Scrabble tiles font

[Quarticle]

What font was used on the tiles in the old UK version of the board game Scrabble?

As shown on these at this Amazon link or on these mugs.

I am not sure of the exact period for which the tiles looked like this - perhaps from the 1980s until about 2012.

It is not Franklin Gothic/News Gothic/similar as seems to be used on the tiles in other versions of the game.

[George Thomas]

Peignot, available here: https://www.myfonts.com/fonts/linotype/peignot/

[Quarticle]

6 minutes ago, George Thomas said:

Peignot, available here: http://www.myfonts.com/fonts/linotype/peignot/

Peignot is not quite right unfortunately.

For example, the G is missing a bar, the K and R don't meet the upright, the Q has its tail in the wrong place, and the W is the wrong shape.

Thanks anyway.

[George Thomas]

You are right; it's been changed quite a bit. I'm not sure if there are any similar fonts out there. I apologize for the mistake.  :-)

[Riccardo Sartori]

Also |J|…

I found several typefaces that share similar characteristics with the sample shown, but most of them are too recent. The older ones (like Peignot) each have some sort of quirkiness that distinguish them.

I‘m leaning on conclude that this is a custom job, not a pre-existing typeface… but there is that extended middle arm on the |E|, which looks like the kind of quirkiness one founds in some typefaces…

Perhaps there once was an obscure British knock-off of Peignot that never made the leap to digital.

[George Thomas]

Quote

Perhaps there once was an obscure British knock-off of Peignot that never made the leap to digital.

It also occurs to me that the Scrabble company modified Peignot extensively so they could get around licensing restrictions. By reproducing the font as individual letters, they likely would have violated the license.

[Riccardo Sartori]

7 hours ago, George Thomas said:

modified Peignot extensively so they could get around licensing restrictions

Another reason for modifying the typeface would have been to “normalise” it, removing the quirkiness in order to better serve the “one clear letter per tile” function.

In this regard, looking at |U| and |X|, for example, make me think it wasn’t directly derived from Peignot.

[Quarticle]

Thank you both for your answers!

[Riccardo Sartori]

On 12/1/2017 at 10:32 PM, Riccardo Sartori said:

Perhaps there once was an obscure British knock-off of Peignot that never made the leap to digital.

Incidentally, Peignot’s knock-offs may have led to the establishment of ATypI.