Understanding the Rules of Scrabble
By Space Coast Daily // March 12, 2020
Scrabble is a game played on a 15 x 15 grid that challenges participants to create words. Points are collected through the placement of each letter when creating words.
Different letters have different values, so the objective is to collect as many points as possible using the letters as well as the bonus tiles on the board itself.
However, you should also understand the rules of the game so that you can increase your chances of winning. Read on to learn more about the rules of Scrabble.
How to beat competition
There are a couple of tricks that you can utilize when playing this game. To beat your competition in Scrabble, you can use an unscrambling tool to help stretch your vocabulary. The tool helps you come up with an unlimited number of words. When you use this tool, you can discover a lot of words that can be generated from scrambled letters. The major advantage of the tool is that it consists of an unlimited database of words found in the dictionary.
The tool is effortless and can give you a competitive advantage over someone with a powerful vocabulary. The tool also helps you think fast so that you can come up with as many words as possible. All the same, the following rules should guide you when you play the game.
What are the accepted scrabble words?
When playing Scrabble, you should understand that you can use all words that are found in the Standard English dictionary. Alternatively, you can purchase an Official Scrabble Dictionary so that you can have more choices for different words.
It is also important to know that abbreviations, prefixes, and suffixes are not allowed in the scrabble game. All words that require the use of apostrophe or hyphen cannot be used in the game.
Players in the game
Each player gets the opportunity to play first in the game. A player uses the letters to create a word that is placed on the board and it should be read either down or across, with at least one letter placed on the center square.
A player then gets replacement letters after creating a word. The other rule is that diagonal words are not accepted in the game. Each new word should be added to an existing word on the board. The letters can either be added in a vertical column or a single row.
Scoring rules
The sums of the letter values in all words that have been formed by the player constitute their total score. Additional scores can be obtained by placing the letters on premium squares.
Whenever a word that can cover two premium squares is formed, the word is redoubled to four times that of the letter count. The words can be tripled and re-tripled again, depending on how many premium squares are used with one word.
The letters that are later played on the premium squares already played count at face value. If you play a blank tile on a red or pink square, then the value of that word will be doubled or tripled.
The blank has no score value, though. You should carefully check the score values to ensure that each move generates a good total for you.
The player who uses the entire seven tiles to create a specific word on the board can get a handsome reward in the form of a 50-point bonus.
The bonus comes on top of the original value of the word. The bonus is only achieved after the placement of seven-letter words.
How does the game end?
When one player has exhausted all the tiles available, then the game ends. All the letters should be either on the board or the player’s racks.
The person with the highest final score is automatically the winner of the game. If there is a draw, then the next person with the highest score in two games is the winner.
The player’s score is reduced by the total of letters not played. When you have played all your letters, then the other player’s letters are added to your score.
Scrabble is an interesting game that involves numbers and letters. It is designed to improve one’s vocabulary by creating words using letters that are assigned different values.
There are basic rules outlined above that you should follow in order to master the skill of playing this game. For example, foreign words are not allowed when you are playing the Standard English Version.
You should also ensure that all the words that you use have no hyphens or apostrophes since they are not allowed.
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