Buy a Scrabble® dictionary (as of March 1, 2006, the
Official Tournament and Club Word List second edition,
commonly referred to as OWL2). The OSPD Fourth Edition,
a "politically
correct," expurgated volume sold in bookstores, is
not the source used for adjudicating challenges, but can
be a helpful learning supplement, as it contains brief
definitions which can’t be found in OWL2. Become
familiar with all the acceptable
two- and three-letter
words; these are the glue of the
game -- that is,
they hold together all the longer, higher-scoring
words.
Don't play scared. Don't worry how good your opponent is,
or how good her tiles may be at the moment. Concentrate
on what you can do with your tiles,
play offensively first.
Accept the idea that Scrabble is a math game just as much
as it is a word game. The strategic theory of the game is based
on statistical analysis, probabilities, and spatial relationships on
the board. Experienced players seek
to maximize the value of
small-numbered tiles by playing bingos
(using all 7 tiles on your
rack to earn the 50-point bonus), and large-numbered# tiles by
causing them to interact with the colored premium squares on
the board, or with other words on the board. (I.e.: one can score
just as much for placing a 4-letter
word in a place where it lies
parallel to 4 other letters or whole
words without hitting any
premium squares as you might for the same play
hitting a double-
or even triple-word square but forming
only one or two words.)
# But don't get into the habit of
holding onto the highest-numbered
tiles until you make big plays with them. They suffocate your rack,
and you don't score enough with the in-between plays
while you wait. This is the commonest mistake made by
novice players: The worst letters in the pool are the Q, J, W,
in that order. If you have
them, they are the first tiles
you should be looking to use up, and the last
you should
consider holding.
Balance your rack. Look at the distribution of the letters in the
set at the start of the game and notice that with 56 consonants
and 42 vowels (plus 2 blanks = 100), there is a clear ratio of 4c
to 3v, which ideally should be what you strive to maintain in your
rack of 7 tiles. The more often you achieve this balance, the more
often you can hope to make bingos. Expert players average close
to 2 bingos per game!
Always look for ways to break up duplicates -- letters that appear
more than once in the same rack. Flexibility is a key to having,
finding, and being able to play bingos. Each time a tile is duplicated
in the rack, the number of possible letter orders that might be
acceptable words is cut in half.
The best tiles in the Scrabble set are the blanks and S's; don't
waste them. An S should generally not be played in a non-bingo
unless it yields a score at least 8 points more than anything you
can play without it, and the blank
should net at least 20 more points.
Two reasonable exceptions to that rule are when you have more
than one S in your rack, and when you need to close off a
dangerous opening from your opponent. S's and blanks are
extra valuable because they add flexibility both to your
rack,
and to your options for fitting words on the board (S *starts*
50% more words than any other letter, in addition to
all the
nouns and verbs it pluralizes) --
they usually allow bingos
to be played, but they can't do it without other useful letters...
* ... the best of those others are
the letters in "CANISTER."
If you can collect any five or six letters in this word, there are a
great many letters that can complete your rack to yield a 7- or
8-letter bingo. But don't forget
your vowel/consonant balance
while trying to collect these letters.
If you make a play that keeps
CNRST in your rack, chances are,
one of three things has
happened or will happen: 1) you already
had a bingo and failed
to play it, 2) you didn't have a bingo
because you just found it
necessary to play off two consonants, and 3) your next rack will
still have too many consonants. If you keep 5 of CANISTER,
they should include at least one
vowel, and keeping 6 of CANISTER
should include at least two of the vowels.
Avoid playing vowels next to dark blue and red squares; they let
your opponent
play a heavy consonant parallel and earn the
premium in two directions. Be eXtra alert to this while the X is
still unseen.
Building larger words is easier if you think in terms of common
prefixes like re-, pre-, post-, for-, fore-, co-, con-, sub-, over-, bi-,
di-, tri-, poly-, mono-, hypo-, hyper-, dis-, be-, de-, out-, mis- and
un- ; and suffixes such as -ed, -er, -or, -age, -ing, -al, -ly, -ally, -ic,
-oid, -tion, -able, -ible, -less, -ness, -man, -men, -ment, -est, -ier,
-ies, -iest, -ist, -ism, -ish, -ium, -ia, -ity, -ify, -ize, -ise, -ary, -ory,
-ology, -ate, -ite, -ine, -ive, -ase,
-ose, -ful, and -like. But don't
fixate on UN-; U is UsUally the worst
vowel you can hold, and don't
fixate on -ING either; a lot of words
contain those three letters but
don't end with them, and the G can
be a very awkward tile if you
don't have a word that ends with -ing,
more so if you have more
than one
G at a time.
Keep your mind open, and shuffle your tiles on your rack if you
are having
trouble finding words. When you find what you think
is a good play, sit on your hands until you find a better one. Don't
feel like you are in a race to finish the game -- there's no bonus for
unused time -- you have 25 minutes to make all your plays, and
the more of it you use without exceeding that limit, the less you'll
miss and the more strong plays you'll find.
And...
If you wish to play in tournaments, join the
for $30 per year.
_____________________________________________________________
OWL2 Two- and Three-Letter Words
Prepared 2008-09-03 by John Chew jjchew@math.utoronto.ca.
aa ab ad ae ag ah ai al am an ar as at aw ax ay ba be bi bo by de do ed
ef eh el em en er es et ex fa fe go ha he hi hm ho id if in is it jo ka
ki la li lo ma me mi mm mo mu my na ne no nu od oe of oh oi om on op or
os ow ox oy pa pe pi qi re sh si so ta ti to uh um un up us ut we wo xi
xu ya ye yo za
aah aal aas aba abo abs aby ace act add ado ads adz aff aft aga age ago
ags aha ahi ahs aid ail aim ain air ais ait ala alb ale all alp als alt
ama ami amp amu ana and ane ani ant any ape apo app apt arb arc are arf
ark arm ars art ash ask asp ass ate att auk ava ave avo awa awe awl awn
axe aye ays azo
baa bad bag bah bal bam ban bap bar bas bat bay bed bee beg bel ben bes
bet bey bib bid big bin bio bis bit biz boa bob bod bog boo bop bos bot
bow box boy bra bro brr bub bud bug bum bun bur bus but buy bye bys
cab cad cam can cap car cat caw cay cee cel cep chi cig cis cob cod cog
col con coo cop cor cos cot cow cox coy coz cru cry cub cud cue cum cup
cur cut cwm
dab dad dag dah dak dal dam dan dap daw day deb dee def del den dev dew
dex dey dib did die dif dig dim din dip dis dit doc doe dog dol dom don
dor dos dot dow dry dub dud due dug duh dui dun duo dup dye
ear eat eau ebb ecu edh eds eek eel eff efs eft egg ego eke eld elf elk
ell elm els eme ems emu end eng ens eon era ere erg ern err ers ess eta
eth eve ewe eye
fab fad fag fan far fas fat fax fay fed fee feh fem fen fer fes fet feu
few fey fez fib fid fie fig fil fin fir fit fix fiz flu fly fob foe fog
foh fon fop for fou fox foy fro fry fub fud fug fun fur
gab gad gae gag gal gam gan gap gar gas gat gay ged gee gel gem gen get
gey ghi gib gid gie gig gin gip git gnu goa gob god goo gor gos got gox
goy gul gum gun gut guv guy gym gyp
had hae hag hah haj ham hao hap has hat haw hay heh hem hen hep her hes
het hew hex hey hic hid hie him hin hip his hit hmm hob hod hoe hog hon
hop hos hot how hoy hub hue hug huh hum hun hup hut hyp
ice ich ick icy ids iff ifs igg ilk ill imp ink inn ins ion ire irk ism
its ivy
jab jag jam jar jaw jay jee jet jeu jew jib jig jin job joe jog jot jow
joy jug jun jus jut
kab kae kaf kas kat kay kea kef keg ken kep kex key khi kid kif kin kip
kir kis kit koa kob koi kop kor kos kue kye
lab lac lad lag lam lap lar las lat lav law lax lay lea led lee leg lei
lek les let leu lev lex ley lez lib lid lie lin lip lis lit lob log loo
lop lot low lox lug lum luv lux lye
mac mad mae mag man map mar mas mat maw max may med meg mel mem men met
mew mho mib mic mid mig mil mim mir mis mix moa mob moc mod mog mol mom
mon moo mop mor mos mot mow mud mug mum mun mus mut myc
nab nae nag nah nam nan nap naw nay neb nee neg net new nib nil nim nip
nit nix nob nod nog noh nom noo nor nos not now nth nub nun nus nut
oaf oak oar oat oba obe obi oca oda odd ode ods oes off oft ohm oho ohs
oil oka oke old ole oms one ono ons ooh oot ope ops opt ora orb orc ore
ors ort ose oud our out ova owe owl own oxo oxy
pac pad pah pal pam pan pap par pas pat paw pax pay pea pec ped pee peg
peh pen pep per pes pet pew phi pht pia pic pie pig pin pip pis pit piu
pix ply pod poh poi pol pom poo pop pot pow pox pro pry psi pst pub pud
pug pul pun pup pur pus put pya pye pyx
qat qis qua
rad rag rah rai raj ram ran rap ras rat raw rax ray reb rec red ree ref
reg rei rem rep res ret rev rex rho ria rib rid rif rig rim rin rip rob
roc rod roe rom rot row rub rue rug rum run rut rya rye
sab sac sad sae sag sal sap sat sau saw sax say sea sec see seg sei sel
sen ser set sew sex sha she shh shy sib sic sim sin sip sir sis sit six
ska ski sky sly sob sod sol som son sop sos sot sou sow sox soy spa spy
sri sty sub sue suk sum sun sup suq syn
tab tad tae tag taj tam tan tao tap tar tas tat tau tav taw tax tea ted
tee teg tel ten tet tew the tho thy tic tie til tin tip tis tit tod toe
tog tom ton too top tor tot tow toy try tsk tub tug tui tun tup tut tux
twa two tye
udo ugh uke ulu umm ump uns upo ups urb urd urn urp use uta ute uts
vac van var vas vat vau vav vaw vee veg vet vex via vid vie vig vim vis
voe vow vox vug vum
wab wad wae wag wan wap war was wat waw wax way web wed wee wen wet wha
who why wig win wis wit wiz woe wog wok won woo wop wos wot wow wry wud
wye wyn
xis
yag yah yak yam yap yar yaw yay yea yeh yen yep yes yet yew yid yin yip
yob yod yok yom yon you yow yuk yum yup
zag zap zas zax zed zee zek zep zig zin zip zit zoa zoo zuz zzz
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