It’s one of the most controversial questions out there regarding playing Scrabble: “Can you win with less than optimal letters? “ The short answer to that is yes. Any self-respecting Scrabble player knows that it’s not the letters that you are dealt with,
So how do you do it? Well, there are several ways. We’ve collated the best strategies from the best players around the world. If you’re just starting out, or you really want to win that weekly family Scrabble game, heed these tricks. Whether you’re playing the traditional way or online, learning a few tricks to bolster your game will get you far.
Start with widening your vocabulary.
This is pretty obvious. Scrabble is a game that involves how deep and broad your vocabulary is. There is no other way of increasing your chances of winning than having at least a decent to above-average vocabulary. The trick is, you don’t need to learn hard or lengthy words, you just need to have a wide range of words to choose from.
How can you do this? Read every day. Reading isn’t just fundamental; it will also open you up to numerous words and their meanings. When you don’t know the meaning of a word, look it up while you are reading it. Understand its concept; it’s usage within the context, and how it is placed in the sentence.
Read every day, may it be the newspaper, an article online, or an informative post you find on social media while doing a Tomato timer method to make it more challenging. This way, you lessen the chances of you having to rely on a scrabble word finder. It’s also helpful if you can take the time to learn how certain letters like R and E and A and I are often used in conjunction with each other.
Increase your two-three letter words bank.
One of the most helpful ways to maximize your points in the game is to have a deep knowledge of words that contain two to three letters only. A big part of Scrabble is finding the best opportunities within the situation that’s given to you. For the most part, those opportunities will come in just by adding one or two letters on the words already laid out on the board.
Look out for letters E, R, I, N, G, and S.
It may come as a shock to the average Scrabble player, but many words in the English dictionary end with -er, -ing, and -s. Nouns and verbs, mostly. If you happen to draw a set of these letters, place them at the other side of your rack so that you can visualize the word possibilities that you can do with these letters.
Take notice of the bards as well. If you can find a situation where you can add these letters, don’t hesitate to grab it. The letter S is heavily used to score ample points by adding it to the tail end of an existing word on the board and pairing it with another from your rack. It’s the most basic trick in the book, but everyone can benefit from it.
Learn words that start with Q that does not follow the letter U.
Most players assume that when they’ve drawn the letter Q, they will also have to have the letter U to form words. This is a myth. There are words in the official Scrabble dictionary for the letter Q without the need for U. The word qi, for example, can elevate your game without too much effort. You can tack in the letter Q to a free letter I on the board, and you’re good to go.
Right now, there are less than 40 accepted words that use Q without U. The two-three-four letter words include the aforementioned qi, qat, qadi, qoph, and qaid. For five letter words, it’s tranq, qanat, and faqir. Pro tip: always keep the vowel A, and I close with the letter Q. Memorize the other words in the line-up so that you have a fallback.
Make the most out of high-point letters.
High-point letters are always consonants. At the top of the list are the letters Q and Z. Letter X and J also carry a lot of points. Even the letters Y, M, C, and B can become major point-getters when you strategically place them on bonus tiles. When you get a hold of these tiles, please don’t use them immediately. Please wait for the perfect opportunity to present itself, then pounce in or Make it more fun by doing the Tomato timer method.
Takeaway
Scrabble should be a fun game. While winning is fun, if you get too serious or competitive about it, the game loses its meaning. Sure, it’s a test of how well your vocabulary is, but it goes beyond that. With Scrabble, you need to adjust to the situations that you are given and part of that is being creative with how you go about undermining your opponents’ chances.