Op-shoppery: Polymertex Scrabble

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Any time I go searching on the 'net for something and I can't find it, I feel two things:

  1. I feel annoyed, because I wanted information and I didn't find it.
  2. I feel obligated to fill the gap with what little information I can contribute.

Back in November 2007 (this is a back-dated post), I was lucky enough to stumble across a complete set of Polymertex "Modern Plastics" Scrabble.

I think I need to get a Geiger counter for those letters.

I'll tell you what I know about it:

  • it's made in the Philippines
  • the company that made it, Polymertex, no longer exists
  • there's a Russian company by the same name, but I imagine that's coincidental
  • there's also a kind of Korean paint by the same name
  • the tiles are so green I suspect they may be radioactive
  • it's clearly very old, as Scrabble boards go. This site/question/thing suggests in a roundabout way that it might be from 1968, which fits pretty neatly with my own assumptions that it's probably from the '60s, early '70s at the latest..
  • based on information on this website, it's "possibly one of the rarest Scrabble sets I've seen", and from the response to the abovelinked Topix question, it's apparently "superb collectors item!!"
  • from the same website comes the suggestion that it could be a trade sample, I would assume from a plastics manufacturing company

Scrabble!

There are a few things that I want to know:

  • is it an actual, licensed Scrabble game, or is it a knock-off?
  • what's it worth?
  • why are the pieces so freaking green?
  • is it worth hanging on to?

Green Scrabble. Enjoy.

Triple word score on BOPDX.