nobleheart: um...minus your suggested variation, this game is called Scrabble. you really have never seen it?? it's been an extremely popular and well-known board game for many decades. and Fencer would have to be careful how he implemented it - no references to Scrabble anywhere - because i know of one excellent website dedicated to this game that was shut down through legal action by Hasbro on grounds of copyright infringement.

it appears it can be done legally though. http://www.bugcafe.net/ offers the game and hasn't been taken down...at least not yet...