Scrabble - A Brief Overview

Scrabble is a crossword based board game. The game is played by between two and four players or by teams of two. Each player or team competes against the other team by forming words using lettered tiles. Each word must be spelled correctly and cannot intersect another word without forming another word - think crossword puzzle. The only correct way to form a word is through the placement of tiles either 'Across' or 'Up and Down' - no diagonals, just like a crossword puzzle.

The Scrabble game board measures 15 by 15 tiles, both horizontal and vertical covering the board. Included are colored 'bonus' squares. These 'bonus' squares are scattered throughout to allow for the accumulation of more points.

Each lettered tile is assigned a point value, notated on the bottom right corner of each tile.
Game play begins with all tiles being placed inside a bag, called the 'pot'. Each player in succession draws a tile until each has seven tiles. These seven Scrabble tiles may be placed in a 'rack' for viewing by the player. Otherwise, they are placed in a manner, determined by the player, to prevent other players from viewing their tiles. The remaining tiles are left in a common area to be used later as a drawing 'pot'.

Scrabbles' crossword form is dictated through the use of the 'center tile' from which game play must begin. The player to go first must form a word that covers the center tile. Each player in succession must use any letter of the first word to form a new word. Additionally, succeeding players may merely add any additional letter or letters, forming a new word. As each word is formed points are accumulated by the player forming the word.

On each turn, the player has the option of using his tiles to form a new word, passing, or exchanging an equal number of tiles from his rack with tiles from the 'pot'. In either case, after passing or exchanging, that players turn is over and play continues clockwise.

Scrabbles' scoring system was designed based on the frequency of occurrence of each letter in the English language. Each letter is assigned a point value based on this. The longer the word, the greater possibility of points awarded. Also, as game play progresses and words begin to intersect, the player making the connection obtains points. The letter 'G' would thusly be worth more points to a player, as opposed to the letter 'A'. While the latter is true, a player using the letter 'Q' would generate more points than by using 'G'

To spice things up a bit, the Scrabble game board contains different colored squares. These squares are called 'bonus' tiles. The bonus tiles award bonus points as they are covered by a tile. The bonus are titled 'double letter points', 'triple letter points', 'double word points, and 'triple word points'. By forming a word with a tile that covers any of the aforementioned tiles the word 'LIKE' which as a total point value of 8, as is. Using the scoring system (L =1+I=1+K=4+E=1) in combination with a bonus tile, the 8 points easily converts to 24 points. The scoring possibilities become seemingly endless.

The game of Scrabble is over when there are no more tiles to be drawn or any player has 'passed' more than six times. The winner is then determined by the highest total points.