F%@# Scrabble (actually, it might be a lot better than you remember)

Scrabble

What games do you play with family? We've played Pictionary, we've played Balderdash, but the one I enjoy at the same level as the types of games discussed in this blog, the only game with some meat to it, is Scrabble. As far as mainstream choices go, Scrabble is a gamers game.

I know what you're thinking, "I don't know words like EERIE and ANOA, Scrabble comes down to who has the best vocabulary." Not so. Scrabble is a tactical game. AX with the X on the triple letter is worth more (25) than SERRATE on a double word score (14). Vocabulary is nice, but good tactics will send good vocabulary crying home to mama every single time.

It's not about how long your word is (unless it uses all your tiles), it's about how you can get a word made on the bonus squares. If you have the Z, the most important thing is to get that Z on a triple letter or double letter, or get a word made that crosses a triple word or double word. The difference between ZOO versus OOZE or DOZE is really inconsequential. The most important thing is to maximize the 10 point Z by taking advantage of the bonus squares.

Tactically speaking, there are two ways to play, tight, or wide open. Tight players make small words that score reasonably well with the priority of not making any good bonus squares available to their opponents. And if good squares are available on the board, tight players will use them up even if they score less points than they could have otherwise. They do this just to deny their opponents. Two tight players tend to make boards that are very congested and inche their way to the bottom right hand corner of the board. Tight players will only risk opening things up when they can score big points. Wide open players really don't give two shits about what they are opening up. Wide open players either don't care about the tactics (poor players) and want to make big satisfying words, or are so good, they believe they can out score you no matter what you leave them (elite level).

While I prefer to play wide open, if an opponent is playing tight I generally find myself playing tight. My sister plays wide open, but that's because making PELICAN gives her a warm feeling of satisfaction. A feeling that, after I have shat upon it 351 to 187, has about the same worth as thimble full of urine would to a man dying in the desert.

Tight players use a lot of parallel words. I hate this, not because it's not a worthy strategy, but because that congestion makes it more difficult for me. My wife excels at this, she can routinely play only a couple of letters and score 20+ points each time.

There is luck in Scrabble. You are, after all, drawing random letters at the end of each turn. But sometimes people look at good luck the wrong way. You WANT the Q, Z, X and J. Those letters are big winners. Those are the letters you put the on bonus tiles to make big big points. Those letters mean you don't have to be as creative. You find the available triple letters and find a word, any word, that allows your big point letter to sit on it. Furthermore, you make your own luck in some ways. If you can make STEER and leave yourself an O, or make STORE and leave yourself an E, then keep the E. It's easy to get stuck with lots of vowels, so try and keep your tray balanced with 4 constinants and 3 vowels. If you have three I's, then playing a word that uses two is a big win.

Full disclosure time. Remember I said vocubulary was over rated? Well, there is one cavaet. To play effectively, you really have to memorize a couple word lists. The most important "official word list" is the legal two letter words. There are 101 of them, and the game is a lot more fun if everyone knows them. If only one player knows all the legal two letter words, they are going to win. You don't need to know the three letter word list, and you don't need to know all the short Q and Z words, but a few of those will help. ZA, QI, and QAT for example. Hopefully by now you can see why those words could be super useful to know. I can't tell you how many times I've played a Q or a Z on a triple letter score and made 31 points with ZA and QI. Occassionally you can make QI or ZA going horizontal and another Q or Z word going vertical to score it on the triple letter twice! That's 60 points just for one tile!

Tips:

*Always use your "S" to hang a word perpendicularly and score both words. For example, make JAR into JARS and use the S to make a word that takes advantage of the bonus squares you open up.

*Always use your blank in the same way.

*Playing all seven letters, aka a Bingo, scores you an extra 50 points. If all your tiles are only worth one point each, you probably have a bingo somewhere in there, just gotta find it! Pulling out The prefix RE often helps me find something with the remaining letters. Same with -ED and -ING. I'll break the first two rules and use my S and/or blank to make a bingo.

*Try to avoid trading your letters, it's rarely necessary. Occassionally I do this if I have all vowels, but that's about it.

*Practice online, you can play Words with Friends on facebook for example. I imagine cheating is rampant online, but I won more than my fair share proving again that tactical play is more important than knowing every word you can make with your letters.

7/10 with a group of gamers. 10/10 if you're with a group non-gamers. 11/10 if it gets you in the other room away from your annoying in-laws on a major holiday.

*From XKCD, Randal notes that scrabble vets may also see the OSTRICH option :)