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: The Official Rules of Scrabble - How to Play Scrabble - Learn Scrabble Rules How to Play Scrabble Travel Scrabble Scrabble Rules - Scrabble Official Rules When playing Scrabble, anywhere from two to four players will enjoy the game. The object when playing is to score more points than other players. As words are placed on the game board, points are collected and each letter that is used in the game will have a different point value. The main strategy is to play words that have the highest possible score based on the combination of letters. The Scrabble Board A standard Scrabble board will consist of cells that are located in a large square grid. The board offers 15 cells high and 15 cells wide.

The tiles used on the game will fit in each cell on the board. Scrabble Tiles There are 100 tiles that are used in the game and 98 of them will contain letters and point values. There are 2 blank tiles that can be used as wild tiles to take the place of any letter. When a blank is played, it will remain in the game as the letter it substituted for. Different letters in the game will have various point values and this will depend on how rare the letter is and how difficult it may be to lay that letter. Blank tiles will have no point values. Tile Values Below are the point values for each letter that is used in a Scrabble game. 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 When looking at the board, players will see that some squares offer multipliers.

Should a tile be placed on these squares, the value of the tile will be multiplied by 2x or 3x. Some squares will also multiply the total value of the word and not just the single point value of one tile. Double Letter Scores - The light blue cells in the board are isolated and when these are used, they will double the value of the tile placed on that square. Triple Letter Score - The dark blue cell in the board will be worth triple the amount, so any tile placed here will earn more points. Double Word Score - When a cell is light red in colour, it is a double word cell and these run diagonally on the board, towards the four corners. When a word is placed on these squares, the entire value of the word will be doubled. Triple Word Score - The dark red square is where the high points can be earned as this will triple the word score. Placing any word on these squares will boos points drastically. These are found on all four sides of the board and are equidistant from the corners. One Single Use - When using the extra point squares on the board, they can only be used one time.

If a player places a word here, it cannot be used as a multiplier by placing another word on the same square. Starting the Game Without looking at any of the tiles in the bag, players will take one tile. The player that has the letter that is closest to “A” will begin the game. A blank tile will win the start of the game. The tiles are them replaced to the bag and used in the remainder of the game. Every player will start their turn by drawing seven tiles from the Scrabble bag. There are three options during any turn. The player can place a word, they can exchange tiles for new tiles or they can choose to pass. In most cases, players will try to place a word as the other two options will result in no score. When a player chooses to exchange tiles, they can choose to exchange one or all of the tiles they currently hold. After tiles are exchanged, the turn is over and players will have to wait until their next turn to place a word on the board. Players can choose to pass at any time. They will forfeit that turn and hope to be able to play the next time.

If any player passes two times in a row, the game will end and the one with the highest score will win. The First Word Score When the game begins, the first player will place their word on the star spin in the centre of the board. The star is a double square and will offer a double word score. All players following will build their words off of this word, extending the game to other squares on the board. Play continues in a clockwise direction around the Scrabble board. Replacing Scrabble Tiles Once tiles are played on the board, players will draw new tiles to replace those. Players will always have seven tiles during the game. Drawing tiles is always done without looking into the bag so that the letters are always unknown. The Fifty Point Bonus Exciting rewards can come when players use all seven tiles to create a word on the board. When this happens, players will receive a 50 point bonus, in addition to the value of the word. If the game is near the end and players are not holding seven tiles, they do not get the bonus for using all of their tiles. This is only collected for seven letter words placed.

The End of a Scrabble Game Once all tiles are gone from the bag and a single player has placed all of their tiles, the game will end and the player with the highest score wins. Tallying Scrabble Scores When the game ends, each player will count all points that are remaining on their tiles that have not been played. This amount will be deducted from the final score. An added bonus is awarded to the player that ended the game and has no remaining tiles. The tile values of all remaining players will be added to the score of the player who is out of tiles to produce the final score for the game. The Scrabble player with the highest score after all final scores are tallied wins. Accepted Scrabble Words Any word that is found in a standard English dictionary can be used in the game of Scrabble. There are also Official Scrabble Dictionaries that can be purchased for more word options. There are some words that are not allowed to be played and these include suffixes, prefixes and abbreviations. Any word that requires the use of a hyphen or apostrophe cannot be played in the game. Any word that required the use of a capital letter is not allowed.

When playing an English version of the game, foreign words are not allowed to be placed on the board. However, if the foreign word does appear in a standard English dictionary, it is allowed. The reason for this is due to the fact that the word is spoken enough and is considered part of the English language. This website is intended for information and entertainment purposes only. We are in no way affiliated with the SCRABBLE® brand and registered trademark. These intellectual property rights belong to Hasbro, Inc. in which we are not affiliated. © Copyright 2016, Scrabble Pages . All rights reserved Scrabble | Letter Tile Games Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia Letter Tile Games Wiki Scrabble brand logo by Mattel, Inc., used throughout the rest of the world |250px]] No Title No information Scrabble is a word game in which two to four players score points by forming words from individual lettered tiles on a game board marked with a 15-by-15 grid. The words are formed across and down in crossword fashion and must appear in a standard dictionary . Official reference works (e.g. The Official Scrabble Players Dictionary ) provide a list of permissible words.

The Collins Scrabble checker can also be used to check if a word is allowed. [1] The name Scrabble is a trademark of Hasbro, Inc. in the United States and Canada. Elsewhere, Scrabble is trademarked by Mattel . The game is sold in 121 countries; there are 29 different language versions. One hundred and fifty million sets have been sold worldwide, and sets are found in roughly one-third of American homes. [2] [3] [4] Contents File:Alfred Butts letter frequencies.JPG In 1938, architect Alfred Mosher Butts created the game as a variation on an earlier word game he invented called Lexiko . The two games had the same set of letter tiles, whose distributions and point values Butts worked out meticulously performing a frequency analysis of letters from various sources including The New York Times . The new game, which he called "Criss-Crosswords," added the 15-by-15 game board and the crossword-style game play. He manufactured a few sets himself, but was not successful in selling the game to any major game manufacturers of the day.

[5] In 1948, James Brunot, [6] a resident of Newtown, Connecticut – and one of the few owners of the original Criss-Crosswords game – bought the rights to manufacture the game in exchange for granting Butts a royalty on every unit sold. Though he left most of the game (including the distribution of letters) unchanged, Brunot slightly rearranged the "premium" squares of the board and simplified the rules; he also changed the name of the game to "Scrabble," a real word which means "to scratch frantically." In 1949, Brunot and his family made sets in a converted former schoolhouse in Dodgingtown , a section of Newtown. They made 2,400 sets that year, but lost money. [7] According to legend, Scrabble's big break came in 1952 when Jack Straus, president of Macy's , played the game on vacation. Upon returning from vacation, he was surprised to find that his store did not carry the game.

He placed a large order and within a year, "everyone had to have one." [8] In 1952, unable to meet demand himself, Brunot sold manufacturing rights to Long Island-based Selchow and Righter (one of the manufacturers who, like Parker Brothers and Milton Bradley Company , had previously rejected the game). Selchow & Righter bought the trademark to the game in 1972. [9] JW Spears began selling the game in Australia and the UK on January 19, 1955. The company is now a subsidiary of Mattel , Inc. [5] In 1986, Selchow and Righter sold the game to Coleco , who soon after went bankrupt. The company's assets, including Scrabble and Parcheesi , were purchased by Hasbro . [9] In 1984, Scrabble was turned into a daytime game show on NBC . Scrabble ran from July 1984 to March 1990, with a second run from January to June 1993. The show was hosted by Chuck Woolery .

The tagline of the show in promo broadcasts was, "Every man dies; not every man truly Scrabbles." In 2011, a new TV variation of Scrabble, called "Scrabble Showdown", aired on "The Hub" cable channel, which is a is a joint venture of Discovery Communications, Inc. and Hasbro. Game details File:Scrabbletileset.png The game is played by two to four players on a square (or nearly square) board with a 15-by-15 grid of cells (individually known as "squares"), each of which accommodates a single letter tile. In official club and tournament games, play is always between two players (or, occasionally, between two teams each of which collaborates on a single rack). The board is marked with "premium" squares, which multiply the number of points awarded: dark red "triple-word" squares, pink "double-word" squares, dark blue "triple-letter" squares, and light blue "double-letter" squares [In 2008, Hasbro changed the colors of the premiums squares to orange for TW, red for DW, blue for DL, and green for TL].

The center square (H8) is often marked with a star or logo, and counts as a double-word square. In an English-language set the game contains 100 tiles, 98 of which are marked with a letter and a point value ranging from 1 to 10. The number of points of each lettered tile is based on the letter's frequency in standard English writing; commonly used letters such as E or O are worth one point, while less common letters score higher, with Q and Z each worth 10 points. The game also has two blank tiles that are unmarked and carry no point value. The blank tiles can be used as substitutes for any letter; once laid on the board, however, the choice is fixed. Other language sets use different letter set distributions with different point values. Template:See Edit In the notation system common in tournament play, columns are labeled "A-O" and rows "1-15". A play is usually identified in the format xy WORD score or WORD xy score, where x denotes the column or row on which the play's main word extends, y denotes the second coordinate of the main word's first letter, and WORD is the main word.

Although unnecessary, additional words formed by the play are occasionally listed after the main word and a slash. In the case where the play of a single tile forms words in each direction, one of the words is arbitrarily chosen to serve as the main word for purposes of notation. When a blank tile is employed in the main word, the letter it has been chosen to represent is indicated with a lower case letter, or, in handwritten notation, with a square around the letter. Parentheses are sometimes also used to designate a blank, although this may create confusion with a second (optional) function of parentheses, namely indication of an existing letter or word that has been "played through" by the main word. Example 1: A(D)DITiON(AL) D3 74 (played through the existing letter D and word AL, using a blank for the second I, extending down the D column and beginning on row 3, and scoring 74 points) The parentheses can be omitted, though, if each play states how many tiles were laid on the board in that play. Sequence of play File:Scrabble1.JPG Next, players decide the order in which they play.

The normal approach is for players to draw tiles: the player who picks the letter closest to the beginning of the alphabet goes first (with blank tiles ranked higher than A's). In North American tournaments, the rules of the US-based North American Scrabble Players Association (NASPA) stipulate instead that players who have gone first in the fewest number of games in the tournament have priority, or failing that, those who have gone second the most. In the case of a tie, tiles are drawn as in the standard rules. At the beginning of the game, and after each turn until the bag is empty (or until there are no more face-down tiles), players draw tiles to replenish their "racks", or tile-holders, with seven tiles, from which they will make plays. Each rack is concealed from the other players. During a turn, a player will have seven or fewer letter tiles in their rack from which to choose a play.

On each turn, a player has the option to: (1) pass, forfeiting the turn and scoring nothing; (2) exchange one or more tiles for an equal number from the bag, scoring nothing, an option which is only available if at least seven tiles remain in the bag; or (3) form a play on the board, adding its value to the player's cumulative score. A proper play uses any number of the player's tiles to form a single continuous word ("main word") on the board, reading either left-to-right or top-to-bottom. The main word must either use the letters of one or more previously played words, or else have at least one of its tiles horizontally or vertically adjacent to an already played word. If words other than the main word are newly formed by the play, they are scored as well, and are subject to the same criteria for acceptability. When the board is blank, the first word played must cover H8, the center square. The word must consist of at least two letters, extending horizontally or vertically. H8 is a premium square, so the first player to play a word receives a double score. A blank tile may take the place of any letter.

It remains as that letter thereafter for the rest of the game. Individually, it scores no points regardless of what letter it is designated and its possible placement on a premium square. However, its placement on a double-word or triple-word square does cause the appropriate premium to be scored for the word in which it is used. While not allowed in official or tournament play, a common " house rule " allows players to "recycle" blank tiles by later substituting the corresponding letter tile. After playing a word, the player draws letter tiles from the bag to replenish their rack to seven tiles. If there are not enough tiles in the bag to do so, the player takes all of the remaining tiles. After a player plays a word, their opponent may choose to challenge any or all the words formed by the play. If any of the words challenged is found to be unacceptable, the play is removed from the board, the player returns the newly played tiles to their rack and their turn is forfeited. In tournament play, a challenge is to the entire play rather than any one word, so a judge (human or computer) is used, and players are not entitled to know which word or words caused the challenge to succeed.

Penalties for unsuccessfully challenging an acceptable play vary within club and tournament play, and are described in greater detail below. Under North American rules, the game ends when (1) one player plays every tile in their rack, and there are no tiles remaining in the bag (regardless of the tiles in their opponent's rack); or (2) when six successive scoreless turns have occurred. (For several years, a game could not end with a cumulative score of zero-zero, but this is no longer the case, and this has occurred a number of times in tournament play. [10] ) When the game ends, each player's score is reduced by the sum of his/her unplayed letters. In addition, if a player has used all of his or her letters, the sum of the other player's unplayed letters is added to that player's score; in tournament play, a player who "goes out" adds double this sum, and the opponent is not penalized. Scoreless turns can occur when a player passes, when a player exchanges tiles, or when a player loses a challenge. The latter rule varies slightly in international tournaments.

Scoring Orange Each word formed in the play is scored this way: Any tile played from the player's rack onto a previously vacant square that is a "double-letter" or "triple-letter" premium square has its point value doubled or tripled as indicated. Add the normal point value of all other letters in the word (whether newly played or existing). For each newly played tile placed on a "double-word" premium square, the total of each word containing that tile is doubled (or redoubled). For each newly placed tile placed on a "triple-word" premium square, the total of each word containing that tile is tripled (or re-tripled). Premium squares affect the score of each word made in the same play by constituent tiles played upon those squares. Premium squares, once played upon, are not counted again in subsequent plays. Players occasionally achieve quadruple (4x) or nonuple (9x) word scores by spanning two double-word (called a "double-double" or two triple-word premium squares (called a "triple-triple") with a single word. Septenviguple (27x) word scores spanning three triple-word squares are possible, if only in constructed games.

(A hexuple [6x] or octodecuple [18x] word score is also possible under the rules, but only remotely so, since it would require that the opening play have missed the center square and not have been challenged off as a result. Game-construction enthusiasts have disavowed this ruse.) If a player uses all seven of the tiles in the rack in a single play, a bonus of 50 points is added to the score of that play (this is called a " bingo " in Canada and the United States, a "Scrabble" in Spain and a "bonus" elsewhere). These bonus points are added after totaling the score for that turn. When the letters to be drawn have run out, the final play can often determine the winner. This is particularly the case in close games with more than two players. The player who goes out first gets the sum of all remaining unplayed tiles added to their score. Players with tiles remaining on their rack have the sum of their remaining tiles subtracted from their score. Acceptable words Edit Acceptable words are the primary entries in some chosen dictionary , and all of their inflected forms.

Words that are hyphenated, capitalized (such as proper nouns), or apostrophized are not allowed, unless they also appear as acceptable entries: "Jack" is a proper noun, but the word JACK is acceptable because it has other usages as a common noun (automotive, vexillological , etc.) and verb that are acceptable. Acronyms or abbreviations, other than those that have been regularized (such as AWOL, RADAR, LASER, and SCUBA), are not allowed. Variant spellings, slang or offensive terms, archaic or obsolete terms, and specialized jargon words are allowed if they meet all other criteria for acceptability. Foreign words are not allowed in the English language Scrabble unless they have been incorporated into the English language – for example, the words "patisserie" and "glace". Proper nouns and other exceptions to the usual rules are allowed in some limited contexts in the spin-off game Scrabble Trickster . There are two popular competition word lists used in various parts of the world: TWL and SOWPODS (also referred to as "Collins").

OWL2 and OSPD4 Edit The North American 2006 Official Tournament and Club Word List, Second Edition (OWL2) went into official use in American, Canadian, Israeli and Thai club and tournament play on March 1, 2006 (or, for school use, the bowdlerized Official Scrabble Players Dictionary , Fourth Edition (OSPD4)). Early printings of OWL2 and OSPD4 have to be amended according to corrigenda posted at the National Scrabble Association web site. North American competitions use the Long Words List for longer words. The OWL2 and the OSPD4 are compiled using four (originally five) major college-level dictionaries, including Merriam-Webster (10th and 11th editions, respectively). If a word appears, at least historically, any one of the dictionaries, it will be included in the OWL2 and the OSPD4. If the word has only an offensive meaning, it is only included in the OWL2.

The key difference between the OSPD4 and the OWL2 is that the OSPD4 is marketed for "home and school" use, with expurgated words which their source dictionaries judged offensive, rendering the Official Scrabble Players Dictionary less fit for official Scrabble play. The OSPD4 is available in bookstores, whereas the OWL2 is only available from the National Scrabble Association 's retail website wordgear.com (as of July 2009, NSA membership is no longer required to purchase the OWL). Collins Scrabble Words Edit In all other countries, the competition word list is the Tournament and Club Word List (Collins), also known as Collins Scrabble Words. It was published in May 2007 (see SOWPODS ) and it lists all words of length 2 to 15 letters and is thus a complete reference. This list contains all OWL2 words plus words sourced from Chambers and Collins English dictionaries. This book is used to adjudicate at the World Scrabble Championship and all other major international competitions outside of North America.

Collins Scrabble Words 2012 Edition will be used from 1 January 2012 for countries currently using the Tournament and Club Word List (Collins). Challenges Main article: Challenge (Scrabble) The penalty for a successfully challenged play is nearly universal: the offending player removes the tiles played and forfeits the turn. (However, in some online games, an option known as "void" may be used, wherein unacceptable words are automatically rejected by the program. The player is then required to make another play, with no penalty applied.) The penalty for an unsuccessful challenge (where all words formed by the play are deemed valid) varies considerably, including: "Double Challenge", in which an unsuccessfully challenging player must forfeit the next turn. This penalty governs North American (NASPA-sanctioned) tournaments, and is the standard for North American, Israeli and Thai clubs. Because loss of a turn generally constitutes the greatest risk for an unsuccessful challenge, it provides the greatest incentive for a player to "bluff", or play a "phony" – a plausible word that they know or suspect to be unacceptable, hoping their opponent will not call them on it.

Players have divergent opinions on this aspect of the double-challenge game and the ethics involved, but officially it is considered a valid part of the game. "Single Challenge"/"Free Challenge", in which no penalty whatsoever is applied to a player who unsuccessfully challenges. This is the default rule in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, as well as for many tournaments in Australia, although these countries do sanction occasional tournaments using other challenge rules. Modified "Single Challenge", in which an unsuccessful challenge does not result in the loss of the challenging player's turn, but is penalized by the loss of a specified number of points. The most common penalty is five points. The rule has been adopted in Singapore (since 2000), Malaysia (since 2002), South Africa (since 2003), New Zealand (since 2004), and Kenya, as well as in contemporary World Scrabble Championships (since 2001). Some countries and tournaments (including Sweden) use a 10-point penalty instead. In most game situations, this penalty is much lower than that of the "double challenge" rule. Consequently, such tournaments encourage a greater willingness to challenge and a lower willingness to play dubious words.

Historic evolution of the rules The North American "box rules" (that are included in each game box, as contrasted with tournament rules) have been edited four times: in 1953, 1976, 1989, and 1999. [11] The major changes in 1953 were as follows: It was made clear that: words could be played through single letters already on the board. a player could play a word parallel and immediately adjacent to an existing word provided all crosswords formed were valid. the effect of two word premium squares were to be compounded multiplicatively. The previously unspecified penalty for having one's play successfully challenged was stated: withdrawal of tiles and loss of turn. The major changes in 1976 were as follows: It was made clear that the blank tile beats an A when drawing to see who goes first. A player could now pass his/her turn, doing nothing. A loss-of-turn penalty was added for challenging an acceptable play. If final scores are tied, the player whose score was highest before adjusting for unplayed tiles is the winner. The editorial changes made in 1989 did not affect game play.

The major changes in 1999 were as follows: It was made clear that: a tile can be shifted or replaced until the play has been scored. a challenge applies to all the words made in the given play. Playing all seven tiles is officially called a "Bingo". A change of wording could be inferred to mean that a player can form more than one word in one row on a turn. Club and tournament play Main article: English language Scrabble Tens of thousands play club and tournament Scrabble worldwide. The intensity of play, obscurity of words, and stratospheric scores in tournament games may come as a shock to many parlor players. All tournament (and most club) games are played with a game clock and a set time control . Although casual games are often played with unlimited time, this is problematic in competitive play among players for whom the number of evident legal plays is immense. Almost all tournament games involve only 2 players; typically, each has 25 minutes in which to make all of his or her plays. For each minute by which a player oversteps the time control, a penalty of 10 points is assessed.

The number of minutes is rounded up, so, for example, if a player oversteps time control by two minutes and five seconds, the penalty is 30 points. Also, most players use molded plastic tiles (of which Protiles is one major brand), not engraved like the original wooden tiles, eliminating the potential for a cheating player to "braille" (feel for particular tiles, especially blanks, in the bag). Players are allowed "tracking sheets", preprinted with the letters in the initial pool, from which tiles can be crossed off as they are played. Tracking tiles is an important aid to strategy, especially during the endgame, when no tiles remain to be drawn and each player can determine exactly what is on the opponent's rack. The most prestigious (regularly held) tournaments include: The World Scrabble Championship : held in odd years, the last was in Johor Bahru , Malaysia in 2009. [12] The National Scrabble Championship : an open event attracting several hundred players, held around July/August every year or two, most recently in Dallas, Texas on August 7–11, 2010. The Brand's Crossword Game King's Cup : the largest tournament in the World.

Held annually around the end of June or beginning of July. Other important tournaments include: The World Youth Scrabble Championships : entry by country qualification, restricted to under 18 years old. Held annually since 2006. The National School Scrabble Championship : entry open to North American school students. Held annually since 2003. The Canadian Scrabble Championship : entry by invitation only to the top fifty Canadian players. Held every two to three years. Clubs in North America typically meet one day a week for three or four hours and some charge a small admission fee to cover their expenses and prizes. Clubs also typically hold at least one open tournament per year. Tournaments are usually held on weekends, and between six and nine games are played each day. There are also clubs in the UK and many other countries. There are a number of internationally rated SOWPODS -tournaments. [13] During off hours at tournaments, many players socialize by playing consultation (team) Scrabble, Clabbers , Anagrams , Boggle and other games. Computer players Edit Maven is a computer opponent for the game, created by Brian Sheppard.

The official Scrabble computer game in North America uses a version of Maven as its artificial intelligence and is published by Atari . Outside of North America, the official Scrabble computer game is published by Ubisoft . Quackle is an open-source alternative to Maven of comparable strength. [14] Console and computer video game versions The Nintendo DS version of Scrabble 2007 Edition made news when parents became angry over the game's AI using potentially offensive language during gameplay. [15] Scrabble on the Internet Edit A number of sites offer the possibility to play Scrabble online against other users. The game is available to play for free at part of Electronic Arts. The Internet Scrabble Club (ISC) , which is free of charge, is frequented continuously by thousands of players, including many of the game's most renowned experts. The social networking site Facebook had offered an online variation of Scrabble called Scrabulous as a third-party application add-on. On January 15, 2008, it was reported that Hasbro and Mattel were in the process of suing the creators of Scrabulous for copyright infringement .

On July 24, 2008, Hasbro filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against the creators of Scrabulous. [16] On July 28, 2008 the Scrabulous Facebook application was disabled for users in North America, [17] eventually re-appearing as " Lexulous " in September 2008, with changes made to distinguish it from Scrabble. On December 20, 2008 Hasbro withdrew their lawsuit against RJ Softwares. [18] There is also a version in Turkish as a Facebook application named "SKRABL Turkce" which offers only 2 player game. [19] Mattel launched its official version of online Scrabble, Scrabble by Mattel on Facebook in late March 2008. [20] [21] The application was developed by Gamehouse , a division of RealNetworks who has been licensed by Mattel. [21] However since Hasbro controls the copyright for North America with the copyright for the rest of the world belonging Mattel, [20] the Facebook application is available only to players outside the United States and Canada.

[21] Ownership of the rights to Scrabble by multiple companies is limiting the introduction of the game to Facebook [21] and, between its launch date and April 6, 2008, fewer than 2000 users had registered, compared with 600,000 registered Scrabulous users. [21] As of November 3, 2008, the official Facebook Scrabble game has 203,644 monthly active users. The new "official" application has been heavily criticised in Facebook reviews, particularly by former users of the Scrabulous application which allowed American and Canadian users to play opponents in other countries, which is no longer possible: the Scrabble Beta application is only available in the USA and Canada, whereas Scrabble Worldwide is only available to other countries. Some have complained that they have been unable to use the new application due to technical bugs and glitches, and many have criticized Hasbro for failing to reach an agreement with Scrabulous developers. [22] In addition, the Facebook version only allows automatic verification of words, making it impossible to play invalid words, and making challenges redundant.

RealNetworks has stated that the application is currently in its beta stage and there have been reports of a number of bugs and limitations. [21] The Original Scrabble now exists on Facebook, and was developed by Electronic Arts . Scrabble "TV game show" board game versions Main article: Scrabble (game show) In 1987, a board game was released by Selchow & Righter, based on the Scrabble game show which aired on NBC from 1984 to 1990 (and for five months in 1993). Billed as the "Official Home Version" of the game show (or officially as the "TV Scrabble Home Game"), game play bears more resemblance to the game show than it does to a traditional Scrabble game, although it does utilize a traditional Scrabble game board in play. On September 17, 2011, a new game show based on Scrabble, called "Scrabble Showdown", premiered on the The Hub . The show is hosted by Justin "Kredible" Willman .

[23] Super Scrabble Main article: Super Scrabble A new licensed product, Super Scrabble , was launched in North America by Winning Moves Games in 2004 under license from Hasbro, with the deluxe version (with turntable and lock-in grid) released in February 2007. A Mattel-licensed product for the rest of the world was released by Tinderbox Games in 2006. This set comprises 200 tiles in slightly modified distribution to the standard set and a 21×21 playing board. Records Edit The following records were achieved during competitive club or tournament play, according to authoritative sources, including the book Everything Scrabble by Joe Edley and John D. Williams, Jr. (revised edition, Pocket Books , 2001) and the Scrabble FAQ. [24] When available, separate records are listed based upon different official word lists: OSPD or OCTWL, the North American list also used in Thailand and Israel; OSW, formerly the official list in the UK; SOWPODS, the combined OSPD+OSW now used in much of the world.

To date, new editions or revisions of these lists have not been considered substantial enough to warrant separate record-keeping. High game (OSPD) – 830 by Michael Cresta (Mass.), October 12, 2006. Cresta defeated Wayne Yorra 830-490. [25] [26] High game (OSW) – 793 by Peter Preston (UK), 1999. [27] High game (SOWPODS) – Nicholas Mbugua set a new Kenya record with 789 on June 3, 2007 at the 2nd WSC Qualifier in Machakos. Russell Honeybun set a new Australian record with 764 in August 2007. High combined score (OSPD) – 1320 (830-490) by Michael Cresta and Wayne Yorra, in a Lexington, Mass., club, 2006.

[25] [26] High combined score (OSPD) in a tournament game – 1134 (582-552) by Keith Smith (Tex.) and Stefan Rau (Conn.), Round 12 of the 2008 Dallas Open. (Rau's losing score of 552 included three phony words which were not challenged.) [28] High combined score (OSPD) in a tournament game with no phony words played – 1127 (725-402) by Laurie Cohen (Ariz.) and Nigel Peltier (Wash.), in a tournament in Ahwatukee, Arizona, February 16, 2009. [29] High combined score (SOWPODS) – 1157 (627-530) by Phillip Edwin-Mugisha (Uganda) and Vannitha Balasingam (Malaysia), at the 2009 World Scrabble Championship.

[30] Highest losing score (OSPD) – 552 by Stefan Rau (Conn.) to Keith Smith's (Tex.) 582, Round 12 of the 2008 Dallas Open. [28] Highest tie game (OSPD) – 502-502 by John Chew and Zev Kaufman, at a 1997 Toronto Club tournament. [31] Highest tie game (SOWPODS) – 522-522 by A Webb and N Deller, at the Peterborough Free Challenge Event 2009 [32] Highest opening move score (OSPD) – MuZJIKS (with a blank for the U) 126 by Jesse Inman (S.C.) at the National Scrabble Championship , 2008. [33] The highest possible legal score on a first turn is MUZJIKS 128, using an actual U rather than a blank. Highest opening move score (SOWPODS) – BEZIQUE 124 by Sam Kantimathi (1993), [34] Joan Rosenthal.

[35] BEZIQUE 124 by Sally Martin. [35] Highest single play (OSPD) – QUIXOTRY 365 by Michael Cresta (Mass.), 2006. [25] [26] Highest single play (SOWPODS) – CAZIQUES 392 by Karl Khoshnaw. [36] Highest average score, multi-day tournament (OSPD) – 474 by Suhas Rao (N.C.) over 29 rounds at the 2011 National Scrabble Championship . [37] 471 by Chris Cree (Tex.) over 18 rounds at the Bayou Bash in Houston, Tex., 2007. [38] Highest average score, multi-day tournament (SOWPODS) – 499.94 by Nigel Richards (MY) over 16 rounds at the 7th Lim Boon Heng Cup, Singapore, 2009.

[39] In the absence of better documentation, it is believed that the following records were achieved under a formerly popular British format known as the "high score rule", in which a player's tournament result is determined only by the player's own scores, and not by the differentials between that player's scores and the opponents'. As a result, play in this system "encourages elaborate setups often independently mined by the two players", [27] and is profoundly different from the standard game in which defensive considerations play a major role. While the "high score" rule has unsurprisingly led to impressively high records, it is currently out of favor throughout the world; associating its records with normal competitive play is misleading. High game score of 1,049 by Phil Appleby of Lymington, Hants, UK , on June 25, 1989 in Wormley, Herts, UK. His opponent scored just 253 points, giving Appleby a record victory margin of 796 points. High single-turn score of 392, by Dr. Saladin Karl Khoshnaw [36] in Manchester , UK, in April 1982.

The word he used was CAZIQUES , meaning "native chiefs of West Indian aborigines". Hypothetical scores in possible and legal but highly unlikely plays and games are far higher, primarily through the use of words that cover three triple-word-score squares. The highest reported score for a single play is 1780 (OSPD) and 1785 (SOWPODS) using oxyphenbutazone . [40] When only adding the word sesquioxidizing to these official lists, one could theoretically score 2015 (OSPD) and 2044 (SOWPODS) points in a single move. [40] The highest reported combined score for a theoretical game is 3,986 points using OSPD words only. [41] Other records are available for viewing at Template:PDFlink , an unofficial record book which includes the above as sources and expands on other topics. International versions Edit Template:See Versions of the game have been released in several other languages. The game was called Alfapet when it was introduced in Sweden in 1954.

However, since the mid-1990s, the game has also been known as Scrabble in Sweden. Alfapet is now another crossword game, created by the owners of the name Alfapet. A Russian version is called Erudit. Versions have been prepared for Dakotah , Haitian Creole , Dakelh ( Carrier language ), and Tuvan . [42] For languages with digraphs counted as single letters, such as Welsh and Hungarian , the game features separate tiles for those digraphs. Variations Main article: Scrabble variants Variations of the game include AlphaJax, Literati, Alfapet, Funworder, Skip-A-Cross, Scramble, Spelofun, Square-write, Palabras Cruzadas ("crossed words"), Word for Word, Lexulous, Wordipelago, Wordfeud, and Words With Friends . While these games are similar to the original Scrabble game, they include minor variations. For example, Literati draws random tiles instead of providing a finite number of tiles for the game, assigns different point levels to each letter and has a slightly different board layout whereas Lexulous assigns eight letters to each player instead of the customary seven.

Duplicate Scrabble is a popular variant in French speaking countries . Every player has the same letters on the same board and the players must submit a paper slip at the end of the allotted time (usually 3 minutes) with the highest scoring word they have found. This is the format used for the French World Scrabble Championships but it is also used in Romanian and Dutch . There is no limit to the number of players that can be involved in one game, and at Vichy in 1998 there were 1485 players, a record for French Scrabble tournaments. In one variation of Scrabble, blanks actually do score points corresponding to the letter which the blank is used to represent. For example, if one played blank to represent a "Z", it would get ten; a blank to represent a V or an H would get four; a blank to represent a D would get 2 and blank to represent a T, N or any of the vowels would get one. Game board formats The game has been released in numerous game board formats appealing to various user groups. The original boards included wood tiles and many "deluxe" sets still do.

Travel editions Edit Editions are available for travelers who may wish to play in a conveyance such as a train or plane, or who may wish to pause a game in progress and resume later. Many versions thus include methods to keep letters from moving, such as pegboards, recessed tile holders and magnetic tiles. Players' trays are also designed with stay-fast holders. Such boards are also typically designed to be folded and stowed with the game in progress. Production and Marketing Company, 1954 – metal hinged box, Bakelite tiles inlaid with round magnets, chrome tile racks, silver colored plastic bag and cardboard box covered with decorative paper. The box, when opened flat, measures 8½″ × 7¾″ and the tiles measure ½″ × ½″ each. Spear's Games, 1980s – boxed edition with pegboard, plastic tiles with small feet to fit snugly in the pegboard. Racks are clear plastic, allowing some sorting while holding tiles fairly snugly. Set comes with a drawstring plastic bag to draw tiles and a cardboard box. It is possible to save a game in progress by returning the board to the box.

There is risk of players' trays being mixed and upset, and the box lid, held on by friction, is subject to upset. Selchow & Righter, 1980s – pocket edition with plastic "magnetic" board and tiles. Tile racks are also plastic with asymmetrical shape to provide handhold. All elements fit in a plastic envelope for travel and to permit a pause in the game. Plastic letters are very small and tend to lose their grip if not placed with slight lateral movement and if they are not perfectly clean. Game format is extremely small, allowing Scrabble games for backpackers and others concerned about weight and size. Hasbro Games, 2001 – hinged plastic board with clear tile-shaped depressions to hold tiles in play. Board is in a black, zippered folio such that board and tiles may be folded for travel, even with game in play. Reverse side of board contains numbered mounts for racks, holding tiles face down, allowing secure and confidential storage of tiles while game is paused. Some versions have tile racks with individual tile slots, thus not permitting easy sorting of tiles in rack. Deluxe editions Edit At the opposite end, some "deluxe" editions offer superior materials and features.

These include editions on a rotating turntable so players can always face the board with the letters upright and a raised grid that holds the tiles in place. More serious players often favor custom Scrabble boards, often made of Lucite or hardwood, that have superior rotating mechanisms and personalized graphics. Large print edition Edit An edition has been released (in association with the RNIB ) with larger board and letters for players with impaired vision. The colours on the board are more contrasting and the font size is increased from 16 to 24 point. The tiles are in bold 48 point. Works detailing tournament Scrabble An introduction to tournament Scrabble and its players can be found in the book Word Freak by Stefan Fatsis . In the process of writing, Fatsis himself progressed into a high-rated tournament player. There have been numerous documentaries made about the game, including: Word Wars (2004) by Eric Chaikin and Julian Petrillo, about the "tiles and tribulations on the Scrabble game circuit".

Scrabylon (2003), by Scott Petersen, which "gives an up-close look at why people get so obsessed with that seemingly benign game..." Word Slingers by Eric Siblin and Stefan Vanderland (produced for CBC , 2002), which follows four expert Canadian players at the 2001 World Championship in Las Vegas. See also Scrabble Board and Tile Distribution - ScrabbleStop.com Scrabble Board and Tile Distribution Colored Square Values Are As Follows: Pink -> Double Word Score Light-Blue -> Double Letter Score Dark-Blue -> Triple Letter Score Using all seven letters on your rack in the same play is called a bingo or in some parts, a scrabble. A 50-point bonus is awarded for a bingo.

Tile distribution for the North American (TWL06) & British (SOWPODS) lexicons are as follows: A(9) - B(2) - C(2) - D(4) - E(12) - F(2) - G(3) - H(2) - I(9) - J(1) - K(1) - L(4) - M(2) N(6) - O(8) - P(2) - Q(1) - R(6) - S(4) - T(6) - U(4) - V(2) - W(2) - X(1) - Y(2) - Z(1) BLANKS(2) © Scrabble Stop SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A. by Hasbro Inc., in Canada by Hasbro Canada Inc. and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons, PLC of Leicester LE3 2WT, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro or Hasbro Canada.

Scrabble Rules Scrabble Rules The basic objective of Scrabble is to play tiles marked with letters on a 15x15 grid to form words. After the initial word is played, players take turns adding words to existing letters. The board looks like this: The colors mark the Premium Squares and letters or words that played on those squares are worth more points. Each tile has a letter and a number on it. The letter is used to construct the words and the number indicates it's point value. These are the letter frequencies and the point values: Letter It contains 267751 words. This is the SOWPODS word list. I found it online here . Rules Games only have two players. Each match has two games, one with each player playing first. Players initially draw 7 tiles each and place them on their rack. The first player combines two or more of his or her letters to form a word and places it on the board to read either across or down with one letter on the center square. (Diagonal words are not allowed.) After playing a word, the player receives replacement letters, one for each letter played. Following the first turn, players alternate.

Each plays a series of tiles forming a word (possibly more than one word, as below) and then draws new tiles. Always keep 7 tiles on each rack, unless there are not enough tiles left. The letters placed in a single turn must all be in a single horizontal row or in a single vertical column, and the letters placed (plus letters already on the board) must form a single word from the dictionary, with no gaps. Each new word must connect to the existing words, in one of the following ways: Adding one or more letters to a word or letters already on the board. Placing a word at right angles to a word already on the board. The new word must use one of the letters already on the board or must add a letter to one of the words on the board. Placing a complete word parallel to a word already played so that adjacent letters also form complete words. Any new words formed by these connections must also be in the dictionary. Each of the two blank tiles may be used as any letter. When playing a blank, you must state which letter it represents. It remains that letter for the rest of the game. You may use a turn to exchange all, some, or none of the letters.

To do this, place your discarded letter(s) facedown. Draw the same number of letters from the pool of remaining letters, and then mix your discarded letter(s) into the pool. This ends your turn. You may not exchange more tiles from your rack than are in the pool (or are in your rack, of course), but there is no other limit on how many tiles you may exchange. The game ends when: all of the letters are either in the player's racks or on the board, and one player uses his or her last letter or both players exchange some number of tiles twice in a row (for a total of four exchanges). Scoring The score for each turn is the sum of the letter values in each word(s) formed or modified on that turn, plus the additional points obtained from placing letters on Premium Squares. Premium Letter Squares: A light blue square doubles the score of a letter placed on it; a dark blue square triples the letter score. Premium Word Squares: The score for an entire word is doubled when one of its letters is placed on a pink square: it is tripled when one of its letters is placed on a red square.

Include premiums for double or triple letter values, if any, before doubling or tripling the word score. If a word is formed that covers two premium word squares, the score is doubled and then re-doubled (4 times the letter count), or tripled and then re-tripled (9 times the letter count). Letter and word premiums count only on the turn in which they are played. On later turns, letters already played on premium squares count at face value. When a blank tile is played on a pink or red square, the value of the word is doubled or tripled, even though the blank itself has no score value. When two or more words are formed in the same play, each is scored. The common letter is counted (with full premium value, if any) for each word. If you play seven tiles on a turn, it's called a Bingo. You score an additional 50 points after otherwise totaling your score for the turn. Unplayed Letters: When the game ends, each player's score is reduced by the sum of his or her unplayed letters. In addition, if a player has used all of his or her letters, the sum of the other players' unplayed letters is added to that player's score.

The player with the highest final score wins the game. In case of a tie, the player with the highest score before adding or deducting unplayed letters wins. If a match has one winner and one loser, the player that scored more points (combined in both games) wins the match. If that number is the same for the two players, the match is a tie. Scoring Example As an example, consider the following sequence of moves, starting from an empty board (only showing the middle section of the board). For this first move, add up the point values of the letters, 4+1+1+1=7 and then double that, since the letter r is on a double-word score (remember, the first play must always be there). The second word, farm, shares the r from the first word, but the double word cell is considered "used up" because the r was not played this turn.

Thus, the score is only the point values of the letters, added up: 4+1+1+3 = 9 Paste lands on two triple-letter scores, so the values of the p and the e are tripled: (3+3+3)+1+1+1+(1+1+1) = 15, but the word farms is a new word, so the entire value of that word is added in as well 4+1+1+3+1=10, for a total of 25. In this example, the double letter counts twice, since it is used simultaneously in two different words, not (1+(1+1)+1=4) and mob (3+(1+1)+3=8). Counting be (3+1=4) the total for this move is 16. This play makes three words bit (3+1+1=5), which is doubled, and pi (3+1=4) and at (1+1=2) for a total of 16.

Analysis Of The Board Game Scrabble English Language Essay Analysis Of The Board Game Scrabble English Language Essay Published: Last Edited: 23rd March, 2015 This essay has been submitted by a student. This is not an example of the work written by our professional essay writers. Scrabble is a word building multiuser game that consists of tiles which are distributed to the players. Scrabble game can have two to four players and the ultimate objective is to form crosswords on the scrabble board. Scrabble board: The board is of 15*15 square grids. There are exactly 100 tiles available in which 98 of them are marked tiles which are alphabets from A-Z and two anonymous letters [blank tiles] and each alphabet is given a score and a blank letter is given 0 points. In scrabble, each letter have different value depends on the frequency of its usage. Blank tiles can be a substitute for any letter.

Tile Values: Letters j, x have 8 points Letters f,h,v,w and y have 4 points Letter k have 5 points Letters b,c,m,p have 3 points Letters d,g have 2 points Letters a,e,i,o,u,s,t,r,n,l have 2 points each Extra points: In the scrabble board we have some squares represent multipliers. If a tile is placed on those squares the tile value is doubled or tripled based on the type of square. Double letter score: If a tile is placed on this square space the tile value is doubled, generally these cells are in light blue colour on scrabble board Triple letter score: If a tile is placed on this square space the tile value is tripled, generally these cells are in dark blue colour on scrabble board Double word Score: If a player place a word on one of these squares, the value of the entire word is doubled.generally, these are found diagonally towards the four corners of the scrabble board and these cells are in light red/pink colour. Triple word Score: If a player place a word on one of these squares, the value of the entire word will be tripled.

Generally, these are found on all the sides of the board equidistant from all the corners of the scrabble board. Course of the game: The players are initially given a rack with seven letters known as tiles placed on a rack which can be exchanged from the bag which already consists of the tiles that act as warehouse for storing the letters. To frame a word on the scrabble board, we should place a tile from the rack connecting at least single tile which is already placed on the board. New tiles will be placed on the rack from the sack, based on the number of tiles placed on the board. Each letter will have different point value, so the game strategy is to play words with high scoring letter combinations.Â (Scrabble rules, 2010). A Dictionary is used to check whether the words formed by the players are valid or not. A player can "Pass" his chance to opponent. Also we will have another way that when a player clicks on "exchange" button (for this the player will be given 0 points) it will perform two activities: Firstly it replaces the set of tiles on the rack/stand with new set of tiles and then it will give the turn to the opponent player.

If an individual used all his 7tiles on the rack at a time he will be awarded bonus points. Aim: Literature Survey: Random Number Generation Algorithm: The algorithm is used when the user wants to exchange his entire rack of 7 letters with a new set of letters from the bag. The user when tries to click the exchange button, this algorithm needs to run generating the different random letters given to the user for forming a word in his next turn as mentioned in the course of the game. This algorithm can be implemented in several ways by using the function Math.random () that generates numbers between 0 and 1. As the letters need to be generated, they can be converted to characters by multiplying with 26 which represents the number of alphabets (Programming Forums, 2010). System Architecture: The system architecture is useful in the design or developing games as this process comprises of listing the requirements and finding the paths to meet the requirements. In the current design of scrabble board, the requirements are mainly categorized in two different types. The primary thing is to play the game of scrabble. Next priority is given to the implementation of scrabble game with GADDAG or DAWG algorithms.

Initial requirement for playing a scrabble are about the software that would be used: 1. Java, platform independent language is used for implementing the game: The key class files that are needed for the initial start-up of scrabble: a. Board b. Rack c. Dictionary. These are the files which are primarily responsible for the user interface view. The user when executes the java file, these classes are initialized. The class file Board.java consists of a main function which in turn calls the method "board ()". The variables that might be used in this class are: tiles, blocks, word, square, and letters. Another method: Rack.java is initialized once the player starts the game. At the time of initialization, the rack consists of seven letters that are taken from the bag that consists of letters that will be distributed to each player based on the count of the number of letters placed on the board. Rack gets exchanged with a new set of letters if the player wishes to skip his turn by clicking an exchange button. Bag.java is the class file which fetches the information related to all the letters, their values are stored separately; this is initiated in preliminary step of Start Game. The bag contains all the 26 letters and blank letters.

While playing the move, the user mouse events need to be noted. So, the methods: Mouse Clicked (), Mouse Released (), Mouse Pressed (), Mouse Exited (), Mouse Entered () will be defined based on the required events. The drag and drop of letters on the board are noted with the help of Mouse Pressed () and Mouse Released (). If the axis co-ordinates are same for both the events, it is noted that the letter is not placed on the board. Else if the co-ordinates are changed, the letters that are placed are noted. When the user hits the play button, event: Mouse Clicked () triggers and the result: letters that are placed on the board. Thus, the formed word is validated using the dictionary program which will be the implementation of GADDAG algorithm. This can be used in two different situations: a. When the user hits play button, it calculates the number of letters that the user placed on the board and those many numbers of random letters are placed on the rack. When the user hits exchange button, the exchange.java program starts here: It selects all the letters are drop them in to the database i.e., (Bag) and provide the player with a new set of letters.

Score for each letter and their values are calculated depending on the word formed and tiles under the letter. Logic for scoring goes under this area where a triple letter or triple word or double letter or double word is calculated. Execution Flow: The design of the scrabble is as follows. The first step would be to show a board, a rack and score with initial values zero for all the players. But initially the rack would be showing the seven letters those need to be on the rack for forming a word. Then, the words are formed using these letters on the rack. The letters that are placed on the scrabble is performed by using the methods: Move generation and Go On procedure as explained in the GADDAG algorithm. Moreover, GADDAG algorithm is implemented for the underlying reason of dictionary implementation which validates the word formed. The valid word as mentioned, score of each letter is counted adding all the special tiles (triple or double letter or words). There are certain variables that need to be initialized for the execution of scrabble. There should be a counter that identifies the number of letters placed or number of points awarded. Once the user plays his move with the help of Move generation and Go On procedures, the word is set to check for the validity.

The variable "validity" is set to 0 if the word is not valid and a message that the word is invalid is displayed. Else, if the variable is set to 1 then, the Score.java class gets executed. The variable score takes the count of all the points that the player scored and updates the scoreboard for the respective players. Scrabble Board Additional Features: The optional requirements of clicking the exchange button that result in the new set of 7 letters on the rack. Here, the score becomes zero for that turn of the player. Here, the program needs to drop the letters from the rack and retrieve new set of letters. One more additional feature that might be present is Help button: When this button is triggered, the help button results in showing hints for two letter words that can be easily formed when there is a least chance for forming a word. Mouse event that needs to be triggered for this action is Mouse Clicked (). The final option that needs to be placed on the scrabble board is about: Quit button. This triggers the mouse event: Mouse Exited () which will prompt the user if he really wants to quit from the game with a menu options of Yes or No. There is one more way to finish the game.

When all the tiles are used and there are no ways in which the tiles can be used for forming a word. The number of points that come from these letters that are present on the rack are calculated. These points are deducted from the total score on the scoreboard. Then, the final scores are compared with each player and the player with more points is considered to be the winner which is obvious result for a game. Technical Specifications: A scrabble board will be designed with the help of swings or Java Server Pages to form a 15*15 tiles board. The board that consists of tiles need to be filled with letters which are represented as images that have score for each corresponding letter. All the letters are stored in a database (mysql) which can be retrieved from the database using the concept of JDBC (Java Database Connectivity). While placing the tiles the concept of counter decrementing or incrementing is used for keeping the timer. Java Server Pages helps the user to design certain web applications in the form of static and dynamic components. The features of JSP technology include constructs that would be used for accessing server side objects and the code is written in text based documents that consists of the responses and requests from and to the server respectively.

Swings provide multiple platform independent interfaces that may interact the users and GUI components. These APIs can be imported from the package "import javax.swing.*;" JDBC: is a Java API that can be used in accessing tables and entities which are stored in a relational database. These coding and technical specifications can be implemented in user friendly interfaces namely Eclipse or NetBeans IDE software where the code can be written to make easier manner of implementation (Java, 2010). Testing: Testing is a part of software development lifecycle. Life cycle of a testing identifies what activities should carry out and when to accomplish those activities. Testing plan should identify the areas to be tested and also it should calculate the risk associated with the implementation. Testing need to be carried until it reaches a checkpoint without any errors. We have different types of testing like unit testing, black box testing, white box testing, Integration testing, End-to-end testing, alpha testing, functional testing,compatable testing etc.

Question: What colour is a 'double-word' square on a Scrabble board?
Answer: Pink