According to the information popular on the Web, in the late 80s, the Romanian dictator Nikolai Chausheyesu imposed a ban on a popular board game, arguing this with its complexity and subversive character. We checked whether this legend is true.

Most often, the verified statement can be found in various collections of strange prohibitions around the world. That's what reported In one of them on MyDutyFree: “Back in the 1980s, the Romanian President Nikolai Ceausescu officially banned the board game“ Scrabble ”, calling it“ excessively intellectual ”and equating to the destructive evil. It is amazing that this ban is still valid to this day. ”

Similar information can be found on many Russian and Ukrainian sites: "Picabu","Ramblera" Vokrugsveta.ua, Traveltime.km.ua. Tourist section of the site Delfi.ee, in turn, reports that the ban did not last long. This information is also popular in the West, where it is given by such publications as Daily Mail, National Geographic Travelleras well as books authors "Brief History of Policy", "Free time killer", "Absolutely stupid facts about modern history", "Colossal reader" (2008). And in one edition of 1994 reportedThat Chausko, in addition to Scrabble, also banned baseball, a bridge, martial arts and hockey on the grass.

The board game screbble, the essence of which is in compiling words from the existing set of letters on a special board, conquered The United States back in the middle of the last century, after which began its victorious procession around the world. At the end of 1962, in the Soviet magazine "Week" it was described under the name "Worder." In 1968, after adaptation to the features of the Russian language, the rules of the game “Cross” (she received such a name this time) was published in the journal "Science and Life", and in the 1980s, a set for the game is already under the brand "Erudite" I got into hundreds of thousands of Soviet apartments, becoming for many people a favorite entertainment, which remains popular today.

The history of the Romanian version of Scrabbl has been carried out from February 1, 1982, when engineers Shcherban Theodora and John Komenescu, adapting the game for their native language, gave the start of a two -year series of thematic articles With the tasks in the journal știință şi tehnică (“science and technique”). However, the center of the movement of lovers of the game in Romania was not this edition, but the magazine Flacăra-Rebus. In the mid-1980s, the country began to hold the first competitions and camps in Scrabbl, appeared Players' ratings (numbering up to 500 people), a show on the radio, began to appear specialized books and dictionaries.

Participants in the first screbble competitions in Romania (1984–1985)

In 1987, Screbble was officially recognized as a sport, and the corresponding leading structure entered the Romanian Chess Federation. On January 26, 1990, a separate Romanian Federation of Screbbla at the Ministry of Sports appeared. By data Romanian researchers, for 1989, about a total of about a million (!) Squares of Screbbla were sold in the country, and the number of officially registered clubs of the game lovers was about 60. In other words, Romania per year The execution of Nikolai Chausko She definitely hurt screbblle.

Where did the ban on the ban come from then? Could Chausti apply a veto game over the past months or days of his life? The complex relations of the family of the Romanian leader with the intelligentsia and intellectuals are written much, therefore, a similar act at the moment when the discrepancies with society have reached a critical point cannot be completely excluded. After in May 2011 the next worldwide wave of news about a strange ban was raised by the publication in Daily Mail, Romanian journalists tried figure out In legend, having contacted Stefan Palle, the first president of the Romanian Federation of Skrebble (1990-1992), who also returned to this post in the 21st century. Pall stated that the ban on Scrabble in Romania under communism is nothing more than a city legend. He confirmed that Chausko negatively treated the development of intelligence through games, but at the same time he never prohibited screbble, although he did not give the go -ahead for his financing.

Nevertheless, according to Pall, it was an era when any collection of at least three intellectuals could attract attention Securitate - Romanian analogue of the KGB. Service employees were regularly introduced into circles of lovers of Scrabble, after which they reported their observations to the authorities. Understanding this and trying to prevent possible problems with the law, the Romanian lovers of Screbble often engaged in self -censorship.

Many carried with them lists of words that are extremely not recommended to use. For example, if from your letters you could make a word nazist (“Nazi”), then this thought could be immediately forgotten. There were funny moments. In particular, in a game dedicated to a major socialist holiday (either to the national day of Romania, or to May Day), at some point it was possible to lay out a rather advantageous word CIOMAGURI. However, the judges consulted and decided that the word Omagiu (“Ommage”) should certainly be posted - the name of a series of regular events dedicated to the president and his wife. However, similar examples, typical of a totalitarian socialist society, clearly do not fall under the category of “ban”.

Thus, the story of the prohibition of the Romanian version of the game screbble from the side of Nicholas Chayescu in fact turns out to be a fiction.