Scrabble Tile Distribution and Point Values By Erik Arneson Updated September 29, 2016. One of the first things that beginner Scrabble players should learn is the game's tile distribution. It's vital to know that, for example, only one J, K, Q, X and Z are in the bag -- and that they provide the best opportunities for high scores.

Scrabble Tiles Listed by Point Values 0 points: blank/wild (2) 1 point: E (12), A (9), I (9), O (8), N (6), R (6), T (6), L (4), S (4), U (4) 2 points: D (4), G (3) 3 points: B (2), C (2), M (2), P (2) 4 points: F (2), H (2), V (2), W (2), Y (2) 5 points: K (1) 8 points: J (1), X (1) 10 points: Q (1), Z (1) Scrabble Tiles Listed Alphabetically Blank/Wild: 2 tiles, 0 points A: 9 tiles, 1 point B: 2 tiles, 3 points C: 2 tiles, 3 points D: 4 tiles, 2 points E: 12 tiles, 1 point F: 2 tiles, 4 points G: 3 tiles, 2 points H: 2 tiles, 4 points I: 9 tiles, 1 point J: 1 tile

, 8 points K: 1 tile, 5 points L: 4 tiles, 1 point M: 2 tiles, 3 points N: 6 tiles, 1 point O: 8 tiles, 1 point P: 2 tiles, 3 points Q: 1 tile, 10 points R: 6 tiles, 1 point S: 4 tiles, 1 point T: 6 tiles, 1 point U: 4 tiles, 1 point V: 2 tiles, 4 points W: 2 tiles, 4 points X: 1 tile, 8 points Y: 2 tiles, 4 points Z: 1 tile, 10 points 10 Words That Will Win You Any Game of Scrabble | Mental Floss 10 Words That Will Win You Any Game of Scrabble Hasbro Like us on Facebook Whether you consider winning at Scrabble a case of extreme luck or supreme spelling ability, here are 10 words that—if conditions are right—will help you trump any opponent.

1. Oxyphenbutazone Definition: An anti-inflammatory medication used to treat arthritis and bursitis. Conditions: The theoretically highest-possible scoring word under American Scrabble play—as calculated by Dan Stock of Ohio—has never actually been played … and probably never will (unless you’re really, really lucky). That’s because it has to be played across three triple word score squares and build on eight already-played (and perfectly positioned) tiles. Points: 1,778 2. Quizzify Definition: To quiz or question. Conditions: Not only will you need to draw the game’s only Q and Z tiles (there’s only one of each), but a blank tile, too (in place of the second Z). Play this verb as your first word across two triple word squares with the Z on a double letter score square and you’ve got the game’s most valuable eight-letter bingo. Points: 419 3. Oxazepam Definition: An anti-anxiety drug. Conditions: All that stress will melt away if you can build on one existing letter , play across two triple word score squares, place one of the most valuable tiles (i.e.

X or Z) on a double letter score square and net a 50-point bingo. Points: 392 4. Quetzals Definition: The national bird of Guatemala as well as one of its monetary units. Conditions: Placement is everything to score this whopper of a word: Building on one letter, use all seven letters on your rack for a 50-point bingo, with Q and S on triple word score square and Z on a double letter score space. Points: 374 5. Quixotry Definition: A romantic or quixotic idea or action. Conditions: In 2007, Michael Cresta used an already-played R and all seven of his tiles across two triple word score squares to earn the most points ever on a single turn, which aided in a second record for the full-time carpenter: the highest-ever individual game score (830 points). Points: 365 6. Gherkins Definition: A small pickle, made from an immature cucumber.

Conditions: In 1985, Robert Kahn paid tribute to the pickle at the National Scrabble Championship in Boston—using an E and R already on the board—to set a record for a non-bingo word score. Points: 180 7. Quartzy Definition: Resembling quartz. Conditions: “Quartzy” held the record for highest-ever single turn score until “Quixotry” nearly doubled its total in 2007. Play it across a triple word score square with Z as a double letter score, with a 50-point bingo for using all seven letters on your rack. Points: 164 8. Muzjiks Definition: A Russian peasant. Conditions: On its own (with no bonuses or extra points), “muzjiks” is worth an impressive 29 points. But exhaust all of your tiles on your first turn to spell it, and you’ll earn more than four times that—which is what player Jesse Inman did at the National Scrabble Championship in Orlando in 2008 to earn the record for highest opening score. Points: 126 9. Syzygy Definition: An alignment of three celestial bodies.

Conditions: Forget trying to pronounce it (though, for the record, it’s “SIZ-i-jee”). Instead, just remember how to spell it—and that it’s worth 21 points au naturel . You’ll need one blank tile to make up for the lack of Ys (there are only two in the game). For a higher total, land the Z on a double letter score square and the final Y on a triple word score square. Points: 93 10. Za Definition: Slang term for pizza. Conditions: Big words are great and all, but two-letter words can also score big . And be especially annoying to your opponent. Build on two As—one directly below, the other directly to the right of a triple letter square—to spell this two-letter delectable across and down.

Points: 62 Scrabble/Rules - Wikibooks, open books for an open world Scrabble/Rules Standard playing equipment includes: 15x15 Scrabble board Standard set of 100 tiles according to the usual distribution, placed in an opaque bag or face-down on the table (a bag is required in tournament play) One rack per player Goal[ edit ] The goal of Scrabble is to score as many points as possible by placing letter tiles to create words onto the game board. At the end of the game, when one player has used all of his tiles and there are no more tiles left to draw, the game ends. Before the game[ edit ] Players should agree on a dictionary or word source to be used, for the purpose of adjudicating challenges. The game is set up so that each player possesses one rack. The 100 letter tiles are placed into an opaque bag (or face-down), hidden from view. Each player draws one tile to determine order of play. The player with the letter closest to "A" in the alphabet, with the blanks taking precedence over "A," goes first, and play proceeds clockwise. If two players tie for first, repeat.

Players return tiles to the bag, and shuffle. Each player draws seven tiles, and places them on his or her rack, hidden from other players. Tournament play[ edit ] Since having all 100 tiles is crucial to tournament game play, players should confirm that the Scrabble set contains 100 tiles (this is usually done by arranging the tiles into four 5x5 squares, or one 10x10 square). In most tournament games, the player with the fewer number of firsts will go first; if there is a tie, the player with the most number of seconds goes first. If there is still a tie, both players draw one tile, as described above. Gameplay[ edit ] The first word formed must consist of at least two letters that form a word reading left-to-right or top-to-bottom, and touch the center square (H8, marked with a star). On every turn, the player has the option to: Pass his or her turn, scoring nothing. Exchange 1-7 tiles, scoring nothing. The proper way to exchange tiles is to place the exchanged tiles face down, draw replacement tiles, and put the exchanged tiles into the bag.

You can only exchange if there are at least 7 tiles in the bag. Make a play by adding at least one new tile to the board, record the score for the play, and add to his/her cumulative score. After making a play, the player announces the score for that play, and draws replacement tiles so that (s)he has seven tiles. Every play thereafter must connect to at least one tile already on the board. On subsequent plays, players can Extend a previously played word; e.g. if PARK is played, (PARK)S, (PARK)ING, RE(PARK) and RE(PARK)ING are all acceptable plays. "Hook" a word by adding one letter to a previously played word, and playing perpendicular (e.g. if PARK is played, playing ZEALOTS/S(PARK) is valid). Playing parallel to a previously-played word. For example, playing ILEA under PARK, forming PI, AL, RE, and KA. Some rules about subsequent plays: Diagonal plays or words that read right-to-left or bottom-to-top (e.g. SEIVARG*) are not acceptable.

All letters played in one turn must lie on a line and form a continuous word (usually called the "main word"). At least one tile played must be adjacent to a tile previously on the board. Plays that violate the above conditions are unacceptable, and can be challenged off in tournament play, regardless of validity. There are two blank tiles, which may be used as any letter. Blank tiles score 0 points, regardless of the letter it designates. When a blank is played, the letter that the blank represents must be indicated, and cannot change in subsequent turns. Acceptable words[ edit ] All words in the agreed-upon dictionary, including inflections, are acceptable. Proper nouns are not acceptable, unless they have separate meanings (such as CHINA, JACK, or BOSTON). Most acronyms or abbreviations are not allowed, unless they appear as separate entries. Archaic spellings are generally not allowed. Foreign words which have been incorporated into the language are valid. Vulgar and offensive words are acceptable in tournament and most club play (however, the National School Scrabble Championship uses the OSPD5, which expurgates offensive words).

The official word list in North American tournament play is the Official Club and Tournament Word List, 3nd Edition. In other countries, the official word list is Collins Scrabble Words (CSW), 2015 edition. Note: Words that are only acceptable in CSW, but not TWL, are commonly denoted by a #. Challenging a play[ edit ] Main article: Challenging a play If player A forms a word that the opponent believes is invalid (not listed in the agreed-upon dictionary), the opponent can challenge the play. If the word(s) challenged are listed in the dictionary, the opponent loses his/her turn. If any of the challenged word(s) does not appear in the dictionary, player A removes his play from the board and loses his/her turn. The opponent can only challenge a play before player A draws replenishment tiles. See article on "Challenging a play" for more details. End of the game[ edit ] Under North American tournament rules, the game ends when: There are no more tiles left to draw, and one player has used up his or her tiles (known as playing out), or Six consecutive scoreless turns have occurred.

If a player plays out, the sum of the values of his opponents' tiles is added to his score, while each of the opponents' scores is reduced by the sum on his or her rack. In tournament play, the player playing out receives twice the value of his opponent's rack, and the opponent's score is unchanged. This does not affect point spread, but makes scoring slightly easier. Scoring[ edit ] Each letter tile has a number next to it that indicates how many points it is worth. Common letters, such as vowels, are worth 1 point, while rare letters such as "Q", "X", and "Z" are worth 8-10 points. Blank tiles are worth zero points. The score of a play is equal to the sum of the scores of all new words formed (including extensions or hook words, see examples below). Double Letter Score and Triple Letter Score (DLS, TLS) - a letter on this space is doubled or tripled in its point value. Double Word Score and Triple Word Score (DWS, TWS) - if any letter touches this space, the entire word is doubled in point value.

If your word includes both a letter bonus and a word bonus, the letter bonus is applied first, in accordance with order of operations. Note that the center square is a DWS, so the first play of the game receives a double word score. The premium letter squares are only applied on the first turn that they are used. On subsequent plays, the premium letter squares are nulled. If a pre-existing word is added onto with a tile that lands on a double word tile, the original word is not doubled. A play that covers two DWS is doubled then re-doubled (i.e. the score for the word is 4 times its face value) and is sometimes referred to as a "double-double." Similarly, a play covering two TWS is tripled then re-tripled ("triple-triple."). If a player uses all seven of their tiles on one play, they receives an extra 50 points, in addition to the score for the word. Such a play is commonly referred to as a bingo or a bonus. At the end of the game when nobody can make a move or someone goes out of tiles, each player subtracts the amount of points that remain unused on their rack from their total score.

If someone goes out of tiles, then the total of points on all other players' racks is added to their score as well. For this reason it's usually advantageous to be the first to dump all your tiles. Example[ edit ] Suppose player 1 plays FINED 8D. The score for this play is 2*(2*4 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 2) = 26 points. Suppose player 2 extends FINED to form CON(FINED) 8A. The score for this play is 3*(3+1+1+4+1+1+1+2) = 42 points. Note that the F on the DLS retains its face value. Suppose player 1 plays BATTInG 7G (with a blank I), forming BE and AD. The score for the main word, BATTInG is 3*2 + 1 + 2*1 + 1 + 1 + 0 + 2*2 = 15. The score for B(E) is 3*2 + 1 = 7 (note that the B is doubled both directions).

The score for A(D) is 1+2 = 3. However, BATTInG uses all seven tiles, so it receives a 50 point bonus. The score for the play is 15+7+3+50 = 75. Player 1 has a 101-42 lead. Notation[ edit ] Like chess, Scrabble uses a notation system to annotate plays. Rows are labelled 1-15, and columns A-O, as shown below. Each square has a unique coordinate, so the top left square would be A1 and the center star is H8. A 3× WS Plays are usually notated in the form "WORD xy +score" where WORD indicates the main word played, xy is the coordinate of the first letter of the main word, and score is the score for the play. If the main word reads left-to-right, the row number precedes the column letter, and if the main word reads top-to-bottom, the column letter precedes the row number. All letters (except for blank tiles) are capitalized. Finally, if a word is played through one or more letters, the letters that were already on the board are surrounded by parentheses ().

For example, the first two plays of the game shown above are: QUAY 8E +32 Stefan Fatsis is the author of Word Freak and A Few Seconds of Panic and is a panelist on Hang Up and Listen . Follow him on Twitter. Any Scrabble player can tell you that the X is actually worth eight points. But as Butts was creating the game, in a fifth-floor walkup in Queens, he tinkered—with the layout of the board, with the total number of tiles, with their distribution, and with their respective point values. “It’s not hit or miss,” Butts said long afterward. “It’s carefully worked out.” Seventy-five years later, Butts’ carefully worked out point values are under attack. Late last month, a University of California–San Diego, cognitive science postdoc and casual player named Joshua Lewis conducted a computer analysis to recalibrate Scrabble’s letter values based on the game’s current lexicon. Lewis reposted his findings to Hacker News, and they were picked up by Digg and went viral. Around the same time, Sam Eifling, writing for Deadspin, asked a programmer friend to do the same .

Both were inspired by the fact that while the language had changed dramatically from the time Butts performed his calculations, the game of Scrabble had not. Advertisement It’s a fair observation. Since Scrabble was adopted in chess parlors in New York in the 1950s, competitive players have dissected its strategic quirks. One early realization was that short words have outsized value, so players scoured the preferred source (the now-defunct Funk & Wagnalls Standard College Dictionary) and compiled lists of two- and three-letter words. They also recognized that the most common letters showed up in a lot of words, so they recorded and memorized seven- and eight-letter words—ones that would earn the 50-point bonus for using all seven tiles at once—that contained A, E, I, N, R, S, and T, among other single-point letters. You didn’t need a computer to see that the Q, though worth the most points, was a pain in the rack but the Z not so much. Since the publication in 1978 of the Official Scrabble Players Dictionary, a compilation of several standard college dictionaries, the game’s word list has grown by tens of thousands of words.

From a playing vantage, the addition of QI (a Chinese life force) and ZA (short for pizza) in the last lexicon update, in 2006, were game-changers. Players feared the new words would cheapen Scrabble, boosting scoring and elevating the role of chance. It didn’t happen. The Q became less of a hindrance, a slightly fairer tile than before, and players adjusted strategy to account for the new gimmes. That need to adjust validates Lewis’ and Eifling’s suspicion that the values assigned to letters aren’t in perfect harmony with the frequency of their use in English or in its narrower subset, the Scrabble word list. The two approached the problem differently. Eifling and software developer Kyle Rimkus totaled the number of letters in Scrabble-eligible words (1.58 million), isolated the frequency of each letter, and then calculated how overvalued or undervalued each letter was compared to its existing point value. Lewis’ approach was more complicated.

He weighted letters not only by appearance in the Scrabble lexicon but also by the frequency with which they appear in words of different lengths (with emphasis on two-, three-, seven-, and eight-letter words) and by their ability to “transition” into and out of other letters. The findings don’t differ much. In both analyses, the values of about half the letters change by one or two points. One or the other found that B, C, F, H, K, M, P, X, Y, and Z are overvalued, which makes some intuitive sense. For instance, the X (eight points) and the Z (10) can be easy money, especially since they occur in a number of short words; bumping them down to six points apiece is a logical move. Similarly, the H was set by Butts at four points, but it now appears in nine two-letter words and combines beautifully with other letters, while the M appears in 12 two-letter words. Living-room players detest the C, but they haven’t studied seven- and eight-letter “bingos,” in which C’s abound.

The clunky U and V, by contrast, are undervalued—ratcheting them up to two points and five points respectively seems reasonable. Advertisement While the media pounced on the story (I joined in ), the Scrabble community has been largely unmoved. Why? Several reasons. One, the game’s owners, Hasbro in North America and Mattel overseas, aren’t changing anything. Two, such proposed rejiggerings aren’t new. Three, players understand that variances, in letter values and tile distribution (too many I’s, the Q without a U), are part of the game and strategize accordingly. Four, there are other, arguably more sophisticated ways to assess tiles values. Five, and most important, adjusting any core variables would create a completely different game requiring different strategies. “It's basically saying, Let’s change the game to make a new game,” Jason Katz-Brown, a software engineer who co-wrote Scrabble’s best computer player, Quackle , told me. Let’s examine the potential effects of the “new” values. In both Lewis’ and Deadspin’s calculations, 10 tiles decrease in value, four increase, and 12 don’t change.

More tiles fall in a band of two to five points, bringing the utility of each closer together. The consensus of my math-brained Scrabble colleagues is that this would be like a dose of lithium for the game, flattening scoring and eliminating swings that keep games interesting. Big but still-reasonable values for some tiles, especially the X and Z, are good because they improve the odds of comebacks, make tile positioning a compelling strategic consideration, and give players with lesser word knowledge a slightly better chance against those who are booked up. “Except for the Q, Josh [Lewis] basically squashes the volatility,” said Eric Chaikin, co-director of the Scrabble documentary Word Wars . “His values take the fun out.” Quackle co-writer John O’Laughlin, a software engineer at Google, said the existing inequities also confer advantages on better players, who understand the “equity value” of each tile—that is, its “worth” in points compared with the average tile. That gives them an edge in balancing scoring versus saving letters for future turns, and in knowing which letters play well with others.

“If we tried to equalize the letters, this part of the game wouldn't be eliminated, but it would definitely be muted,” O’Laughlin said. “Simply playing the highest score available every turn would be a much more fruitful strategy than it currently is.” In response to Lewis’ findings , John Chew, co-president of the North American Scrabble Players Association and a mathematics doctoral student at the University of Toronto, wrote that Scrabble has always had an “intentional” imbalance between the face value and the equity value of the letters. Whenever the game’s lexicon changes—a fifth edition of the Scrabble dictionary is due in 2014—players adapt. “The tile values were chosen to make an interesting game, not to accurately represent the statistical properties of a particular lexicon,” he wrote. Advertisement In fact, for Alfred Butts, the face value of the letters was secondary to their distribution.

That’s because Butts’ original research was for a word-formation game called Lexiko, which didn’t involve a board and didn’t assign points to individual letters.* In the early 1930s, on spreadsheets containing 26 rows, one for each letter, Butts tallied tens of thousands of letters from the pages of the New York Times, the New York Herald Tribune, and the Saturday Evening Post. Then he compared the frequency with which the letters occurred, both on their own and as part of words of particular lengths. From those tabulations, he determined how many of each letter should be included in his game. Criss-Cross Words, Alfred Butts' prototype for Scrabble Courtesy National Scrabble® Association. Butts manufactured and sold a few hundred sets of Lexiko from his Queens walkup, but Milton Bradley and Parker Brothers, among others, rejected it. In 1938, Butts decided to add a board. That’s when he assigned values to letters roughly corresponding with their frequency. Butts’ files, which I read while researching my book Word Freak , contain pages of spreadsheets and notes about letter frequency and tile distribution.

But there’s little about how he settled on the point values for his new game, which he named Criss-Cross Words. He did experiment, though. I found one iteration in which the Z was worth nine points; the K and V six; and the B, F, and W five. And there’s the plywood evidence of my six-point X. My conclusion: Butts coupled intuition with direct observation of the game in action—he tested it on his wife and their friends—to arrive at values that he felt balanced equity and volatility. (Not that he would have used those words.) So, for instance, while Butts might have suspected the X was logically worth six points, he understood that eight would make the game more exciting. Similarly, while Butts included a lexicographically reasonable seven S’s in Lexiko, he knew the letter was so valuable for pluralizing words that he should reduce the number in his board game, which he did, to four. (As with Lexiko, Butts made and sold Criss-Cross Words from his apartment with no success. In 1948, he sold its rights to a small businessman, James Brunot of Newtown, Conn., who renamed, redesigned, and manufactured the game.

Five years later, Scrabble became a national sensation. Butts received royalties until 1976. He died in 1993.) Scrabble inventor Alfred Butts Courtesy National Scrabble® Association. Advertisement Lewis and Eifling performed a statistical exercise that can help lay players reconsider particular letters based on the overall lexicon. “Get rid of your J and your Q as quickly as possible, because they’re just damn hard to play and will clog your rack,” Eifling concluded, correctly. A deeper dive would involve valuing each letter based on how it is actually used in Scrabble, because words of certain lengths or lexicographic properties might be more or less useful when playing the game. Lewis’ program didn’t consider, for instance, longer combinations of letters, or the importance of four- and five-letter words. “The game isn’t about drawing words at random from the dictionary,” Chew wrote. “It’s about actually finding places to play them on the board.” Chew’s and O’Laughlin’s approach to reconsidering the face values of the tiles involves adjusting their equity values. Equity value in Scrabble is similar to advanced baseball stats that compare players to an “average” replacement.

Scrabble theorists have been calculating this stat—let’s call it VORT, or Value Over Replacement Tile—since the 1980s. “The Barry Bonds of the Scrabble set,” O’Laughlin said, is the blank, with a VORT of about 25 points. That means a blank plus six random tiles will likely net 25 more points than seven random tiles. At the other end, the Q has the lowest VORT, about -7 points. To perform a revaluation using VORT, Chew and O’Laughlin would shift the equity value of positive tiles downward and negative tiles upward, have Quackle play thousands of games against itself using those new values, and keep adjusting the values and making Quackle play until the equity of each tile approaches zero. At that point, the tiles could be given corresponding face values, which would be based on how Scrabble is played by the world’s best player. Chew and O’Laughlin said they aren’t interested in conducting that analysis because it would be time-consuming and wouldn’t add to the understanding of the game.

But they have begun trading emails with Lewis, who told me he’s eager to work with the Scrabble quants to learn more and find ways to study the statistical properties of the tiles further. Which shows how, in contrast to the way this story is being framed in the media—Scrabble Controversy!—it’s really just a bunch of curious living-room players and super-smart computer guys swapping ideas about game theory and analysis. Lewis isn’t demanding that the game’s manufacturers change anything, just performing an interesting statistical and intellectual exercise. Still, he does believe, as he wrote in a new post on Wednesday , that tweaking Scrabble’s tile values would “keep the intentional luck in the game and remove the unintentional luck that has crept in over time as the use of English has changed.” He’s perplexed as to why competitive Scrabble players wouldn’t favor mediating some of the luck, because that might make the results of games and tournaments more accurate. I can answer that. Because Scrabble players understand that the game’s inequities are on the margins, and that figuring them out is a crucial part of learning to play well.

And we respect, and are in fact awed by, how Alfred Butts, without the benefit of computer programs and language databases, came damn close to nailing both letter distribution and letter valuation, and in the process created a game that exquisitely, often maddeningly, balances skill and luck. Making the X worth six points won’t improve on that. Correction, Jan. 19, 2013: This article originally misspelled the name of Alfred Butts’ first word game, Lexiko. Scrabble Rules - How to Play Scrabble - Official SCRABBLE Rules Scrabble Rules Links to Scrabble rules and Scrabble official game instructions. Two to four players play in any game of Scrabble. The object of Scrabble is to score more points than one's opponent. A player collects points by placing words on the game board. Each letter has a different point value, so the strategy becomes to play words with high scoring letter combinations. The Scrabble Board A Scrabble game board is made of up cells in a square grid. The Scrabble board is 15 cells wide by 15 cells high. The Scrabble tiles fit within these cells one to a cell.

Scrabble Tiles Scrabble is played with exactly 100 tiles. 98 of these tiles contain letters on them, while there are 2 blank tiles. These blank tiles add a wildcard aspect to Scrabble. The blanks substitute for any letter in the alphabet. Once played, a blank tile remains for the remainder of the game the letter for which it was substituted when first played. Various letters have different point values, depending on the rarity of the letter and the difficulty in playing it. Blank tiles have no point value. Tile Values Here are the point values for each letter in Scrabble. 0 Points - Blank tile. 1 Point - A, E, I, L, N, O, R, S, T and U. 2 Points - D and G. 3 Points - B, C, M and P. 4 Points - F, H, V, W and Y. 5 Points - K. 8 Points - J and X. 10 Points - Q and Z. Extra Point Values Some squares on the Scrabble board represent multipliers. If a tile is placed on this square, then the tile's value is multiplied by a factor or either 2x or 3x.

Certain tiles multiply the point value of an entire word and not simply the tile on that space. Double Letter Scores - Light blue cells are found isolated on the board. When a tile is placed on this space, that tile's point value is multiplied by two. Triple Letter Score - This is a dark blue cell on the Scrabble. The tile placed on this square has its points multiplied by three. Double Word Score - Light red cells are found running diagonally towards the four corners of the board. When a player plays a word on one of these squares, the point value of the entire word is multiplied by two. Triple Word Score - This is a dark red square on the Scrabble board. These are found on the four sides of the board equidistant from the four corners of the board. When a word is played using this square, then the points for the word are multiplied by three. One Single Use - Note that extra point squares are only usable once. If one player plays a word using this cells, then the next time that space is used to make a word, the point value is not multiplied. Starting the Game Without looking into the tile bag, each of the Scrabble players takes one tile out of the tile bag.

Whichever player has the letter closest to the beginning of the alphabet goes first. A blank tile is considered better than an "A". These tiles are placed into the bag once more. Starting the game, each player begins their turn by drawing seven tiles apiece from the bag. The player can do one of three things on a turn. The player can place a word, exchange tiles or pass. Most of the time, the player will take the option of playing a word. Exchanging tiles allows a player to replace anywhere between one and all of the tiles on the player's rack. If this option is taken, the player cannot do anything else that hand. Therefore, a tile exchange cannot be performed on a turn when the player places a word on the board. A player may pass at any time. If all player's pass twice in a row, then the game ends. The First Word Score A player begins the game by placing a word on the star square at the center of the board. This star acts as a double word score. The star cell does not act as a double word score for subsequent players playing off the center square. Play continues in a clockwise direction around the Scrabble board.

Replacing Scrabble Tiles When a player places tiles on the Scrabble board, that player draws new tiles from the tile bag, adding until that player's number of tiles equals seven. The player must not look at the tiles when choosing new ones. Tile selection is usually done by holding the bag above the eye line, then reaching into the bag to add tiles one by one. The Fifty Point Bonus When a player is able to place all seven tiles from the tile rack on the board at the same time, that player receives a 50 point bonus. In end game scenarios, when the players hold less than the standard seven tiles, a player does not get the 50 point bonus for using all the tiles on the rack. The End of a Scrabble Game When all of the tiles have been taken from the bag and one player has used all of the tiles on their rack, then the game ends. Tallying Scrabble Scores Once the game has ended, each player counts the points on the tiles left remaining in their rack. Each player has that number deducted from their final score. The player who ended the game and who therefore has no more tiles remaining is given an added bonus.

Add the total of all points of all remaining players with tiles left on their racks. This number is added to the final score of the player who is "out" of tiles. The Scrabble player with the highest score after all final scores are tallied wins. Accepted Scrabble Words Players may place any word which can be found in a standard English language dictionary. Official Scrabble dictionaries also can be found in bookstores and online. Types of words which cannot be used are abbreviations, prefixes and suffixes. Words that require a hyphen or an apostrophe cannot be played. Words that are spelled with a capital letter cannot be used. Generally speaking in an English-language game of Scrabble, foreign words cannot be placed on the Scrabble board. If those words appear in a standard English dictionary, then the word is allowable. This is because the word is spoken often enough by native English-speakers that it has become a part of the English language. See also: Keeping Score in Scrabble - Letter Tiles and Point Values How to Keep Score in Scrabble Keeping Score in Scrabble Knowing how to keep score in Scrabble is simple, but it’s also important.

Each letter in Scrabble has its own value, while certain points on a Scrabble board are worth more points than others. Finally, there are a few special circumstances where Scrabble scoring differs than in other points of the game. Scrabble Letter Tiles – Point Values Below is a table showing the point values of each tile in Scrabble. I’ll include a table to show how many of each letter exists in a standard Scrabble game, as well. When you play one of these letter tiles on the Scrabble board, you get the point value indicated on the letter tile. Scrabble Point Distribution A – E – I – O – - U – L – N – R – S – T = 1 point D – G = 2 points B – C – M – P = 3 points F – H – W – Y – V = 4 points K = 5 points J – X = 8 points Q – Z = 10 points The following table shows how many of each letters there are in a standard game of Scrabble. In all, there are 100 tiles to play in any given Scrabble game.

Scrabble Letter Distribution 1: J – K – X – Q – Z 2: B – C – F – H – M – P – W – Y – V – Blank Tiles 3: G 4: D – L – S – U 6: N – R – T 10: E Double and Triple Scores When any of the letters of a word you place on the board covers a double or triple score, apply that modifier to your word score. If it’s a double or triple letter score, only modify the score for the letter on that tile. If it’s a double or triple word score, add up the score for all the tiles and then multiply the amount by the modifier. If you happen to cross two or more modifiers with your word, apply all of them. If you cross a triple letter score and a double word score, then multiple the triple score letter by x3 and then multiple the whole word score by x2. If you happen to cross two word multipliers, then remember to multiple the word score by both values. In this way, scores can reach large numbers. There is a limiting factor to the scores made by these tiles, though.

That’s because, once used, these tiles can’t be reused for the purposes of multipliers. Reusing Double and Triple Scores After a double-word or triple-word score has been used and figured, that space will not be worth a double- or triple-word score again in the game. The same goes for double-letter and triple-letter scores. For example, imagine that a letter tile saying double-word score, like the one you play off of at the beginning of the game, is “activated” at the beginning of the game. Whoever plays off that tile first gets a double-word score. But the next player who builds a word off that same letter does not get a double-word score. This rule is there for several purposes, but it keeps people from simply beating opponents by playing an -s or -ed or -ing at the end of words on the board. You can still do so, but you won’t score as many points (or more) if the original word played involved double- or triple-word scoring. 50 Point Bonus If at any time, you use all 7 tiles in your rack one on play, you get an automatic 50 point bonus.

This does not apply in the endgame scenario when you have less than 7 letters on your rack, of course. Final Scores in Scrabble Who “goes out” also has a big affect on the score. Eventually, the letter tiles will run out. When this happens, you will have a dwindling number of letter tiles on your rack. When this happens, the first person to get rid of all the letters on their rack on their turn “goes out”. The scoring is not yet finished, though. Every player with letters should add up the point values of those letters. These players should subtract that letter amount from their score. Once this is done, the point value for all those letters should also be added up collectively and added to the score of the person who “went out” or got rid of all their letter tiles first. In this way, the winner of a Scrabble game is often determined by who goes out first. This can be forgotten or only half-applied with new Scrabble players, so knowing how to score correctly in Scrabble is important.

Online - Scrabble :: Hints & Tips :: Letter Values Letter Values Some letter combinations work exceptionally well, for instance, the word: Quiz What makes this word so unique and high scoring, despite it being only 4 letters, is the fact that it uses the 2 highest scoring letters: Q and Z. Because Q and Z are worth 10 each, and U and I combined are 2, you immediately have 22 points. A key to doing well, is using as many Q's and Z's as possible, in the one word. The two highest scoring words in Online-Scrabble, not suprisingly, contain the letters Q and Z.. one more than one occasion. Quizzically - One Q, Two Z's. Straight away you have thirty. Because of various other high scoring letters such as C and Y, the word comes to a total of 43 points. If you are lucky, and get a Double Word score, or a Triple Word Score, this 43 letter word could turn into 86 points, or even 129 points. Quizzicality - Like quizzically, many high scoring letters are the key.

Because of the extra letter, you are looking at an extra point. And if you are lucky enough to get a Double Word Score or Triple Word Score, you would get 88 points and 132 points respectively. Use the chart below to find the best combinations using the key letters: Q and Z, and when you can: X and J. Scrabble Letter Values

Question: How many points is a ‘W’ tile worth in the game of Scrabble?
Answer: 4