Scrabble Showdown

***Scrabble showdown*** is a game show based on the crossword game; it began airing in 2010.

## Rules

Two teams (consisting of one kid and his/her parent/relative) compete in a series of *Scrabble*-based games, with the winners of each game winning a prize and extra "tiles" (generally two every game, at one time, one for the first game, two for the second game, and three for the second game), those tiles produce a starting score for the final Scrabble Lightning round. There are three games each show, so the teams have a chance to pick up up to three prizes and six tiles.

### Games

**Scrabble Knockout**

**Scrabble Scream**

**Scrabble Babble**

**Scrabble Slam**

**Scrabble Speedword**

**Scrabble Flash**

### Scrabble Lightning

This round pays homage to the classic *Scrabble* from the 1980s on NBC. The differences are that instead of putting letters on the board, the words involved are scrambled and they're worth the standard *Scrabble* value of the letters used with the values doubled or tripled if any of the words touch any of the two colored squares (red and orange, no blue or green). Also, each new word uses a letter from any previously played word, not just the immediate previously played word.

Before the round, teams were spotted points according to the bonus tiles earned. Because upon selection, the point values of the tiles involved will determine a head start for the team. There were two ways of doing so:
**2011:** Sixteen "tiles" appear on the board and they flash at random, the number of tiles that flashed were based on how many bonus tiles a team has earned during the show; the teams hit a button to see what tiles they get.
**November 20, 2011 and Jan. 1, 2012 only:** Instead of the randomizer, tiles are pulled out of a container after each game is won and revealed by the host before Scrabble Lightning is played.

After that, the scrabble board appears, along with a scrambled word and a clue. The first teammate to buzz-in and unscramble the word earns the point value of that word. Teammates alternate turns throughout in between words (with the kids going first), and the first team to score 100 points or the team in the lead at the end of the round wins the game and tickets to anywhere they want to go.

## November 20, 2012 Differences

The coin toss at the beginning of the game determined who goes first in each game. It was not clear that teams got to decide to go first or second.

In Scrabble Knockout each team was given 2 categories to choose from.

In the first word in Scrabble Lightning was supposed to be doubled but wasn't due to a production error.

Instead of the scores being on the podiums, they were shown on the screen electronically.[3]

## January 1, 2012 Differences

These changes were made for the episode shown on January 1, 2012. However, the previous rules returned for the January 8, 2012 episode.

1. ↑ January 1, 2012 Rule Changes
2. ↑ January 8, 2012 Rule Changes Back
The coin toss at the beginning of the game determined who goes first in each game. It was not clear that teams got to decide to go first or second.

In Scrabble Babble and Scrabble Scream, the first team gets to choose which specific puzzles they would be playing by choosing one of three bags. The second team can choose from the remaining two bags.

In Scrabble Scream, the child always unscrambled the first three letters and the parent unscrambled the rest of the word. After the word was spelled out, both the child and parent now say it. The players now stand at the podium used for Scrabble Knockout, Scrabble Slam, and Scrabble Lightning when they play (since no switching order is necessary).

## References

### YouTube Videos

Episode 4 (Premiere)

Episode 12

Episode 23

Christmas Episode