Scrabble celebrated 60 years in December this year. The game is played worldwide in 29 different languages, the most recent being Welsh in 2006. Most family members play for fun but serious Scrabble players need to use all the tricks available to help them win.
How to Play Scrabble
The board version of Scrabble is for 2-4 players who draw 7 letters out of a hat at random and then proceed to make words from those letters. The aim is to get the highest score possible on every turn by making clever use of high scoring letters, bonus word and letter squares and by using all available letters up at the end of the game. If a player manages to create a 7-letter word in one turn, a bonus of 50 points is awarded. The player with the most points when the game finishes is the winner.
Tips on How to Win at Scrabble
- Commit to memory a list of words using high value difficult letters like Q, Z and X. These are invaluable for using up awkward letters with few available words. X, for example can be used in two letter words like AX, EX, OX, XI and XU.
- Q can be used in words without the obvious letter U like qi (Chinese life force), QADI (Muslim magistrate) or QAT (tea-like drug).
- Another useful list to memorise is one for two letter words of which there are 124 available in the English language game.
- Do not use a blank letter until the end of a game or use with one of the difficult letters above.
- Also use the letter S wisely. Rather than add onto a low scoring word laid down by a competitor, save one of the 4 S letters until a high scoring word is offered for the taking, especially if placed adjacent to a bonus square.
- Keep track of letters used in the game to avoid offering a wanted letter to an opponent, for example a U to combine with the letter Q.
- Place words on the criss-cross board wisely. If there are two possible placement options, choose the one least likely to offer a subsequent advantage to an opponent.
- Buy a copy of the official Scrabble dictionary to help with word lists.
- Remember longer words useful for getting high scores like OJIME (a carved bead), TOUZE (to haul) or OXIME (chemical compound).
Highest Scores at Scrabble
- The highest ever points scored in one go in a game of Scrabble were 128 for MUZJIKS, which means Russian peasants.
- Dr Karl Khoshow has the record for the highest 1 word score in competition. He scored 392 points for CAZIQUES (West Indian chiefs).
Scrabble’s Popularity Increases
Recent online versions of Scrabble have revived the game’s popularity in its 60th year. Celebrities like Kylie Minogue, Jonathan Ross and Charles Saatchi are reportedly addicts of the Facebook version of Scrabble called Scrabulous, which attracts 600,000 players daily.
Such is its popularity that the Scrabble’s makers, Hasbro and Mattel have announced that they plan to close down Scrabulous, partly as players use cheating tactics to increase chances of winning. Their real reason may, of course, be commercial if they market the online game themselves.
Scrabble Competitions
Stag weekends now regularly stage marathon Scrabble games where players try to compete in several games at once. There are 4000 Scrabble clubs worldwide and it is estimated that over 30,000 games of Scrabble are started every hour.
Serious competitors can be hard to beat but use the above tips when playing regularly and, just like doing crosswords, words will soon start falling into place quickly and with high scores.
Related Articles:
You may be interested in how Scrabble was invented. Also see the article on using more detailed word lists for difficult letters like Q and X.
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