Scrabble Showdown

***Scrabble Showdown*** was an American game show created for the American cable network The Hub. The program was based on the board game Scrabble and was hosted by Justin Willman. It ran from September 17, 2011 to April 22, 2012.

On June 15, 2015, Rubicon Entertainment, Hasbro Studios, and Buena Vista Television announced plans of relaunching the series for syndication, with Justin Willman once again hosting the series. Unlike the original version (which consisted of two teams being a parent and a child), the revamped version is a merger of the original version of the game show *Scrabble* and *Scrabble Showdown*. On June 4, 2020, the series was officially cancelled by Buena Vista, with reruns airing until the fall.

## Gameplay

Two teams compete for the grand prize of $10,000. The teams compete in a total of four rounds.

### Crossword Round

The first round of every game was the Crossword round, in which two teams competed to guess words as they were laid out on a computer-generated Scrabble board.

A horizontal or vertical row of squares was outlined to indicate the number of letters, with one already filled in. In order to fill the rest in, the contestants drew from a rack of numbered blue tiles placed in the middle of the contestant desk. The contestant with initial control could either guess the word immediately or draw two tiles, inserting them into a slot in front of him/her. Each numbered tile represented a letter, and there were always two more tiles than there were letters in the word; for example, a rack of 10 tiles was used for an eight-letter word. These tiles represented all the missing letters, plus three additional "stopper" letters that did not belong in the word.

After the team was shown the letters represented by the tiles drawn, they chose one to be placed. If the letter belonged in the word, it appeared in its proper position and the team could either attempt to guess the word or place the other letter. If both letters were in the word, the team could either attempt a guess or draw two more tiles.

If the team tried to place a stopper or gave an incorrect guess for the word in play, control and any unused letters passed to the opponents. If the opponents could not venture a guess immediately and there was an unused letter, he/she had to draw an additional tile and place the one of the letters on his/her turn. Play continued until one of the contestants solved the word. The last letter in the word was never revealed, and if the contestant had one space left he/she was required to guess. If wrong, the opponent got the opportunity. The word would be thrown out if neither contestant guessed it at that point.

If all three stoppers were found, the contestant that did not try to place the letter was given a chance to guess. If he/she could not, play switched to Speedword mode. Letters were filled in one at a time, and either contestant could buzz in at any time. An incorrect answer locked the contestant out, allowing the opponent to continue receiving letters. If both responded incorrectly or neither buzzed in quickly enough after the next-to-last letter was placed, the word was revealed and neither contestant scored. Whenever time ran short or the score became tied at 2–2, the rest of the round was played in Speedword.

The first team to solve the word wins the round and receives two bonus titles for Scrabble Lightning.

### Round 2

Round two has various games during that round and rotates daily. The team that wins round 1 controls round 2, and the games played in that round include:

#### Scrabble Knockout

The team that goes first picks one of two categories, leaving the other for the opponents. The team is shown a series of five words, one at a time. Each word has three extra letters added in; the first and last letters are always correct. The team tries to knock out the incorrect letters; one teammate tells the other which letter to knock out, and he/she touches that letter on the screen. If the team tries to knock out an incorrect letter, then a klaxon sounds and the board locks up; the player must then press a plunger to reset the board before continuing to play.

The first team attempts to solve all five words as quickly as possible, with the clock counting up to a maximum of sixty seconds; the second team must beat the first team's time, or, if the first team did not get all five words, to solve more words. The team that solves their words faster wins the round.

#### Scrabble Scream

In this round the team must unscramble a word together. Each word is divided into two parts; the first part is always three letters but the last part can be any length. One of the players unscrambles the first three letters of the word; when those three letters are unscrambled, the remaining letters are revealed for the other player, who must unscramble those letters and say the complete word. Ex. AES - - - - The first player would answer "S-E-A", once correct those letters would rearrange and the rest of the word is revealed. SEA KISC The partner must now say "S-I-C-K, SEASICK". After each word, the players switch places, so that the player who unscrambled the first part of the word now unscrambles the second part, and vice versa.

As before, the first team is allowed up to 60 seconds to solve five words, and the second team must beat the first team's time/score. The team that solves their words faster wins the round, and two bonus tiles for Scrabble Lighting.

#### Scrabble Slam

The players line up so that play alternates between teams. The first player presses a button to stop a randomizer, which sets the clock for the round (the clock is visible to the home audience, but not to the teams). A four-letter word appears on the screen, along with an extra letter. The players must use the extra letter and "slam" it over one of the letters in the original four letter word to make a new acceptable word. Ex. HUNK - T The player would say, "SLAM THE K" to make the word HUNT. When a player is correct play passes to the next player. When time runs out, the player who has control is eliminated from the round. For subsequent rounds, the next player in line after the eliminated player sets the time limit for the round as before; the last team to still have a player in the game, wins the round, and two bonus tiles for Scrabble Lightning

### Round 3: Scrabble Flash

In this round, the team is given five over-sized *Scrabble Flash* cubes, each with a different letter. The first team has thirty seconds to make as many words as possible; each word must contain at least three letters, and each valid word is worth one point for each letter used; there is at least one valid five-letter word. Both teams play the same set of letters; the team that is to go second is isolated while the first team plays. The winning team in the round gets the final two bonus tiles for Scrabble Lightning.

### Final Round: Scrabble Lightning

Before the round begins, a set of 16 letter tiles are placed on the board. A randomizer then causes tiles to light up. Each team is allowed to stop the randomizer; a team starts the final round with the regulation value of the tiles that they stop the randomizer on; the number of tiles that the randomizer lights up is the number of "Bonus Scrabble Tiles" that the team had earned from the three previous rounds. This becomes their "head start" score before playing "Scrabble Lightning".

The game is played on a regulation Scrabble board with only the double and triple-word score spaces (the double and triple-letter score spaces are removed). A scrambled-up word appears on the board. The host then reads a clue to that word. The first player to buzz-in with the correct word earns the regulation value of that word (doubled or tripled if one of the letters is on a double or triple-word score space). Players must wait until the host finishes reading the clue before buzzing in. They alternate words with their parents from then on. The first team to reach 100 points or more wins the game and the grand prize of $10,000.