For three years, orders had to be rationed. Demand just went up and up.

Meanwhile, the Scrabble craze spread to Australia in 1953. In the same year, it was launched in the UK by J.W. Spear & Sons, where the game was an instant success.

Brunot eventually sold off the rights to Scrabble in 1968 and Spear's acquired the rights to the world, outside of the USA, Canada and Australia. (However, they managed to pick up the Australian rights at a later date.) The rights to the game remain split in this way to this day.

In 1986, Selchow and Righter sold out to Coleco who promptly went bankrupt in 1987. So it was that 53 years after turning the game down, the rights for Scrabble in the USA and Canada were purchased by Milton Bradley.

1991 saw the first world championship take place in London. The second was held in New York City in 1993.

Regrettably, James Brunot died in October 1984. So he didn't live to see the first championship. But Alfred Butts did. He lived to be 93, passing away in April 1993.

He took pleasure in playing his game with family and friends to the end of his life. And this modest, unassuming man lived to see his brainchild become a worldwide phenomenon.

In 1994, J.W. Spear and Sons were acquired by Mattel Inc., the largest toy and game company in the world.