How to play Scrabble

Content

Steps
Part 1 of 5: Preparing to Play
Part 2 of 5: Gameplay
Part 3 of 5: Scoring
Part 4 of 5: Finding Playmates
Part 5 of 5: Playing the Scrabble Pro
Tips
What do you need

Scrabble (or originally Scrabble) is a classic and addicting word game. The goal of the game is to score the most points for words composed on the playing field, which are somehow tied to the words of other players. To play Scrabble, you need at least one partner. You will also need an official playing field and a full set of dice with letters.In the course of the game, you will have to come up with words, count points and challenge the wrong words of your opponents, and, if necessary, change the bones on your hands if they do not suit you at all. In this case, one player will be responsible for keeping a record of the points scored by all players so that the winner can be identified at the end of the game. If you like this game, you can start meeting friends more often at the playing field or think about joining the Scrabble club and even sign up for the corresponding competitions.

Steps

Part 1 of 5: Preparing to Play

1 Make sure you have everything you need to play Scrabble. Before you start playing, you need to make sure that you have everything you need for it. You will need one board, 104 letter bones, one bone stand for each player, and a bone pouch. Also, you will have to find from one to three teammates in the game.
2 Find a dictionary so you can handle difficult cases. There are situations when, during the game, one of the players puts out a word that seems erroneous to other players or is not a word at all. In a similar situation, the given word needs to be checked against the dictionary. Therefore, you just need to have a dictionary at hand to deal with such cases.
3 Pour the letter bones into a bag and shake it. In order for the bones with the letters to mix well, they must be poured into a bag, tied and shaken well. If you don't have a pouch, you can simply place the bones face down on the table and shuffle.
4 Determine who will start the game first. Pass the bag in a circle to each player and ask them to draw one bone from it. Uncover the elongated letters by laying them out on the table. The game starts with the player who has a bone with the letter “A” or the letter closest to it (alphabetically). Drop the letter bones back into the bag and shuffle again before typing the letters for the game.
5 Pull the game dice out of the bag. Starting with the player drawing the letter closest to “A”, pass the bag in a circle to all the players and draw out 7 tiles each (without peeking). Do not show your tiles to other players. Place them on the bone stand and pass the pouch to the next player. All participants in the game must have 7 tiles.

Part 2 of 5: Gameplay

1 Make the first word on the playing field. The player who previously drew the bone with the letter closest to "A" needs to make up the first word on the playing field. It must consist of two or more tiles and pass through the center sprocket of the playing field. Words in the game can be laid out vertically or horizontally, but not diagonally.
- When calculating points for the first word, keep in mind that the player who laid out the first word gets double the number of points for it, since the asterisk in the center of the playing field refers to the prize cells that double the points for the word passing through them. For example, if the first word scored 8 points, the player will receive 16 points for it.
2 Count the points. Don't forget to count the points after you've completed the word. To do this, add the points indicated in the lower right corner of each bone used to form the word. If any of the tiles fall on the prize square of the playing field, adjust the score in accordance with the instructions of this square.
- For example, if your word went through a square that says “Double word”, then you must double the points for the word you put together. If any bone lies on the square with the inscription "Double letter", then when counting points for a word, you need to double the points only for this letter.
3 Draw out the missing letter bones. After each move, you will have to draw from the bag exactly as many new tiles as you just used to form the word.For example, if you used 3 tiles, then at the end of your turn you will have to draw 3 new tiles with letters. Place them on the stand and pass the bag to the next player.
4 Build new words based on the ones already laid out. In subsequent moves, new words should be based on those already laid out. You cannot lay out separate words on the playing field, all of them must be interconnected.
- When laying out a new word, be sure to check the correctness of all the relationships of the new word with the previous words. A new word should have at least one connection with some previous word, but if there are several such connections, then in all their directions only existing words should be obtained.
5 Use your dice with letters in such a way as to score the most points per turn. It would be wise to think over several options at once and choose the one that will bring you more points. At the same time, try to use the advantages that the prize squares of the playing field give to the players, as well as high-value letters such as "Ф" and "Щ" or "ъ". The types of prize squares that you will find on the playing field are indicated below.
- Double letter - a bone hitting a given square gets double the number of points indicated on it.
- Double word - a word with a letter on such a cell gets a total doubling of points for it.
- Triple letter - a bone that falls on a given square receives three times the number of points indicated on it.
- Triple word - a word with a letter on such a cell gets a total tripling of points for it.
6 Challenge other players' words. If you think that the word laid out by another player does not exist or there was a mistake in it, then it can be disputed. The disputed word is checked against the dictionary.
- If the contested word is present in the dictionary and the player has written it correctly, then it remains on the playing field and the player receives points for it. The person who disputed such a word skips his turn.
- If the word is not in the dictionary or it contains an error, then it is removed from the playing field. The player does not score points and wastes the current turn.
7 Swap bones for letters you don't need. At a certain stage in the game, you can decide to exchange some or all of your bones for new ones. The exchange is considered a move. Unnecessary bones are dropped into a bag and mixed, after which you draw out the same number of bones that were dropped. Remember that when you make an exchange, you lose the right to formulate a word on the same turn.

Part 3 of 5: Scoring

1 Keep counting points as the game progresses. It is very important to keep accurate scoring for each player throughout the game. The player who composed the word must announce the number of points scored by this word, and the person responsible for recording the points must carefully write down the points of all players after each move.
2 Pay attention to the prize squares of the playing field. Prize squares allow you to increase the number of points received for the completed word, so pay special attention to them during the game. You can use the properties of the prize square only if you placed a bone with a letter on it on the current turn. Those prize squares, whose properties have already been used by you or other players on previous turns, are not counted again.
- With the simultaneous consideration of prize squares for letters and words, first of all, the total points for letters are calculated, and only then the bonus number of points for doubling or tripling the word is determined. For example, if your word simultaneously covered the "Double letter" and "Triple word" squares, then you must first take into account the double letter, and then multiply the total word count by three.
3 Score an extra 50 points for the player who uses all seven dice with letters to form his word. If a player uses all the bones in his hand, then this is the so-called bingo situation. In this case, the points for the composed word, taking into account the action of the prize squares of the playing field, are increased by another 50 points.
4 Summarize at the end of the game. When the players have used up their last chips or can no longer form any new words, take stock of each player's final score. In this case, all players must declare the number of points that corresponds to the bones with letters remaining in their hands (if any). These points are deducted from the player's total score.
5 Announce the winner. After summing up and reducing the players' score by the cost of unused bones, the winner is announced. The person with the most final points is considered the winner. The second place goes to the one who scored the next highest number of points, and so on.

Part 4 of 5: Finding Playmates

1 Invite your friends to a friendly round of the game. Scrabble is fun and easy to play, so it's a great way to spend time with your friends. Invite a few friends over to your home for an evening of Scrabble. This way you can have fun and practice at the same time.
2 Join the Scrabble Lovers Club. You might want to play Scrabble regularly. If among your acquaintances there are not so many people who would like this game so much that they would agree to play it with you weekly, you can join the Scrabble lovers club. Try to find an existing local club or become the organizer of one yourself.
3 Sign up for a competition. Once you have developed your playing skills to a certain level, when you feel ready to compete against other skilled players, try signing up to compete. At the competition you will have the opportunity to meet other avid fans of Scrabble and you will have to play a lot of rounds of this game.

Part 5 of 5: Playing the Scrabble Pro

1 Play Scrub using the words included in the standard explanatory dictionary of the Russian language and discard nonexistent or unrecorded words. If you are going to play Scrabble on a professional level, you must follow the rules of the game. Buy yourself a Russian dictionary and follow the rules while playing with friends. You need to practice exactly the style of play that is required of professional players.
- You can practice playing online on this site, and those wishing to play with you, amateurs and professionals can be found on the page of the same game in VKontakte.
- This way you will be able to learn quick wits and get good at making up unusual and expensive words, such as "FURSCHIK", which is extremely useful for the transition to a professional level of the game.
2 Observe etiquette when participating in competitions. Competitions are not at all like those games that take place at your table in the living room. They set their own rules and regulations to make everything go smoothly. The basics of Russian tournament rules can be found here. Competition players are typically required to:
- keep track of the start and end times of your turn;
- record after each move the score for both yourself and your opponent;
- pull out new bones from the bag with letters at head level, turning to the side;
- be ready to say the word "pause", which gives 15 seconds of time to challenge the opponent's laid out word;
- resort to using a computer to resolve controversial issues.
3 Join the Russian Scrabble Federation. It is through her that you can learn about major competitions. To participate in such competitions, you must become a member of the federation. If you want to become a professional, then you just need this step.
- If you need a little practice, look for a local Scrabble club in your area.This is a great way to gain the necessary experience before joining a federation.
4 Study the words of the Russian language carefully. In Scrub, words are your weapon. The more you know, the better you will play. Take time to browse the dictionary pages daily. Try to regularly check the net to find out the "word of the day". Better yet, try to look up the Scrabble winning word lists. Professionals even prepare cards with such words for themselves, study them carefully and pay special attention to lists of unusual words that can be decisive for winning the game.
- You can even just search for lists of words containing only one of the valuable letters, such as "Ф", "Щ", or "b".
- Despite the fact that not all dictionaries of the Russian language contain swear words, they are quite acceptable for playing Scrabble.
5 Learn to correctly evaluate the bones with letters on your hands. Some letters are noticeably more useful than others, for example, the letter "Y" can be added to almost any noun to create a plural and get extra points. It is wise to reserve the empty tiles for a big word or for the final move in the game, so that it is not so difficult. Try to quickly get rid of the not very easy-to-use solid sign (even with the small words "volume" or "exit").
- A simple game of scoring with the letters you have available is usually preferable to the practice of temporarily holding on to some of the dice to be able to make a great or tripled word. Try to build up your score as much as possible with each move.
6 Keep a record of the tiles used and remaining in the game. Professional players must keep an oral or written record of the bones that remain in the bag. Sometimes it is very important to determine the further actions of the player. If you want to exchange bones in the hope of getting a vowel, it will be useful for you to know how many of these letters are left in the game. If on the playing field you do not see expensive letters laid out (for example, "Ф", "Щ" or "b") and you do not have such letters on your hands, we can assume that these letters are on the hands of an opponent (in this case, it would be reasonable try to make up a triple word to prevent your opponent from doing this).
- Here you can find the quantitative composition of tiles with letters in different versions of the game.