen in red letters. The screen itself is directly below this logo. We found the screen to be of good size at 4 inches in width and a little over ˝ inch in height, and just the right size that we didn't have to squint to read. The ability to change the contrast also is an added bonus.
Below the screen are some of the function keys available with this dictionary. From left to right you have the build, pattern, games, skill, help and the on/off key. Next you have the keys for the individual letters of the alphabet, which are give in three rows. Also included on the last row of letters is a key marked "score" and a "square".
There are only a few more keys left on this Franklin's Scrabble Dictionary, but... some of the most important. Below the letters of the alphabet you will find the red "clear" button, the white "back" button and the green "enter" button. To the right of these buttons is a circle shaped button with arrows pointing up, down, left and right. The only thing left are the words "The Official Scrabble Players Dictionary" written below the above mentioned buttons.
While the Franklin's Scrabble Dictionary comes in a box, there is also a pouch included. The Franklin's Scrabble Dictionary fits quite nicely inside its velvet pouch of yellow and does allow room for the instructional booklet.
Are you wondering where you can purchase one of these for you own? Perhaps you are wondering why you have never seen this before. Well, according to my source at Franklin this Franklin's Scrabble Dictionary will be available starting November 15th and will be sold through specialty retail, catalogs, and at the Franklin web site at www.franklin.com. The cost for this dictionary will be $49.95.
~ Is it worth the price? ~
So, does this family of four think that the Electronic Handheld Official Scrabble Players Dictionary is worth the price tag of $49.95? While it does seem that forking out fifty dollars for this Franklin's Scrabble Dictionary is a bit extravagant, it definitely is an option we have considered. Mind you, we are by no means expert Scrabble players, and didn't even begin to touch some of the higher level functions that this Franklin's Scrabble Dictionary has to offer.
But... what it did give us was the confidence my eight-year-old daughter was seeking to want to play this game. It also gave this family of four countless hours of laughing together as a family sitting around the kitchen table. And it did something that my children are not even aware of. It helped them to beef up on their skills in spelling and the learning of new words and definitions that they didn't know existed. What Language Arts teacher would tell you that this type of creativity is worthless?
Yes, in the end I would have to say that the Electronic Handheld Official Scrabble Players Dictionary is worth the fifty bucks! Why not turn off the television, grab your Scrabble game out of the closet and have some fun using your Franklin's Scrabble Dictionary with your family. You won't be sorry, I promise. Plus... don't forget about the Holiday's that are rapidly approaching. With a release date of November 15th, this Franklin's Scrabble Dictionary would make a great gift. I have to say that I already know of one family who is getting one!
www.franklin.com
*** Limited Warranty ***
(Please consult instructional booklet for details on this products warranty within the U.S. and outside the U.S.)
*** Age Requirements ***
According to Franklin, there is no age requirement. This product is great for Scrabble players of all ages, novice to expert. You know what? I totally agree!
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): free
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sblaydes
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