These 8 Tips Will Help You Win Your Next Scrabble Game
It’s Friday night, and your friends just invited you to play a game of Scrabble. You try hard not to show it, but you’re secretly dreading the idea. Just thinking about trying to spell words with letters that don’t seem to make sense makes your head hurt, while somehow other people always manage to come up with long words that take up half the board and get 50 points each. We have a few tips and tricks up our sleeves that will help even the odds!
How can reading books improve your scrabble games?
Many Scrabble players find that reading books is a fun and easy way to improve their game. People who read a lot have a much larger vocabulary than those that don’t, which means they can play more effective words with higher scores. This will give them better chances of winning their games, especially against those players who may not read as much as others. By building up their knowledge and vocabulary, Scrabble players can also learn new (and sometimes unusual) words too, which gives them even more options on the board! Not only does this make it harder for your opponent to guess your plays, but it also makes the whole game more enjoyable because you get to learn something new at the same time! And if you really don’t like reading and there is no way you can do it the old-fashioned way, there is a site where you can unscramble words and win the game. It’s a simple but powerful trick. Now let’s see some tips where you don’t have to use the internet.
The tips
1. Use your J, Q, X and Z wisely
Letters like K, W and Y are the bread and butter of most Scrabble games. Even though you might have two or three of them in your hand right now, don’t waste them all on one turn! Save some for later, so you can lay down high scoring words that use other letters too. That way you’ll be more likely to build off what your opponent lays down rather than just using single letter words that only give you a few measly points.
2. Use the blank tiles wisely
Blank tiles are great because they can represent any letter in the alphabet, but they’re also an easy way to mess up your Scrabble game. If you use all four of them too soon without knowing what letters will come up in future turns, you could be out quite a few points. Make sure you know what’s coming up next before you play your blanks!
3. Double and triple check words when laying them down
You might think that your word is a perfectly legitimate word…until your opponent tells you otherwise. While it’s great that you know all the words in the English language, if they’re not actually used very often, then they might not be considered valid Scrabble words. So if you don’t want to lose points unnecessarily, double check before you lay down each word.
4. Look for two letter “power words”
Many people always look for big and impressive long words when playing Scrabble, but sometimes there are better options! Did you know that “be”, “at”, and “by” can all score up to 30 points on their own? That means that if you find the right board position, then those three little letters alone give your entire game an instant 30 point boost. So look for double and triple letter words, but also see if there are any long ones that can be broken up — you don’t always have to use them as a unit! There are also lists online that can help your score.
5. Think of your opponent’s rack before playing high scoring letters
It might feel good to play an “X” or a “Q” just because they’re big Scrabble letters that you know the other player doesn’t have, but think about why that is first! If they don’t have any high scoring letters, then it could be because there aren’t any on the tiles either, so they won’t score much no matter what. You should also try to think about where their most valuable tiles are so you don’t accidentally cut them off from a lucrative play.
6. Play a seven-letter word over a shorter word that’s only one letter different
If you have the choice between playing a six or seven-letter word, go for the long option most of the time! That way not only do you get more points, but if your opponent challenges it then they lose their turn and all their bonus tiles too! So your opponent will be less likely to challenge your plays, which means they’ll waste more tiles challenging plays from other people…which means more blanks for you when it comes back around again!
7. Try to find high scoring words with lots of vowels in them
It might seem like an easy way to increase your Scrabble score by using letters like “Q” and “X”, but the truth is that you shouldn’t just throw them out there to rack up easy points. For starters, if they’re not part of a long word then they’re wasting valuable space on your board and secondly using those letters often means your opponent will use their challenge tiles as well, so it’s not as simple as it looks! If you find lots of high scoring words with lots of vowels, though, you’ll be more likely to get bonus points even when you do play those important letters.
8. Put some thought into how many points a word will be worth before laying it down
It might seem like a clever idea to play a two-letter word that gives you 10 points, but what happens if an opportunity for a seven or eight-letter word comes up next turn? If you lay your two-letter word down first, then that could be a big mistake! Never put down a word without knowing for sure what’s coming up next because if it turns out to be something better than you’ll have lost out twice!
Can you play scrabble online?
Yes, there are ways to play Scrabble online. In fact, you can also get a gaming board that works just like the original board game! All you have to do is connect up your device, and then you’re good to go. It isn’t quite the same as playing with friends or on your computer, but it’s definitely a fun way to kill some time when you’re bored.
These 8 tips will help you win your next Scrabble game! While it’s tough to choose the perfect words every time, following these guidelines should give you a better shot at victory. Remember that there are lots of different approaches to take, so experiment to find out what works best for you!