The Basics of Playing Scrabble
Scrabble is a simple game to play because all that is needed are the tiled letters, a board, and a little bit of knowledge about words. The rules are simple. Select a certain number of letters, arrange them to form the best combination for the highest score, and place them on the board beginning at a predetermined spot.
The distribution of letters is set: [100 Scrabble; 200 Super Scrabble]
Super Scrabble: A-16 B-4 C-6 D-8 E-24 F-4 G-5 H-5 I-13 J-2 K-2 L-7 M-6
N-13 O-15 P-4 Q-2 R-13 S-10 T-15 U-7 V-3 W-4 X-2 Y-4 Z-2
BLANKS-4
Regular Scrabble has about half of each of these distributions. Since I am using the Super Scrabble version, I will refer to those numbers.
Draw letters and make words from those letters, if it is possible. There are 75 vowels and 4 blanks as well as 4 semi-vowels (Y). The chance of drawing at least one vowel or vowel equivalent is 83/200 or better than 40 percent. Therefore, the probability of making some word is fairly likely. Of course, if you defy the odds and draw KWQZTRRVM, you may have to forego the first move and hope your opponent puts something to play on. Or, you may opt for changing letters (any or all) and allow your opponent the first move.
Let's assume you draw ABCDEFGH and I; the chance of that is virtually unfathomable, but for the sake of argument, what words can be made from that combination?
15 points: chafed
14 points: bached, bighead
13 points: biface, chafe, chief, fiche
12 points: beach, chef
11 points: ached, bach, chide, decaf, faced
10 points: cebid, chad, chid, fadge, fidge
9 points: ache, badge, cadge, cafe, caged, ceiba, chai, chia, debag, each, face, feh, fice, gibed
8 points: abide, ahed, bah, bice, chi, deaf, defi, fab, fade, fib, hade, haed, head, hic, hide, hied, ich
7 points: abed, aced, acid, bade, bead, bide, cab, cade, cadi, cage, caid, cedi, dace, dah, def, dice, dif, edh, fad, fag, fed, fid, fig, ghi, gibe, had, hag, hid, iced
6 points: aged, ahi, bad, bag, bed, beg, bid, big, cad, cig, dab, deb, dib, egad, fie, gab, gadi, gaed, gib, gied, hae, hie
5 points: ace, ah, aide, dag, dig, ef, eh, fa, fe, gad, ged, gid, ha, he, hi, ice, idea, if
4 points: age, aid, ba, be, bi, dei, die, gae, gie
3 points: ad, ag, da, de, id
2 points: ae, ai
All of these are legitimate scrabble words as calculated by A2ZWordfinder.com, a free on-line dictionary and word resource. But notice that there is only one that has seven letters and that is BIGHEAD. Put the B on the double letter and the word is worth 34 points. Add the fifty point bonus for a seven-letter word (called a Bingo) and your first move is worth a healthy 84 points. That is a fine way to start.
More than likely you will draw more randomly distributed letters. But, the same principles apply. Rearrange the letters in all possible ways to construct the best possible word and play it. An average game should entail between 15 to 25 words for each of two players dependent upon the length of the words. Point values can go well above a thousand for each player.
More players will reduce the number of words played by each, but the strategies and alternate possibilities will certainly add more excitement as well as surprises. The main goals remain: have fun and learn well.
Chances Are....
The three variable factors in Scrabble Strategies include luck of the draw, fortune in the position of the bonus squares, and skill in the arrangement of the drawn letters. What percentage is skill and what percentage is luck is an arguable issue. It is my contention that two thirds is luck and one third is skill. If there were any way to perfect the art of drawing letters so that preferred combinations magically appeared, I would grant that a greater amount of skill was involved. As of now, there isn't.
There are 200 tiles with a distribution based on researched analyses of usage in extensive vocabulary occurrences. The rarest incidences include X, Q, and Z. There are two of each of these. The E has the largest number of tiles (24) followed by A (16), T and O (15 each), and I and N (13 each). There are also four blanks which can be any letter at all. The S (10) is helpful in pluralizing and the D (8) assists in the formation of the past tense. The laws of selection are governed by pure and simple probability.
It is possible to select seven tiles at random and come up with a seven letter word. More often, it won't happen, especially for the first word played. The chance of selecting letters that would form a seven-letter word is remotely possible, but the chances of forming any word increases as the number of letters required decreases. Since there are many two and three-letter words possible, it is a high probability that the first player will be able to play. Since the goal is to achieve the highest score, it is unlikely that one player would be satisfied with starting play with BE, or AT, or BUG. However, one might be happy with the double value of ADZ (a chopping tool) for a score of 26 points.
After the first word is played, there are letters on the board that can be a part of a new word by inclusion (using a letter on the board as part of your word) or by addition (adding an S or a D from your word to modify the word on the board.) Picking the letters at random can be an art, but mostly, it comes down to chances are.... I have tried selecting letters at random one at a time and by collecting all seven at one grab. I have theories about the results, but it all still comes down to pure chance. My preference is the handful technique. I have no scientific reasons. It just seems to work better for me. Nothing much can be done about the luck of the draw. You keep what you get or you change it. There is no way to practice the draw. Fate determines what you pick; luck establishes where you put it. Skill enables the construction of the word itself. Having an S or a D for the second word played helps increase point value by enabling greater possible use of an already played word. There is a five percent chance of drawing an S (10/200) and a bit less at four percent for drawing a D (8/200). Save them if you chance upon them. They will help.
The placement of the bonus squares is NOT random, but the design of the patterns is geometric and consistent. The board has 441 squares with a double word square at the centermost position. That is the starting point of the game. Some letter of the first word MUST be on that square. The other bonus squares range from double value letters (36), triple value letters (20), quadruple value letters (8) and four quadruple value words one in each corner. There are also triple value words (16) as well as the ubiquitous double value words (40 in addition to the one at the center of the board). The designs are symmetrical in that each side of the board has the same pattern as seen from the perspective of each of four players.
The skill required for the formation of words hinges on the knowledge base of the individual. However, there are numerous resources available to research possibilities or verify some doubtful creations. Scrabble Word Builder and the Merriam Webster Official Scrabble Dictionary are two. The best resource is an up-to-date version of the OED (Oxford Encyclopedic Dictionary), which is considered to be the most authoritative source. The limitation of the use of resources is determined before play. It is my attitude that the resources are there not to just check on the spelling of some conjured word but to act as an educational tool to learn new as well as unfamiliar words. This may take longer, but the rewards are well worth the wait.
The start of any game is simple. Each player draws a letter from the bag. Whoever has the closest to A begins. Why? Consistency. To let you begin just because it is your birthday may cost you the game if the letters you have could form a word using the letters placed on the board by the one who is supposed to go first by the prescribed rule. On the other hand, if winning is not as important as the social interaction, by all means, be creative in determining who goes first.
The draw is simple. Reach into the bag and take seven tiles. Arrange them on the rack to form the longest possible word. Then put that word on the board horizontally or vertically with any of the letters placed on the center square. Which one? That is up to you. Make the decision based on what may give you the highest points score. But keep in mind that where you place the word determines where all other words will begin and end. Be thoughtful. Anticipate future possibilities. Plan ahead. It may help you win, hone your strategic abilities, and provide greater opportunities for enjoyable ways to learn more and more each time you play.
A Variable Feast
There are variations that can make the game go faster or become more interesting and challenging. All these variations are acceptable as part of the official rules. They are designed to keep high value letters (Q, Z, X) in play as well as to keep the blanks in circulation. For example, QA with the Q on a triple letter can render 62 points with just 2 letters. Likewise, high point values are available with QI and XI or ZA. Being able to substitute the Q in QA with an LA re-circulates the Q so it can be used in other advantageous positions. There are hundreds of two and three letter words that are available by substituting vowels or consonants. Using the substitution variation allows for this to happen. The four variations challenge each player to expand the possibilities and better utilize acquired knowledge to expand the interest and excitement in word play.
The first variation is to expand the number of drawn letters to nine. Having the extra two letters lets the game move faster by using up the total supply more quickly. But more importantly, it opens the availability for more possible words. Making a seven-letter word from a maximum of seven letters is a great enough challenge. To make a seven-letter word from a pool of nine is more than 25% easier. Seven-letter words can be derived from the nine letters and the fifty-point bonus is still applied to any 7, 8, or 9 letter words made.
The second variation allows the blank substitution. When the blank was placed on the board, it had a particular letter assigned to it. If a player, on his turn has the same letter, he may replace the blank with that letter and keep the blank for whatever letter he needs. Caution! The blank must be replaced with the letter it was assigned when it was first put on the board and NOT some other letter that would still make a legitimate word if the blank were not there.
The third variation is the letter substitution. Any letter in any word can be removed and replaced with a letter from a player's rack so long as that letter maintains an acceptable word. Any number of letters can be substituted on any word on the board so long as every change made maintains the continuity of legitimate words and only with single letter substitutions on any one change. There is no limit on the number of substitutions, and all of them precede the placement of the player's eventual word on the board. Any change is completely reversible without affecting the player's turn.
The final variation is the anagram which allows the transposition of letters in an already placed word but requires the addition of a least one letter from the player's rack up to the total number of letters available on the rack. So DEAD can become RETREADED by the addition of RETRE from the rack and the rearrangement of the letters already on the board, DEAD. The only condition is that any words shared by the word already on the board must still remain as legitimate words, even if they are different from what was already there. It is a rare opportunity to utilize extensive creativity. The occasion doesn't often occur, but it is possible.
The following chapters will describe strategies and techniques for maximizing points possible (if winning is important) or maximizing the challenge of beating the board if just having fun with words is the goal.
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