Although scrabble is just a game for some, it is all about winning the game for others. But the question remains, is there any hard and fast rule behind being a scrabble champion? Some might agree, while others beg to differ and argue that beginner’s luck has a significant role to play. Other than being a long-time player and having luck with the game, some players use the benefit of some tools such as unscramblex.
If you are serious about winning and would either like to increase your chances of winning or become an expert at scrabble, then there are a few tricks you can do to save up your sleeves and wow your opponents.
- Study the Tiles and Their Frequency of Use in Words
Certain alphabets appear more frequently than others in words present in dictionaries. Stocking these often used tiles into your pile for later use can be a game-changer and may help you reverse the game completely. These tiles include the following:
- E with the frequency of use at 11.16%
- A with the frequency of use at 8.50%
- R with the frequency of use at 7.58%
- I with the frequency of use at 7.54%
- O with the frequency of use at 7.16%
- T with the frequency of use at 6.95%
- N with the frequency of use at 6.65%
- S with the frequency of use at 5.73%
- L with the frequency of use at 5.49%
- C with the frequency of use at 4.54%
- Learn One Word a Day
You can increase your vocabulary to familiarize yourself with more words and unknown words that are not frequently used. This can be done by utilizing services like word of the day that cost nothing. In fact, word of the day itself can be turned into a fun challenge to see how many words you can learn that are not commonly used.
Other than this, several online apps and websites have an extensive list of words that can be used. Scrabble has its own dictionary, which allows the use of certain words which are not present in traditional dictionaries. Hence you can learn more words through apps that provide words to memorize from the scrabble dictionary.
- Refresh your Memory
It is more than likely that you could potentially lose points for spelling words incorrectly? Scrabble has a rule which lets users challenge a player’s move either to dispute the existence of the word or the incorrect spelling of it. If you have misspelled your words and have been challenged by your opponent, you will lose your points for that move.
Hence, to win, it is always a smart choice to rerun through an old list of words and recall their spellings. To make things more enjoyable and challenging, you can also hold a spell B competition between you and your friends.
- Avoid Using Common Tiles in The Middle Square
If your tile was closest to the alphabet ‘a’, you would have the opportunity to make the first move and begin the game during the tile drawing process. It is vital to know that if you are in this position, you should avoid using common word tiles, which can easily be build-up upon and give your opponents a chance to score higher. The ‘It’ words to avoid adding to the middle square include the vowels a, e, i, o, and u.
- Do Not Keep Holding Onto That Z and Q Tile
Getting your hands on the Z and Q tile is both a blessing in disguise and a recipe for failure. It all depends on your method of use and the timing of use. Why, you may ask? Q and Z are the tiles that provide you the highest score when used compared to any other tile, offering 10 points.
The strategic use of the tile in the early game will save you from the chance of failure towards the end. Most players make the mistake of holding onto these tiles in hopes of coming across a better opportunity to use as the game progresses. But most times, this ends in vain and sometimes becomes the very reason for your failure to win.
- Increase Your Knowledge
To prevent the use of vowel-containing words in the middle square, you will need to build up your vocabulary for non-vowel words. Using non-vowel words come in handy not only during the beginning of the game but also in the late game as it provides your opponents fewer chances to score higher. Here are some words you can learn:
- Rhythm (longest non-vowel word)
- Dryly
- Crypt
- Myth
- Cysts
Besides learning and stacking up on non-vowel words, you should also increase your knowledge of using the tile Q. Most people run away from the word Q or end up using low-scoring words or always need a U to accompany their Q.
There are several words that do not require a U to form a sentence with the tile Q. Some words which are worth remembering include QWERTY, qaid, faqir, and sheqel.
- Learning Prefixes, Suffixes, and 2 Letter Words
Stocking up on prefixes and suffixes containing words will help you use your opponent’s move to score higher points. It is easier to build on existing words when all you need to do is add a few tiles to the beginning or at the end of the word.
Besides keeping a stock of prefixes and suffixes, it would benefit you to remember a list of 2 letter words. Certain two-letter words can end up providing you up to 50 points. You can use words like ‘Qi,’ which is a vital force in Chinese culture, or ‘Xu,’ a unit in Vietnam. You can also use slang words, interjections, musical notes, and phonetic spellings
- Do Not Run Away from Vowel Heavy Words
Although we have previously mentioned staying away from using words containing vowels, the case is very different for vowel-heavy words. Most people use 2 vowels at most in their words, and sometimes luck brings them with tiles that are all vowels. In this case, using words such as oi, Eau, or aa can help; they may sound weird, but they are actual words.
9. Focus on bonus tiles
Scrabble is about more than just which word you play – where you place the letters are equally important. For example, MOB and OBE both use a 3-point letter (B), but they can score differently depending on where the B is placed. If the B is on a double or triple-letter tile you can score 6 or 9 points versus the regular 3 points. To search for words that start with or end with letters in a certain order, try Unscrambled Words. This online tool is basically a free anagram solver, so you can enter all your Scrabble tiles and let the tool generate a list of different words to score extra points.
