Play Scrabble

Scrabble is a fun, classic word game. The object of the game is to get the most points by playing words on a board that you connect to words created by your fellow players. To play Scrabble, you need at least one other player. You will also need an official Scrabble board with all of its components. As you play the game, you create words, rack up points, challenge your opponents, and even exchange tiles if yours are not working for you. All the while, a scorekeeper tallies up each player’s points to determine who will win at the end of the game. If you become a fan of the game, you may consider inviting your friends to join you on a regular basis, joining a club, or entering a tournament.

Steps

Preparing to Play

1. Make sure that you have everything you need to play Scrabble. Before you begin your game, make sure that you have everything that you need to play Scrabble. You will need a game board, 100 letter tiles, one letter rack for each player, and a cloth bag to hold the letter tiles. You will also need 1-3 other people to play with.
2. Choose a dictionary to use for challenges. It is possible that during the course of your game, someone will play a word that another play believes is spelled wrong or that is not a word at all. In a situation like this, you will need to look up the word in a dictionary. Make sure that you have a dictionary on hand to deal with challenges.
3. Put letter tiles in the bag and shake them up. To make sure that the letters are mixed up, put them into the bag, close it, and shake them around a bit. If you don’t have a bag to use, you can put all of the letters face down on the table and shuffle them.
4. Determine who goes first. Pass the bag around the table and allow each player to draw one letter tile. Then, place your letter tiles face up on the table. The player with the letter that is closest to the letter “A” gets to go first. Put these letters back into the bag and shuffle them again before drawing tiles.
5. Draw your tiles. Beginning with the player who got the letter closest to “A”, pass the tile bag around and have each player draw seven tiles without looking into the bag. Do not show these tiles to your fellow players. Just put them onto your tile rack and pass the bag to the next player until everyone has drawn their letters.

Playing the Game

1. Play the first word. The player who chose the letter closest to “A” gets to play the first word. The word must use at least two tiles and it must be placed across the star square in the center of the board. The word can be laid out in a vertical or horizontal fashion, but it cannot be diagonal.
   • When calculating the first word score, keep in mind that the player who places the first word gets to double his or her total score because the star counts as a Premium Square with a double word bonus. For example, if the total value of the first word played was 8, then the player would receive a score of 16.
2. Count up your points. After you have put down a word, make sure that you count up your points. Add up the points on the upper right hand corner of each of the tiles you laid down. If you placed a tile on a Premium Square, adjust your score as indicated by the Premium Square.
   • For example, if you place a word over a square that says “Double Word” on it, then you should double the total value of your word. If you place a tile over a square that says “Double Letter”, then you should double the value of that letter tile only when you calculate your score.
3. Draw new tiles. After each of your turns, you will need to draw as many new tiles as you just played. For example, if you played three of your tiles to form a word during your turn, then you need to draw three new tiles at the end of your turn. Place these new tiles on your rack and pass the bag to the next player.
4. Build on other players’ words. On your next turn, you will have to add onto the words that your opponents have just played. That means that you cannot just create a freestanding word on the board, all of the tiles must be connected.
   • As you build onto the words that your opponents have played, make sure that you consider all of the connected tiles. Your addition to the board must create at least one new word, but if you connect to other tiles, from other directions, then you need to make sure that you are creating valid words with these connections.
5. Use your tiles to get the highest score possible per turn. It is a good idea to consider multiple plays during each of your turns and to go with the play that will gain you the most points. Look for opportunities to incorporate Premium Squares and high value letters like “Z” and “Q” into your plays. Available Premium Squares include:
   • Double Letter Score: This means that a letter placed on this square receives double the number of points that are shown on the letter.
   • Double Word Score: This means that a word that is made that includes the letter that is placed on this square receives double the number of points that it otherwise would.
   • Triple Letter Score: This means that a letter placed on this square receives three times the number of points that are shown on the letter.
   • Triple Word Score: This means that a word that is made that includes the letter that is placed on this square receives triple the number of points that it otherwise would.
6. Challenge other players to dispute a word. If you think that a player has played a word that does not exist or that another player has misspelled a word, then you can challenge that player. When you challenge a player, you look up the word in the dictionary.
   • If the word is in the dictionary and the player has spelled it correctly, then the word stays and the player gets the points. The challenger loses his or her turn.
   • If the word is not in the dictionary or the player has spelled it incorrectly, then the player must remove the word from the board. The player gains no points and loses that turn.
7. Exchange tiles you don’t want. At some point during the game, you may decide that you want to exchange some or all of your tiles for new ones. You can use a turn to get new tiles. Just discard the tiles that you no longer want into the bag, shuffle the bag and draw the number of tiles that you discarded. Just keep in mind that you cannot play a word in addition to drawing new tiles, this will count as your turn.

Scoring

1. Keep score as you go. It is important to keep a careful tally of each player’s scores as you play. Each player should announce his or her score after adding it up and then the score keeper should write it down right away.
2. Watch for Premium Score squares. Premium Squares will alter your word scores, so pay attention to these when you play words. You can only use the bonus from a Premium Square if you laid the tile over that square during the current turn. You cannot incorporate bonuses from Premium Squares that you already counted in a different turn or that were counted by a different player.
   • When adding the bonuses for plays with multiple Premium Squares, add the letter bonuses in before the word bonuses. For example, if you spell a word that has a double letter bonus and a triple word bonus, add the double letter bonus to your total before multiplying the total by three.
3. Get 50 points added to your word score if you get a BINGO. A BINGO is when you use all seven of your tiles to play a word. When this happens, you should add up the total value of your word plus any bonuses gained from Premium Tiles and then add 50 points.
4. Add up each player’s scores at the end of the game. After all of the players have exhausted their tiles or cannot play any more words, add up each player’s points total. As the score keeper adds the totals, each player should let him or her know the points value (if any) of the tiles he or she has left over. Deduct this value from each player’s points total to determine each player’s final score.
5. Announce the winner. After the score keeper has added each player’s scores and deducted the values of any unused tiles, he or she may announce the winner. The person who has the highest score wins the game. Second place goes to the person with the second-highest score, and so on.

Finding People to Play With

1. Invite friends over for a friendly game. Scrabble is a fun game that is easy to learn, so it’s a great way to spend time with friends. Invite a few of your friends over for a Scrabble night. You will get lots of practice and it will make for a fun evening.
2. Join Scrabble club. Perhaps you want to play Scrabble on a weekly basis. If you don’t know many people who would be into playing Scrabble with you on such a regular basis, then a Scrabble club might be for you. Look for a club in your area or consider forming your own Scrabble club.
3. Enter a tournament. After you have developed your skills a bit and feel ready to compete with other players, try entering a Scrabble tournament. You will get to play lots of games and you will meet people who share your love of the game.

Playing Scrabble Professionally

1. Play using the official Scrabble dictionary, enforcing fake or illegal words. If you're going to play professionally, such as at the National Scrabble Tournaments, you need to play by the rules. Buy an official dictionary and enforce the rules when playing with friends. You need to practice how you'll play if you're going to be a professional.
   • You can practice against other professionals online at the Internet Scrabble Club, a sort of meeting place for serious players.
   • This can help you learn the tricky, odd words needed to play professionally, like "umiak," "MBAQANGA," or "qi."
2. Learn tournament etiquette. A tournament is not like your classic living room Scrabble. There are rules and regulations to make sure everything goes smoothly. While you can read the entire rule-book here, the basics include:
   • Time yourself, starting and stopping with each turn.
   • Recording score, for both players, after each turn.
   • Drawing new tiles at eye level, with your palms open, looking away from the bag.
   • The ability to call a "Hold," which gives you 15 seconds to challenge a word.
   • Using a computer to adjudicate disputes.
3. Join the North American Scrabble Players Association (NASPA). This is where the big-dogs get into tournaments. They sanction the major events, which you only have to be a member to join. If you want to be a professional, this is the way to go.
   • If you're looking to practice in person a bit, see if your town or city has a local Scrabble Club. This is a good place to practice some tournament play before going to NASPA if you're nervous.
4. Study word lists religiously. In Scrabble, words are your weapons. So, the more you know, the better you'll be. Take the time to thumb through the dictionary once a day. Look up an online "word of the day." Best yet, go online and search "Scrabble Word Lists." The professionals actually make flash-cards and study the lists religiously, focusing especially on "weird word lists" that can save you in a pinch.
   • You can even look up lists for one letter-- like all words that contain that pesky "X" or "Q."
   • While the official Scrabble dictionary doesn't contain profanity or slurs, they are actually all fair game in tournament play.
5. Know the power of your specific tiles. Some tiles are worth a lot more than others -- the S, for example, is a powerful way to tack on an extra letter to just about any word. Blank tiles should be saved for a huge word or scoring play, since you can use them easily. And get rid of Qs quickly, preferably on small words like "qi" or "qat" (both legal words).
   • Just playing your tiles and scoring points is generally better than holding on for a long time to get one great word or Triple Word Score. Just keep scoring away.
6. Keep track of the tiles. Professionals actually track the tiles, keeping mental or written notes of what is left in the bag. This gets crucial as the game continues. If you're going to exchange, hoping to get a new vowel, you should know vaguely how many vowels are in the bag. If there aren't a lot of Qs, Vs, and Zs on the board, and you don't have any, you can be sure your opponent has a few (meaning you might risk opening up a Triple Word Score -- hoping they can't hit it).
   • You can find the exact numbers of each tile here.

Tips

• Blank letters can be replaced with any other letter, but keep in mind that they are worth 0 points.

Things You'll Need

• Scrabble Game Board
• Scrabble Letter Bag
• Scrabble Letters
• Scrabble Dictionary
• Paper
• Pencil
• 4 tile racks

Related Articles

• Improve Your Scrabble Score
• Play Speed Scrabble
• Win at Scrabble
• Play Squabble
• Study for a Spelling Test
• Win a Spelling Bee
• Challenge a Word in Scrabble

Sources and Citations

See also

• Win at Scrabble
• Improve Your Scrabble Score
• Play Scrabble Slam
• Play Speed Scrabble

What links here

• Cultivate a Love of Words
• Play Bananagrams
• Play Words with Friends