# Do you play Scrabble?



## Fsharpmajor (Dec 14, 2008)

I've just scored 149 points against my computer by playing REGIMENS--it used all seven letters and covered two triple word scores, without using a blank!

Please don't spoil this perfect moment by telling me that I need to get a life.


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## samurai (Apr 22, 2011)

It really is a great game.


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## presto (Jun 17, 2011)

No............because I cant spel.


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## bassClef (Oct 29, 2006)

Excellent facebook app for playing Scrabble here:
https://apps.facebook.com/livescrabble
You can play multiple games simultaneously, and choose how long before it times out your turn (max 1 week!) - so its not something you have to devote lots of time to, just come back to it now & then.
I used to play quite a bit but haven't for ages (top game score 600+, best word score 107, win% 84.3). Of course a fair bit of cheating goes on I expect, it's down to your conscience.


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## Ukko (Jun 4, 2010)

My vocabulary is large, but it disappears under pressure.


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## Klavierspieler (Jul 16, 2011)

I love it, but don't play it very often; hard to find time for a full game.


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## Amfibius (Jul 19, 2006)

I used to play competitive Scrabble at the national level. However, at that level, Scrabble becomes a word memorizing exercise rather than anything fun. The most important list of words to commit to memory are the two letter words. After this come the three letter extensions of the two letter words. e.g. "CH" is a word, and the three letter extensions are "ACH", "CHA", "CHE", "CHI", "ECH", "ICH", and "OCH". If "ICH" and "ACH" and "CHI" don't seem to be English to you, it's because they aren't. They are foreign words in common use in English. 

To make matters worse, there were two official Scrabble dictionaries - OSW (Official Scrabble Words) and OSPD (Official Scrabble Players Dictionary), with different words in each dictionary. I forget which is which now, but "ZO" appeared in one, and not the other. Oh, and "CHEQUE" - did not appear in OSPD (which was an American dictionary) because the American spelling is "CHECK". When you enter a tournament, you have to find out which dictionary is in use and which list you are going to play with. Oh yeah, when I migrated to Australia - they were using the Macquarie Dictionary (instead of Chambers, OSW, or OSPD)! 

Over the years some of the words in each seperate list found their way to the other, and some of the old dictionaries I used to use have fallen by the wayside. "CHEQUE" now appears in both lists, and "F&CK" is now allowed as a word. Fancy that - the most commonly used word in English used to be banned from both dictionaries, but they allowed foreign words like "AA", "CHI", etc.! Same thing with "COLOR/COLOUR", "HONOR/HONOUR", etc - these have now been fixed. But there is still a ridiculous Commonwealth - American divide, e.g. SOWPODS is now the official dictionary of the Commonwealth, and TWL is used for American competitions. 

Then there are the Scrabble strategies. If you sense that your opponent doesn't know his 2 and 3 letter words as well as he should, then you play a closed game. I have managed to confine the entire game into one quarter of the board such that the game had to be abandoned (with me in front) - a very frustrating strategy for someone who can not see the openings because he does not know his 2 letter words. Scrabble is only fun if you play an open game - i.e. plenty of openings. But you are not playing for fun, you are playing to win. 

Because tournaments are also scored by aggregate (i.e. your combined score total over several games), you can collude with your opponent to play an open game so that both of you get the highest score possible. But this does not stop your opponent from behaving dishonourably - the moment he puts down a big word (and pulls comfortable ahead), he can change strategies and start blocking you so you can not catch up. 

I realized I had to lift my game when I started playing at the national level if I wanted to remain competitive. But what fun is there memorizing lists of two letter words, and having to do it twice - depending on what dictionary was being used? 

I made a late career switch to chess. To be sure, there was still a lot of memory work and a lot of study. But at least chess was fair.


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## Klavierspieler (Jul 16, 2011)

^ Which is why we use our _own_ dictionary.


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## Meaghan (Jul 31, 2010)

I play bananagrams. So much better.


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## Chi_townPhilly (Apr 21, 2007)

My late mother was a Scrabble enthusiast... played effectively, played an open game. Unfortunately, the old television commercial that parodied the pace of Scrabble [sample passage: "Is it my turn yet?" "_No_." "All right, then, I'll go on outside and rotate the tires..."] resonated with me.

Have a little too much nervous energy for that. It's also why I'm not especially effective at "target sports" such as Golf and League Bowling. (Solo or duel bowling isn't as bad for me- less time _sitting around!_)


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## Meaghan (Jul 31, 2010)

Chi_townPhilly said:


> My late mother was a Scrabble enthusiast... played effectively, played an open game. Unfortunately, the old television commercial that parodied the pace of Scrabble [sample passage: "Is it my turn yet?" "_No_." "All right, then, I'll go on outside and rotate the tires..."] resonated with me.


That's why banangrams is better. Fast-paced, and there are no "turns."


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## Philip (Mar 22, 2011)

Hilltroll72 said:


> My vocabulary is large, but it disappears under pressure.


that's hilarious. then it's called a "magical" vocabulary, this girl i knew used to say she had "magical" boobies, because they disappeared when she got on her back.

anyway, i hate playing these games... all the time my mind is busy trying to figure out the most efficient algorithm and how i would implement it in code.


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## georgedelorean (Aug 18, 2017)

Love to play whenever possible. I enjoy the necessity of having to think quickly while simultaneously trying to figure out the best combination of letters for the biggest words or combos.


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

I play online against the computer at medium level - the expert level always beats me as it always seems to get the 'sexy' letters at exactly the right times.


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## georgedelorean (Aug 18, 2017)

I know them feels.


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