Semantics, the meaning of words is slippery. Our assumed definitions are often personal and shaped by experience and culture. Just look at how the words gay, peak or queen shit have shifted in meaning over the past 100 years. Language is endlessly fascinating because of its pliable, plastic nature. But what happens when we do away with intelligibility and completely make up our own words? Creative juices flow. Enter the board game: Blabbi.
Scrabble is a strong favourite of language lovers looking to keep their minds sharp. Blabbi takes on the mantel. This crossword board game is for everyone, the fashion girls, the artists and big thinkers. The aim? Make up words based on a prompt and get them voted as true, the most convincing wins. Prompts include scary movie, music genre and Paris. Linguistic conservatives may think meaning is breaking down with the rise of emojis and internet slang in contemporary vocabulary, but as new terms emerge, they enrich our culture and push it forward into the future. What would we do without newly reported words the ick and boop being added to the Cambridge dictionary this year? We’d keep using them, because whilst their acceptance by the institution makes them Scrabble-approved, in the day to day no one is policing us. In Blabbi, players go one step further and by muddling together letters discover new words to pitch to each-other. And what’s better for your brain than having a laugh with friends?
The brother and sister duo, Olive and Adrian Yu, behind this revolutionary and inventive game have undoubtedly injected Blabbi with childlike joy. Available at Barnes and Noble the game is taking the US by storm. Its absurdist aura even earned coverage in the LA Times last year, that explains the small-batch production of the game using non-plastic materials means the price tag may be above other board games, and for a good reason. As more and more of us turn to Wordle for a little brain-massage, there’s still a lot to be said for IRL gaming with friends. Now, who wants to be crowned the master of gobbledygook?
