If you are fascinated by words, you would simply love playing Scrabble, a popular word-puzzle game. Explore instructions on how to play scribble, through this article.

How To Play Scrabble

Scrabble is a wonderful word puzzle game, which is generally played by two to four players. This game is extremely popular around the world and is sold in about 121 countries, in 29 different languages. It is estimated that about one hundred and fifty million sets of this game have been sold worldwide till date.  So, if you are also fascinated by puzzles and words, you should also play this game. The basic aim of playing scrabble is to score points, by forming words from individual lettered tiles, on the game board. The game board is marked with a 15-by-15 grid, on which the letters are to be placed. The words can be formed across and downwards, in a crossword manner, but should be meaningful. Read on to explore complete instructions on how to play scrabble.
 
Playing Scrabble Game
 
Rules & Instructions 
  • All the words that are considered as a part of speech are allowed. Exceptions in this rule are proper nouns, verbs, abbreviations, prefixes and suffixes alone or the words that require hyphen or apostrophe.
  • The first player merges two or more of his/her letters to form a word. He/She then places it on the board to read either across or downwards, with at least one alphabet on the centre square. Writing diagonal is not allowed.
  • A player's turn is said to be complete after counting and declaring the score of that turn. He can then draw as many new letters as he has used to make the word. It is advisable to keep seven letters on your rack, till the time there are enough tiles left in the bag.
  • When the turn of the first player is over, the second player and thereon, each in turn, add one or more letters to the word already formed, to make new words.
  • It is mandatory that at all the letters played on a turn must be placed across or downward the board, to form minimum one complete word. If a letter simultaneously touches other letters in neighboring rows, the resultant word should be complete as well.
  • You can make a new word in many ways. Firstly, by adding more tiles to the beginning or end of a word already on the board or both. The second way is by placing a word at right angles to a word already on the board. You can also place the tiles parallel, if it makes a complete word.
  • Keep in mind that no tile can be adjusted somewhere else or replaced, after it has been used and scored.
  • Scrabble can only be played onto, across, or adjacent to existing words on the board. No word can be read backwards, unless they are palindromes!
  • Blank tiles can be used as any letter only twice in the game. To use a blank, one simply needs to type in the required field, the letter he/she wants the blank to stand for.
  • Any play can be challenged. However, if the play is acceptable, the challenger loses his turn and the points scored. If the play is unacceptable, the challenged player takes back his/her tiles and loses that turn.
  • The game finishes when all letters have been drawn and the last player uses his /her last letter. It also comes to an end when all possible plays have been made.
 
Score- Chart
 
  • The scoring is simple and goes on with each turn i.e. the sum of the letter values in each word(s) formed or modified on that turn. There can also be extra points acquired from introducing letters on Premium Squares.
  • If letters are placed on light Blue Square, it doubles the score of a letter placed on it and if it has been placed on a dark blue square, it triples the letter score.
  • The score for the whole word is doubled if any of its alphabets is placed on a pink square.  The score for the whole word is tripled if any of its letters is placed on a red square.
  • In case a word is formed by covering two premium word squares, the score is doubled and then re-doubled or tripled and then re-tripled.
  •  If a blank tile is used on a pink or red square, the worth of the word is doubled or tripled, despite the fact that a blank tile itself does not have any score.
  • Even if two or more words are made in the same play, all are scored. You can score extra points by playing all seven tiles in a single play. It is called Bingo.
  • At the end, if a player has remaining letters, it reduces the score. The player with maximum final score wins the game. If there is a tie, the player with the maximum score prior to adding or deducting remaining letters is declared victorious.

How to Cite

More from iloveindia.com