Do you have any strategies for Scrabble?

I belong in my son’s pocket. My wife & my daughter not so much. I try to cheat but the little bugger knows all my tricks, he invented most of them :¬)

I’m one who likes to think they have a decently-sized vocabulary, but I’m rubbish at Scrabble. I wouldn’t be surprised if my six-year-old cousin managed to win a round or two. Contrariwise, a friend of mine who hates reading with a wild passion is one of the most seasoned Scrabble players I have ever met because the game is Serious Business in the Philippines. I have no idea how he trained for it.

The only advice I can think of is to focus on the big-point letters and always watch where you can place them on the board to get the most points. One time, my younger brother won the game with a single tile: x. He placed it on a cross-section between “HOPE” and “HOME” to form “Ox” and “Ox” on what just happened to be a Double Word Score space. Everybody groaned in agony.

I have photographic evidence on my phone. I’m still impressed.
By the way, I lost The Game.

Check out this web site and try to memorize as much of each word list as you can.

There are a q without a following u list, a two-letter word list, words with no vowels and words with no consonants. Those really helped me!

I try to make as many words at one time as possible, and also play defensively.

Memorize the two letter words, then three, etc.

There’s a concept called rack management. This is about keeping a decent mix of letters in your tray so that you don’t get stuck with all vowels, for example, and so you have a higher chance for a seven letter word.

Scrabble is also about opportunity cost. If you don’t take the TWS space, someone else will. By owning the high value spaces, you deny points for your opponent.

Create your own DLS by making two words at once.

Read Word Freak by Stefan Fatsis.

Also, try to set and get no less than a minimum number of points per turn- like 15 or 18 points. Being consistent with points will keep the heat turned up on your opponent.

The first thing to do is learn all the 2— and 3-letter words because they’re so useful for making hooks.

At the board, one has to learn to use the bonus squares, and how to prune one’s rack in order to increase bingo chances. In general, tuning the rack so that your “leave” includes letters from TOENAIL and RETINA is most promising.

Like Fluther people who can’t play chess worth a fig, a like number that can’t play Scrabble will get involved here. Beware.

@kevbo knows what to do. Learn the twos and threes, learn rack management, and work the bonus squares. Great answer.

One more thing. Don’t squander a blank unless it increases the score for the turn by about eightfold — in other words, if you don’t bingo with your blank, you’re a nitwit. Don’t use an S unless it increases the score for the turn by about double.

@frdelrosario, I didn’t know about RETINA/TOENAIL. Great tip.

If anyone plays Words with Friends, I’m kevbo9000. I haven’t played Facebook/Scrabble in a while, but I’m on there, too. PM me.

I lull people into a false sense of security by losing repeatedly.