Guerrilla Scrabble
Scrabble, the old school word game, is experiencing an apparent surge in popularity with new smartphone and tablet apps such as Word Feud or Words with Friends. While the joy of creating words from a jumble of 7 tiles may be enough for many newbies and board-game veterans alike, there will always be that subset of cutthroat players who aren't happy unless they score at least 400 points per game.
I am one of them.
I used to consider myself a worthy Scrabble opponent until I shared a house with Todd. Todd was a decent roommate, an affable fellow with a good sense of humor, a strong handshake, and an average vocabulary. But, in spite of that average vocabulary, he would destroy all challengers in Scrabble, without regard for their level of intelligence and/or education. How? Because he practiced what I now refer to as Guerrilla Scrabble.
Scrabble amateurs will approach the game with the notion that the idea is to play the biggest word you can at any given time. This is fine, but not winning Scrabble strategy. To win, you need to play defensively and strategically. Rest assured, a good vocabulary is important - the more you know, the more options you have. But you can cover for a lot of missed high school english classes with proper application of guerrilla Scrabble techniques. What follows are the ones I use and swear by.
Don't make a word - make at least 2, if not more
The easiest and most common play is to build a word off an existing word. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but you can significantly increase your score by creating more than one word per turn. A multiple word play allows you to score points from tiles already on the board. Look for ways to play words parallel to another word, overlapping two or more letters.
Consider the play in our example at right. 'SHAT' by itself is a 7 point word, but, by placing it adjacent to ROLES and creating 4 additional words, PURRS, OH, LA, and HET, you earn a total of 37 points.
Exploit the premium squares
Don't discount the double- and triple-letter premium squares. An H is only 4 points, but if you can play it on a double-letter and create two words in the process with the H in each, (such as OH and SHAT in our example) you'll get 16 points from the H alone.
Don't waste the S
If you play an S and score less than 30 points, you're doing it wrong. There are many, many words that can be pluralized with an S, which makes it easy to follow rule 1. Create a word that contains an S and lay it such that the S falls at the end (or beginning, in some cases) of a word on the board. You now get the points for your main word, PLUS the pluralized word.
Maximize your return
Frequently, you'll have multiple options to play. It's easy to go for the one that gets you the most points, but you have to consider whether you can earn more in the long run by taking an alternate play. Think about the points you're earning for the points you're laying down. For example, say you can have these two plays:
- Lay down JA- in front of a G for JAG with the J on a double-word for 28 points, or
- Lay HA with the H on a triple-letter and next to an E, forming EH and HA for 26 points.
EH/HA is the better play. Why? Because you're laying down 11 points worth of letters to gain 28 for JAG, but you're only laying down 5 points worth of letters to gain 26 for EH/HA. Take the 11 and save that J for another play - when you have no other good plays, or can exploit a triple-letter or triple-word with that J for 30 or more points.
The point is to maximize the number of points returned for what you lay down - in simple terms, play the biggest multiplier - return more points per point laid down. The higher the better. 3:1 is good, 4:1 is better, 5:1 is great and more than that is outstanding. Remember, you're going to have a limited amount of tiles in any given game - make the most of them.
Don't help your opponent
When you lay your word down, consider what it leaves for your opponent. Can they easily build off it? If you put WEED down right in front of a triple-word, and your opponent comes along with SAMPLE to gain the triple bonus on both SAMPLE and WEEDS for, like, 60 points, you're going to feel pretty stupid.
Likewise, if there's a triple-word waiting to be exploited and you have no way of doing so, block it - play a word there that makes it effectively impossible to use the triple. Even if it means you score 10 points on the turn, don't let them take advantage of that triple.
In conclusion...
Making big, fancy words is fun. Winning the game is more fun - and that's done by scoring as many points as possible. Make many words with every turn. Play premium tiles on premium squares. Give no quarter. Take no prisoners. Win.