A few words on basic strategy…
Scrabble is so simple that your goal can be summarised in a single sentence: The object of the game is to score more than your opponent. Of course, if you play some nice words in the process, that’s an added bonus. But it’s by no means a prerequisite. If you can win the game by playing CAT and DOG, that’s all you need to do.
Remember, there are three important things you have to consider before you play your word:
- Score – you want to score as many points as possible. This can be done by aiming for the premium (coloured) squares, especially trying to place your high scoring tiles there. Of course, playing all 7 tiles in a single move – a bingo – is the best way to score well, as you’ll get a 50-point bonus!
- Leave – you want to leave yourself with manageable letters (VVGC are not considered manageable…) so you’ll be able to score well on your next move. A couple of principles to follow:
- The more a letter is worth, the quicker you must get rid of it (don’t hold on to Qs and Vs…).S’s and blanks must be “saved” for good moves, allowing you to “hook” words off words on the board and, possibly, to play a bingo.
- Try to keep an even number of vowels and consonants – too many of either is not a good thing. Also, don’t hold on to duplicate tiles, if possible.
- Opening – scoring well is important, provided you don’t open up too many scoring opportunities for your opponent. What’s the use in scoring 20 points if you give your opponent a potential 50-point play? Remember – the objective is to score more than your opponent, not merely to score well.
Other Tips
This week’s tip: Don’t be so quick to challenge a word you don’t know. When your opponent has announced his/her score and you’re considering a challenge, just say “hold” or “wait” in order to prevent him/her from drawing new tiles. If you’re 100% sure the word is wrong, a challenge is probably your best bet – though not always (the phony might allow you to place a bingo you couldn’t have otherwise placed). So replenish your rack and consider your options with and without the word in question. Either way, consider the fact that you might lose the challenge. If you can definitely win without challenging and you might lose if you lose the challenge, you should probably let an almost-definite-phony go. But above all, remember you should never challenge a word, but rather challenge the whole play (all the words formed) because one of them may be wrong while the others may be right – you don’t want to challenge the “wrong” word!
Over and above prefixes and suffixes, there are other ways to “find” bingos on your rack (besides memorizing lists). Try forming compound words by forming two three or four letter words. Many words are formed precisely like this. Over 350 words begin or end with “HEAD”, almost 600 words end with “MAN” and almost 700 end with “LIKE”. There are also around 150 “FISH”s, 50 “BOAT”s and 80 “BIRD”s too.
Don’t only look at the places you can “hook” onto (i.e. extend an existing word by one letter while playing another word across it). You can score quite a few points by extending existing words, especially as the game nears its end. This requires word knowledge, of course, but also quite a bit of imagination. Look at words ending or beginning a couple of spaces away from a triple/double word square. There are, of course, the obvious UN-, RE- or –ING extensions. But there are cases where you might easily miss a possibility. For example, if your opponent opens the game with JUDGE (with the “J” on the double letter), you could extend it leftwards to the triple word square with MIS-, FOR- or PRE- for 57-60 points or extend GRAVEST by adding –ONE to the end (think about it…).
“I can never find bingos” is often said by players. How does one find all those lovely bingos? Balancing your rack is very important. Also, try playing around with the tiles on your rack, arranging prefixes (OUT-, RE-, OVER-, DE- etc.) and suffixes (-ING, -ED, -ERS, -OUS etc.). But first and foremost – look at the board and check out all the potential hooks and bingo spots. That way you can focus on what to start/end your bingo with and you won’t take forever looking for a bingo when there’s nowhere to put it!
There are several things to take into account when playing the opening move in a game (and, indeed, any move in a given game): Placing high-scoring tiles on the double-letter squares (re-doubling their face value), maximizing turnover to fish for blanks, S’s and other goodies, minimizing the openings you give your opponent (especially by avoiding placing vowels adjacent to the double-letter squares) are just three.
Your “turnover” means the number of tiles you place on the board. If the S’s and Blanks (and perhaps a specific letter you’re waiting for) have yet to surface, you should maximize your turnover in order to increase your chances of getting them. If you play one or two tiles per move, your chances of drawing good tiles decrease.
Certain tiles are more bingo-prone than others. The 7 letters in RETINAS are considered “above average” (alternatively: the nine letters in ORIENTALS). Assuming your rack is balanced, holding onto any of these may increase your chances of getting a playable bingo.
How does one manage the Q? Well, try to learn the U-less Q words and the short words with a Q. Don’t hold onto U’s “waiting” for the Q, unless it’s right at the end of the game and the Q is still not out.
Try to maintain a balanced rack. This means keeping a Consonant/Vowel ratio of approximately 4/3 (or 50% of each). Play off excess vowels/consonants if possible, reducing your chances of having a vowel-heavy or vowelless rack.
Be cautious when placing vowels adjacent to the premium squares (double/triple letter/word). An unwary player could easily have his/her opponent scoring over 50 points with a simple XI/AX play.
Rack management (i.e. the importance of what you keep on your rack): S’s and blanks are not to be thrown around for too few points without good reason. Try to keep them for high-scoring plays (some say 30 for an “S” and 50 for a blank – but this depends on your rack and the situation of course).
Tel Aviv Scrabble Club 