The 4x7 Rules of Thumb to Scrabble

Seven(7) DOsssssssssss

1. Proper Arrangement - Try to unscramble for a Bingo Word. If you somewhat recognized that you potentially got the Bingo Word but are not quite figured out yet and want to quickly move on to playing more games, we suggest that you try web version: WordFinder App to instantly unscramble the tiles for you. If you are mobile, we have the iPhone version: WordFinder App for you. If no Bingo Word found, then arrange the tiles by placing the all the high-values tile on the left and the low-value tiles on the right side of your rack. Place the [Blank] tile and [S] tile on the far left side of your rack. Hence, pay close attention to tiles on the left side of your rack. Only play them if you can play at least 15-20 points on a turn.

2. Aim For the Bonus Squares Combos: DW+DW, DW+DL, TW+TL - Make a habbit to start every play by scanning the board for all playable bonus square(s), especially the TW and TL or DW and DL Combos. Any tile landing on these squares will get its point value doubled, tripled; or the total point value of the word doubled, tripled. The multiplication can be stacked if you land on multiple bonus squares. For example, if your word land on both the TL and TW, the letter that landed on the TL will get triple points, then the total point for that word (including the tripled letter point) will be tripled. Sometime landing on multiple bonus squares is much better than getting a Bingo Word.

3. Bridge That Word(aka: Kill 2 Birds With 1 Stone) - You play a new word by "hooking" to an existing word on the board with one of the letters from the new word, essentially creating two new words. People commonly bridge two words by placing an [S], [D], or [R] at the end of an existing word on the board. This is technique is especially fruitful if you can place a high-value tile on the bonus square that bridges any two words. For example, assume there is an [I] right next to the TL square. If you have [Q] and [I], you can play "QI" horizontally and "QI" vertically by using the [Q] to bridge the two words. Thus, you should get around 62 points in this case (31 for "QI" horizontally and 31 for "QI" vertically).

4. Stack Those Words(aka: You're a nerd!) - This concept takes Words Bridging to the next level. You can view this a essentially bridging multiple words in one play. Some people refer to this as playing a word in "parallel" with existing word(s). If you do this right, the minimun score for this play is 20 points. Furthermore, stacking words will make the game tighter (hence tougher for your opponent to score excessively high).

5. Save High-Value Tiles (Z, Q, J, X, K) for the Bonus Square(s) - Scrabble is not about whether you can spell the longest word. In fact, you should not play a long word unless it either fetches you a Bingo or a really high point. Rather, Scrabble is all about strategically determine the appropriate word to play that would yield the best score AND defensive against your opponent's next move. You don't want to play a long word, yielding 100+ point; but leaving a hole allowing your opponent to make 120+ points in return. Please note we intentionally leave out the "V" because there is no 2-letter word for "V". In a tight game (not too many open letters on the board) or when the game is closing down to less than 20 tiles left, trying to play the "V" could be challenging. Thus the trade-off is not worth holding on to the "V" because any left-over tile after the game ended will be subtracted from your total score by its face value.

6. Strategically Swapping Tiles - If your tiles are all less than two points, you don't have a bingo, and there is no need to defend any bonus squares combos, then it is a good time to swap. Playing all low-value tiles on the board (without a Bingo Word or bonus squares) will earn you a max of 15 points; but would expose chances for your opponent to score high, especially if you have played a long word. So unless you are making a high score on the move, it is best to use this opportunity to swap your tiles for a chance to get some higher-value tiles. Generally it is a good practice to swap around three to five tiles at a time.

7. Build up Your Vocaburary (Vocab Library) - Last but not least, consider invest some spare times to learn or be familiar with all the 2-letters words and some high-points words. Please take a look at these Good-2-Know words. If the list is too big for the time being, at least memorize a few words below since they are commonly played:
             The Seven Duals - JO, KI, KA, QI, XI, XU, ZA
             The Five Trios - ADZ, JOE, QAT, SUQ, ZAX
   As you are playing more games these words will undoubtedly sink into your subconscious.

Four(4) DONTsssssssss

1. DONT Open the Bonus Squares Combos: DW+DW, DW+DL, TW+TL - You can expect your opponents to make AT LEAST 30 points if you open up the Bonus Squares Combos. Unfortunately, that is a conservative estimate. Most of the time, people would make around 60+ points for the TW+TL Combo, 40+ points for DW+DW Combo, or 30+ for the DW+DL Combo. Please refer to the [Aim For the Bonus Squares Combos: DW+DW, DW+DL, TW+TL] Section on howto leverage these combos.

2. DONT Anticipate - Sometime it is easy to get carry away with trying to wait for a letter to hit a Bingo Word or waiting for your opponents to leave a particular letter opened on the board for you to complete your word. Well, when you are waiting on a "perfect" move, you tend to score less on the current move because you place additional constraints on yourself. Life tends to play trick on you: The more you expect, the least will come. You would end up with more frustration and begin to make cloudy judgements.

3. DONT Hang-on Too Long - You should hang on to the high-value tiles as indicated in the [Save High-Value Tiles (Z, Q, J, X, K) for the Bonus Square(s)] Section; however, there are cases where you need to let go:
       Case 1: Having multiple high-value tiles (Z, Q, J). You should keep one because the more you keep, the available letters you can play with. Playing words such as "ZA", "QI", or "JO" is the quickest liquidation route.
       Case 2: You have the Q but the game is very tight and/or it is almost closing (only 15 tiles left). Yes, by now your opponents are well aware that you have the "Q" so trying to score high with the "Q" at this time is hard. Playing "QI" is the quickest liquidation route.

4. DONT Just Skip a Turn - You can think of skipping a turn as getting a negative score. How much negative? It's subjective, but it literally means you didn't score the points that you would normally sore per turn (aka: average points total per turn). For most people, this equate to 15-20 points. Therefore the next time when you get stuck (because you got too many vowels or too many consonants), you should consider swapping some tiles. Please refer to [Strategically Swapping Tiles] Section for a good strategy on swapping tiles. Remember, just plainly skipping a turn is senseless.

Glossary of Terms

• Bingo Word - Any word that you can form by using all of your seven (7) tiles.

• Bonus Squares - Squares on the board with marking DL(Double Letter), DW(Double Word), TL(Triple Letter), and TW(Triple Word). Any tile landing on these squares will get its point value doubled, tripled; or the total point value of the word doubled, tripled. The multiplication can be stacked if you land on multiple bonus squares. For example, if your word land on both the TL and TW, the letter that landed on the TL will get triple points, then the total point for that word (including the tripled letter point) will be tripled. Hence, always aim for the Combos because sometime landing on multiple bonus squares is much better than getting a Bingo Word.

• Bonus Squares Combos - This refer to any two bonus squares that can be reached with a 4 or 5-letters word. The combos include:
            Double Word(DW) and Double Word(DW)
            Double Word(DW) and Double Letter(DL)
            Tripple Word(TW) and Tripple Letter(TL)

• Double Letter(DL) - A tile placed on this square will have it point value doubled.

• Double Word - A tile placed on this square will have the entire word doubled. The multiplication can be stacked if you land on multiple bonus squares

• Triple Letter(TL) - A tile placed on this square will have it point value tripled.

• Triple Word(TW) - A tile placed on this square will have the entire word tripled. The multiplication can be stacked if you land on multiple bonus squares

• Words Bridging - You play a new word by "hooking" to an existing word on the board with one of the letters from the new word, essentially creating two new words.

External References

• SCRABBLE History - Where it's all started.
• Official SCRABBLE rules - Get it straight from the source.
• The National Scrabble Association - News, Tournaments, News, and everything for SCRABBLE enthusiasts.