New game is a steal for word buffs

‘‘We like to play something that’s a bit more dynamic and fast-paced, and so we always ended up morphing Scrabble into something a bit more bizarre and competitive.’’

An architect responsible for the design of Blenheim’s town centre is seeking to pave town and country with a different set of tiles, built on the premise of a ‘‘stolen’’ idea.

The tiles are the bones of a new, fast-paced word-building game of cunning, treachery and outright theft, aptly named ‘‘Steal’’.

Conceived by Neil CharlesJones and his whanau during family holidays, and refined during pandemic lockdown, the game is a twist on the evergreen game of Scrabble.

‘‘Are not all games variants of others?’’ the ‘‘Burglar-in-Chief’’ Neil said.

Neil’s son Iain, a popular local primary teacher also known by his family as ‘‘The Smash-andGrab Specialist’’, grew up playing board games on camping trips, and said the family were always big Scrabble players.

‘‘We love Scrabble as a family, but it can take a long time for us to get our words out because we’re fiercely competitive,’’ he said.

‘‘We like to play something that’s a bit more dynamic and fast-paced, and so we always ended up morphing Scrabble into something a bit more bizarre and competitive.

‘‘We’ve been playing iterations of the game for 20 years. When I was about nine we played the first edition, and we’ve been refining it since then,’’ he said.

Forced by the pandemic to return from the United States with his partner and join the family in the home nest during lockdown, Iain said games became one of the ways to get through the cabin fever.

‘‘We’ve been planning it for a long time, but never really had the impetus to do it. It was Covid that said ‘right, now we’ve got the time, so let’s just really put the effort in’,’’ Neil said.

An award-winning architect by trade, Neil is credited with Blenheim’s CBD streetscape design, as well as many more significant buildings in the town, and is a notable figure in the region’s wine industry.

He sees the new game as an outlet for his creativity and an opportunity to have a heap of fun with the family whilst growing an international business.

The game has already drawn orders from Australia, the United Kingdom, United States and across New Zealand.

Comprising a set of letter tiles, Steal comes in a pouch you can pop in your pocket or handbag and bring out over a cup of coffee or during a lunch break.

You can hone your literary skills as you bend your mind to word formations and deviously plan to steal your opponents’ words from under their noses to form your own new words.

It’s suitable for all ages, easy to learn and needs only a flat surface on which to play.

The game is currently available online at steal.co.nz.