Two of my fundamental rules in Scrabble are “Don’t waste an S” (meaning that if you use an S, the play should be worth at least 40 points, since you are very likely to be able to play a good word and also pluralize or conjugate a word already on the board orthogonally) and “A blank is a bingo” (meaning that a blank tile gives you the flexibility to make a play that uses all seven tiles, which will give you a 50-point bonus, and you do well to hold onto it until you can put it to that use). Some things that appear to be worth the least can be worth the most. This should be obvious: the two previous points notwithstanding, impressive words are impressive, and used in the right place, they can score a lot of points.ĥ. But sometimes the right big word can have quite an effect. Likewise in the rest of life, small words – though slightly longer than two letters, such as “Thanks!” – can really help make connections.Ĥ. This is a thing most people learn before too long at Scrabble: big words may make big impacts, but little words – two-letter words that you make while playing alongside another word, and sometimes two-letter words played two ways on a triple – are crucial.

Most of the time, the little words make the difference. This is also true elsewhere in life: fancy words in the wrong place can fall flat, and the right ordinary words may score a lot of points.ģ. It’s true that knowing a lot of words is very helpful, but often you get the most points (and improve your position the most) with plain, ordinary words. Many people think doing well at Scrabble is all about knowing and playing really nice words. It’s not how fancy your words are, it’s how you use them. Likewise, in other parts of life, you may feel like you have come out on top in an interaction – especially if you’re the sort of person who treats every conversation as a contest, or looks for ways of sucking the last nickel out of a customer – but you may very well lose out in the long run, because the people you “won” against won’t be inclined to let you “win” again in future.Ģ. I remember playing one friend who, after one game, confessed that he had been using an online anagram finder (which, by the way, I do not – I’m far too vain to seek that kind of help).

If you get more points this turn but it leads to you doing worse (or your opponent doing better) subsequently, it’s not the best play. The aim of Scrabble is to finish with more points than your opponent. The play that’s worth the most points this turn isn’t always the play that’s worth the most points in the long run. These may or may not be useful to you in your life – but at the very least, they will help you at Scrabble.ġ. And as I’ve learned to be better at it (some of it from playing, some of it from reading Stefan Fatsis’s book Word Freak), I’ve learned bits of perspective that are very useful for doing well at the game but also often useful in other parts of life. Over the years I’ve gotten reasonably good at it I’m happy to say that I know several people who are also good at it and give me interesting games. In my leisure time, I play Scrabble online against friends.

Scrabble play against computer vs human