Game playing can be incredibly fun, particularly when there are several people involved. Many people enjoy word games. They can appeal to fans of writing and reading, and anyone who enjoys playing with words. Scrabble was devised by Alfred Mosher in 1938. He was doing well as an architect at the time and added the game legacy to his achievements. People all over the world enjoy playing Scrabble. Sometimes they reach a plateau and want to rise higher, but are unsure how to achieve this. That’s what this article is all about.
Research Computer Software
Any Scrabble player will know there are times when they look blankly at their seven letters, unable to create a word for their next move. According to the people at UnscrambleWords.net some people use computer software to help them see what their brains cannot. Such programs use a proprietary algorithm to look at a person’s ‘hand’ and identify any words they can use. People find this provides a helping hand against clever opponents, and also builds their vocabularies.
Such software as Quackle is designed to help analyze full games. It needs to know every move from start to finish and can provide in-depth data in response. This can help highlight mistakes, and assist with creating future strategies.
It’s also possible to play Scrabble against a computer program. If someone can keep their head above water when competing against Artificial Intelligence, they will find it easier to play against humans.
Improve Your Vocabulary
The most obvious way to do this is to read a dictionary. Having said that, there are books containing approved Scrabble words. Another is designed specifically for American use. No doubt it contains such words as diaper, faucet, or mall rather than nappy, tap, or precinct which are the English word equivalents.
The more diverse a person’s reading is, the more likely they are to discover and memorize new words for use in future Scrabble games.
Learn From the Masters
If you have a friend who is a ‘machine’ at Scrabble, play against them or just sit and watch their every move. Scrabble tournaments can be both entertaining and informative for this reason as well.
In this computer age, much information and help are available online. If someone idolizes a Scrabble hero, they should check whether they have written a book or if they post regular blogs. Youtube contains tuition videos on virtually everything, so check here too. This can be a great tool for learning as it combines the auditory with the visual.
Think About Rack Balancing
Players can be easily tempted to play a hand if they find a good word containing lots of points. However, If this means they will be left with a stack of unusable letters, this is a short-sighted strategy. A person may be better advised to sacrifice a good word in order to balance their remaining letter portfolio. Try and put down an even spread of vowels and consonants that leave an equal spread behind as well.
People who spend time learning new words for Scrabble could focus on words that are vowel or consonant heavy. These new additions to a person’s armory might get them out of a tight hole in the future.
Consider Hooks
Some words can be enlarged by adding a letter or letters to the beginning or at the end. These are called prefixes and suffixes. It could involve making the word plural by adding an ‘s’ or turning ‘look’ into ‘looking’. Alternatively the word ‘aging’ could be extended to ‘antiaging’ to gain more points.
Once a person begins to think in this way, the door opens to higher possibilities and gains. ‘Host’ becomes ‘ghost’ and ‘layer’ becomes ‘slayer’. ‘Airline’ turns to ‘hairline’ and ‘slander’ to ‘islander’.
Track the Tiles
If the professionals use this technique, why shouldn’t any ambitious player do the same? Simply write down all 100 tiles that are provided with the Scrabble game. As each tile is added to the board, cross it off the list.
There may come a point when all the spare tiles have been removed from the bag. Let’s imagine there are two players involved in this game. Using tile tracking, the player crosses off their own unused letters. What’s left will be the opponent’s hand. This can help with strategically using words that won’t give an advantage to their opponent!
There are many more strategies a person can apply in order to improve their Scrabble game. At the end of the day, the ultimate goal should be fun. It’s good to improve our skills and game-playing, but this should be harnessed to mutual enjoyment as well. That is the game of Scrabble in its purest essence.
