Scrabble
2-4
10+
60
The classic crossword game played by millions around the world! Use your seven letters to build crosswords, and use bonus spaces to add to your score! Genuine wooden letter tiles and racks. For 2 to 4 players. Includes Gameboard, 100 Wood Letter Tiles, 4 Wooden Tile Racks, Letter Bag. Winner of the CLASSIC Award by Parent's Choice Awards.
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Why it’s one of the worlds first smart bombs, and it’s worth 13 points! (free tip there 😉 )
Scrabble is Scrabble, it’s one of the “legendary” forefather board games (along with games like Monopoly, Parcheesi, Sorry!, Chess, etc) that gamers and non-gamers alike know all about. The game has graced smart phones, video games, travel sized games and it even had it’s own game show on television hosted by the legendary Chuck Woolery! (dating myself there, aren’t I…)
The game play is simple, 2 to 4 players are randomly dealt 7 small, square wooden tiles that each have a letter printed on them and a point value. Letters that appear frequently in the English language, like A, S, R, etc, have a lower point value versus letters that appear more infrequently, like Z, Q, X and J. You take turns building words on the game board which is a large grid, replenishing your 7 titles as you use them on the board. You can also forgo playing titles to exchange any number of your titles for new ones from the pool. As the game progresses, the game board starts to resemble a crossword puzzle and much like a crossword puzzle all intersections need to form valid words. To help add a level of strategy to the game, there’s various squares that you build out to on the game board that can either double or triple the points earned for the letter played there or for the entire word!
As another reviewer has mentioned, the game really only works competitively when the players are of a similar skill level and can get really intense when you have 4 players with very expansive vocabularies sitting around the table. It can work with varying skill levels but that’s usually when adults are playing with children and handicapping their verbiage. The beauty of this game is that when you get better at the game, you’re also strengthening your real world vocabulary which helps you become a better writer, a better speaker and just increases blood flow to your neural net processor in general, which is always a good thing! The game is a great learning tool for children and adults as it fosters the will to learn new vocabulary in order to succeed at the game. Take those principles and apply them to foreign language versions and you have a great multipurpose board game on your hands where replay value is high because you’re always looking to get back to the board and break out that shiny new taeniae you’ve recently discovered!
As far as components go, the basic game has your standard cardboard game board, 4 short wooden trays to hold your 7 letters upright in front of you and a fixed assortment of wooden letter tiles. The wooden tiles are nice but the board leaves a lot to be desired when someone accidentally bumps it and the titles go sliding in various directions. Deluxe models usually resolve this issue by having a raised grid that the titles sit in preventing all but the most colossally violent shaking or flipping from interrupting your game play.
Scrabble is a classic for a reason and it rightfully deserves it’s place among the legends of our hobby. Now go look up taeniae, just be careful if you do an image search. 😉
Scrabble still hits our kitchen table about once a month. It’s up against much flashier and newer games, but there it is, a friendly old uncle, winking at me – knowing I’d rather spend an hour with him.
I won’t go over the rules of Scrabble, or how it’s played. You either already know, or you can find the rules online. I know how the engine in a Ferrari works, but that tells me little about what it’s like to drive one. Okay, I suppose I should have said a Studebaker.
I play Scrabble with my kids. I don’t do it to enhance their education, though I suppose it does. We play because they enjoy it. The kids often disagree on which game we’ll play, but if I settle the argument with Scrabble, nobody moans. (Scattergories is another winner.)
I play Scrabble with my parents when they come to visit. They play 2 or 3 evenings a week. They’re always discovering new short words that beg to be challenged. I have to watch their faces to see if they’re bluffing. We actually rarely use the formal challenge rules – I mean c’mon, it’s family. Some nights we play very loose, passing a dictionary around as we play. I’m not sure the sand timer that came with our game works. It’s Schrodinger’s cat – never been out of the box.
My favorite Scrabble games are those I played on the evenings while our kids were falling asleep. My wife and I would play while enjoying a pot of tea and talking about the day.
If I can suggest one thing, it would be that you give a high-end edition of Scrabble as a wedding gift. It’ll be appreciated.
If you found this website you sure as heck know what Scrabble is.
Two to four players take turns laying letter tiles to make words. Different letters have different values and some locations on the board enhance the value of words or letters placed on them. The winner is the one who gets the highest score.
That’s it.
It is, to my mind, the king of word games. The challenge is to take your letters, organize them into a decent word (“wall”) and find a better one (“seawall,” using all seven letters) and finding the perfect place to put it.
The game works best – and *only,* consistently – when both players have comparable skill levels and expectations for how the game will go. I can’t play it with my kids because we are playing two different games. I’ll be wondering if I can use the word “quahog” and my kids will be happy to come up with something age appropriate for a 6th or 3d grader.
Playing with another adult still presents the potential for paralysis-by-analysis. I take a long time on my turns. I know I shouldn’t, but it’s how my brain works, and it’s asking a lot of my wife, who is not an especially patient gamer, for me to think forever about whether I should use “colors” instead of “coloring.”
So. For the right pair it’s the best word game in the world. If you have gaming style or vocabulary mismatches in your game group, be prepared for this one to gather dust.
“Horse: everyone can see what is it.” – so says an old encyclopedia. Ditto with Scrabble in my opinion. Every gamer and a lot of non-gaming people knows what Scrabble is all about. Well, it’s one of the classic board games.
It has been invented in 1931 (three years earlier than Monopoly) and first published in 1946 (its name was Lexico that time). As Scrabble it is known from 1948.
The rules (for those who do not know how a horse looks like) are as follows: 2 to 4 players draw tiles with letters on them. Then they take their turns trying to make a word out of their respective tiles and to put that word on a board so it connects with a word already present there – effectively forming a crossword. The longer the word, the more uncommon letters are in and the more valuable spaces it occupies on the board – the more points its owner earns.
As a word game Scrabble is language dependent. The board looks the same for all national versions but the letter tiles sets are different. It is not only because the letters used in various languages are different, but also because the frequencies of the common letters are different too. And more common letters are of less point value. For example in the English version there is one Z tile with the value of 10 points while in the Polish version there are 5 such tiles and they give the players only 1 point each.
People who like crosswords usually like Scrabble too. I am not a big fan of this game but I like it. I like it especially in English – that (as you probably already know reading this review) is not my native language. Playing Scrabble in a foreign language you learn is a good and funny way to enrich your vocabulary. So if you study another language – get a copy of Scrabble in it!
When I saw that Words With Friends was coming out with an actual board game, I was stunned. My first reaction was, “Why? It already exists! It’s Scrabble!” I am sure that a lot of people probably feel the same way, or will when they hear the news; the reason for this is that Scrabble is a board game that is a true classic. Aside from being a board game that has been in existence for over a half-century, Scrabble has been featured as a game show, has been used in restaurant promotion sweepstakes, and has even had tournaments where people compete in timed events to win prizes. That’s pretty impressive. So in honor of Words With Friends throwing their hat into the ring, I would like to review this gaming classic.
Scrabble is at its heart a board game, but the game doesn’t require you to move a personal game piece around the board, requires no dice to roll, and requires no cards to draw and resolve. Instead, all you require is a tileholder…and perhaps a dictionary. You see, Scrabble is all about making words for points. You play the game with an assortment of tiles that have a single letter and a point value associated with each. You and your opponent have seven tiles with which to make words, and are awarded point values for the total worth of the word(s) placed (it is possible to form more than one word with clever placement of tiles). When a player uses up tiles to form a word, he or she immediately replaces the used tiles on their tileholder with new ones from the tile bag (or tile pool). Players continue in this manner until all the tiles have been exhausted and a player uses up all of their remaining letters, or until it is considered impossible to play any more words.
Scrabble has a small set of rules that are easy to understand, but are very important. First and foremost, you can’t legally play anything that’s not an actual word in the dictionary. So good luck playing Trogdor; it’s not going to happen. Also, names as a rule are not allowed. So Brian can’t be used as a legal play (although Jack can be used because it’s also a device or action). You also can’t just place a word anywhere; you have to build off of an existing letter on the board. In this manner, players form word chains that slowly fill up the board.
Aside from placing words, players need to be aware of the board itself. There are numerous special locations on the board that will yield additional points when used, anything from double and triple letter scores, to double and triple word scores.There are small amount of these, and they are evenly dispersed across the board, so everyone has ample opportunity to put them to good use.
The tiles themselves are rated in value according to the number of letters that are actually included. The vowels are 1 point, for example, as they will be used constantly. By contrast, letters like Z and Q are worth 10 points, and only have the one tile each. However, there are two special tiles: blanks. These tiles carry no value and cannot be scored, but they are wild tiles and can be substituted for any letter. Once a blank has been used as a letter, its value is fixed and cannot be changed; if it was used as a B, for example, someone could play Brain off of it next turn if they wanted.
Players would be wise to keep a scoring pad to keep track of points earned in the game, and write down scores accrued immediately after placing words; values of words can and will change as more letters are added on in the course of the game. Once the game ends, players tally up the points to determine the winner.
I love Scrabble. But I’d be lying if I said that the game didn’t have its share of problems. The first and most obvious is the arguments that can start over what is considered to be a legal word. The dictionary solves this; if it’s not in there, it’s not legal. But it slows the game down in looking up the dictionary constantly. And when players are looking to use some letters in a tough spot, the dictionary will get a lot of use. Also, Scrabble can be a slow game if players spend a lot of time looking for the right move (hence why tournaments are timed).
Scrabble is one of those games that everybody comes back to at one point or another. Even if you don’t play the game, it’s hard to resist wanting to help out another player in a bind if you just walk by a game in progress. It’s refreshing, really. Give it a shot sometime.
I don’t like word games.
I don’t like simple games. I don’t like games that seem too random.
To sum up? I don’t like Scrabble.
But I can’t deny the fact that it’s at least one of the best word game I’ve ever played. I’ve played tons of them, in various styles and approaches. They either lead to situations where you argue over rules, or it’s incredibly hard for someone who doesn’t have that near-instant access to their vocabulary to compete…
Scrabble was decent as a kid, it was simple and I could come up with (or make up!) words most of the time.
Scrabble was awful in my twenties. It was boring, my friends had better vocabularies than me, and we had more interesting and complex strategy games we could play.
In my thirties, I’ve started playing again, and I’m learning that there are actually some interesting strategies to how to play Scrabble. How to choose words to stop your opponent from getting triple word spaces, or how to set up a way to drop an X on a triple letter and get “ox” and “ox” from both directions, to get over fifty points for a single letter, or even just choosing which letters to save for later.
I always thought the game was just about memorizing all the 2 and 3 letter Scrabble words, and words that use Q’s without U’s, which is part of it, but there’s more there than I ever gave it credit for.
However, buying a board game version actually seems silly to me. Just go play Words with Friends on Facebook. It’s asynchronous, so you can play on your own time, you can spend time thinking without ******* off your friends, and you remove the main problem I have with the game in a casual setting: Bad Vocabulary. If I play in real life, I am rushing to play, and I might slip up and think “oz” is a word. Then you have to either play competitively, and the other player challenges, and I don’t even know what the real solution is there. Or you play in a friendly manner, and the other player says “no that’s not a word” and you take back your tiles, but now they know some letters you have and you feel like an idiot. WwF on FB just says “Sorry, oz is not a word,” so casual Scrabblers who don’t memory every 2 letter word can screw around and compete with the more serious veterans of the game.
Something I’d like to see? Randomized boards, so the “how do I build out” can be a developing strategy!
Anyway. Summarized:
There’s more to Scrabble than you might think. Give it another try after playing some real strategy games.
Ah, Scrabble… Fond memories of playing this game with my dad when I was a kid, and still fond memories of playing it today. I will never forget sitting at the table with my dad, thesaurus and dictionary nearby. Nowadays, we sit with ipods and tablets and Google words…lol. Not quite the same, but definitely faster.
Other games I remember from my childhood (70’s and 80’s), such as Monopoly and such, I have no interest in anymore, regardless of the experiences/memories. Uno, Rummykub, and Scrabble are about all I find myself going back to on occasion, and still enjoying.
The random element of tiles helps somewhat for those less spelling/thesaurus inclined, and someone experienced with the game and with a large vocabulary will just obliterate someone younger and/or less “Wordy”. Even with my experiences, I still find myself checking opponents after wondering, “Is that even a word?”. Then in another game, I can have people questioning something simple (to me, at least) like Yaws (My wife swore that wasn’t a word…lol). Either way, it’s a great learning experience and I find it fun as well once in a while. When my daughter gets a bit older, this is one I will be sure to break out on family game nights to help with her spelling/vocabulary.
I should add, that even though we have other versions of Scrabble as well, they rarely see play. It’s always the “simplicity” of the original board that we come back to. Stacking, electronic cubes, and other variations like Card games aren’t horrible, but for me at least the original game is perfect the way it is.
There is a reason this game has been around so long. There’s also a reason why there are tournaments held for this game and over a dozen books dedicated to it. It’s a really good word game. It’s not a “kids” game either, because the better the vocabulary you have and better you can the spell, then the better you can dominate in this game.
The game is really simple in that each player draws letter tiles up to a maximum based on number of players. They take turns spelling words on the board, and score points based on the letters and the squares they have placed their tiles. The only catch is they have to make a word from one of the letters on the board except for the first initial move. The person with the most points wins.
The depth to this game comes into not only how well you spell with what tiles you have, but also in how well you can get the bonus squares on the board to maximize your points each turn. Managing your hand in this game is also a key strategy, because you don’t want to find yourself with a rack full of vowels or consonants.
The components in every copy I’ve seen so far have been great. The board is sturdy, and the tiles are solid wood along with the tile racks. You can get fancier versions of this game if you desire, but the basic game is pretty much all you need unless you’re a serious Scrabble aficionado.
Overall, I enjoy this game when I play it. It’s more of a brain burning/deep thinking word game. So “analysis paralysis” prone players, might make this game long. There isn’t much interaction between players except when there’s a question on the validity of a word which might get heated. For a more challenging and enjoyable game, you need to play someone close to your skill level, or else you’ll either crush someone or be crushed…not fun then. If you’re a social gamer looking for a quicker word game with more “fun” as in more interaction and laughs, Word on the Street would be a better fit.
Scrabble is a timeless classic. I’ve been playing since I can remember starting with my family then school friends and on into my adult life. I get to play with my kids now, occasionally, even amidst the amazing variety of games competing for our attention these days.
Play is simple, but challenging, as each player uses the tiles in play and their own limited letter tiles to spell words in a classic crossword format. Points are scored based on letter values and modifiers on certain board squares like: Double Letter or Triple Word. It’s a great game for building vocabulary and spelling skills but it can be frustrating for younger kids.
I love Scrabble but it can run a little long sometimes if players start agonizing over how to score the most points and become a little too competitive about it. It can be played one on one but is better with 3 or 4 players. It is a solid addition to any game collection and even non-gamers can relate to it.
I first played Scrabble with my paternal grandmother. I was about eight or nine, but I remember when she upgraded to the Deluxe Edition with its turntable base and tile pockets to keep things neat and tidy. I have many fond memories of playing Scrabble with the “grown ups”. Today, cell phone and tablet users play “Words With Friends” with real friends or random opponents. I suspect most people with internet capable devices have played “Words With Friends”, and that is a good thing. Playing games, even electronic versions, is stimulating and good for gamers.
Among the advantages of electronic editions of games is that only legal moves are permitted. Too often in Scrabble, players may dispute the validity of a word. And so, the dictionary consultation is the go to fix. The wood tiles on cardboard and neat tile stands make the physical game a pleasant tactile experience. No app can replicate it. Scrabble is a perfect game for relaxing and or socializing. The game doesn’t demand strict attention, and there is no heavy strategy.
There is an unavoidable randomness of tile draws, and the board can get crowded at the end of games. There are also the dreaded “Q” and “Z” tiles; it’s often tough to place them within the confines of the existing tiles on the board. I haven’t bought a new copy of scrabble in years, but my edition has held up through scores of plays. Scrabble should be required playing for everyone (at least a game or two). It is one of the first games I remember playing, and it undoubtedly nurtured my interest in casual, social gaming.
This good ole classis is never tiring. It’s a simple game to play, there are not tons of pieces or things to do. You simply must create words and get points for it.
You are given a random amount of wooden tile pieces. These pieces have a letter on them and a number. For example the letter A piece has a number 1 on it as well. This is the amount of points you can have for using this letter.
Depending on your skill using words and vocabulary, you can acquire a lot of points by spelling interesting words. The letter X for example is worth 8 points. There are is a board where you play your words and letters. This creates a crossword looking board. You can add to others’ words as well and get points.
It can be a lot of fun and time consuming depending on how competitive the players are in the game. I recommend playing with the kids. Children can learn and practice spelling words while earing points. It’s a great ego-boost for kids to get points for the words they come up with on their own accord.
Also because it is a classic game, my parents love to play it too. So all ages get involved and interact with each other.
Scrabble is the classic word game – spelling, definitions and strategy are all important aspects of the game. It’s educational, but the fun overrides that aspect.
Players choose letter tiles worth varying point amounts and use them to spell interlocking words on a game board decorated with squares like a crossword puzzle form – some of which can increase the point value of a tile or entire word. The game hasn’t changed in the 50+ years since it was developed, but its continued popularity attests to the fun and challenge it offers to players.
I have been playing Scrabble since the 1960’s, and it has been and continues to be one of my all-time favorite games.
I recommend Scrabble to gamers who enjoy reading, spelling, and word challenges.
This is a classic that needs little praise from me. Scrabble is an incredibly accessible, yet deep game that continues to reveal layers as I play it.
Scrabble is a game of vocabulary, i.e. finding the best word using your limited tiles to earn points.
Scrabble is a game of managing probability, i.e. knowing the distribution of letters to best prevent your opponents from scoring big.
Scrabble is a tile laying game of strategy, i.e. setting yourself up to take advantage of powerful bonus tiles while preventing your opponents from having them.
I love this game. It’s wonderful to play with my family, my girlfriend, and one day, my children. This is a must for every collection.
Scrabble is a classic game with so many possibilities and a tried-and-true game mechanic. I wont waste any time on the components (bits of a wood and a board, but easily recognizable with their trademark look). Instead, I want to take this time and use my review to encourage people to PLAY THIS GAME!
I avoided Scrabble for so long because I forgot what fun a good group can have (played a roommate for far too long in college, apparently). That changed one day when I was asked to play and there were too many people to say “no” (I had never played groups and wanted to that day for whatever reason).
I loved it! So don’t view it as just an “old” game or as a board game version of watching PBS. To me, all games are just a reflection of the people with whom you play and this game really allows a lot of personal interaction. Also, with so many tiles, no two games should ever be the same. Try a group versus group game sometime, just one bit of advice – try to keep the sides equal. No Mom and Dad team up against the kids! 🙂
There are better word games out there now. Games with more theme or fun. But, this is still a must have game. Just about everyone knows this game – you get tiles with letters and try to create words. The less common the letter (for example Z), the more points you get. Board has spaces that give you more points – double letter, true word for example.
Major issues for this game, in my opinion, are it gets old after repeated play and it can sometimes be difficult to play the whole board. This second problem is caused because the first word must be played in the center. Many games end up going to the bottom and right.
Great for improving your spelling, a leisurely game, or getting your older parents into gaming (my parents play this every week).
I like scrabble. It’s not my favorite game by any means but I do enjoy it with some friends who are not “boardgamers”.
Each player starts out with 7 random letter tiles and on their turn they place any/all the letters on the board spelling a word and gain points per letter used. Each letter is worth varying amounts of points based on how commonly used that letter is. Example, X and Q are worth more points than S or E. After the first person places a word and randomly replaces their used letters the next person uses some of their own letters to add to the first persons word ( either horizontally or vertically ) to spell another word. The board will start to look like a crossword puzzle. It can be very challenging. There are some spaces on the board that give double or triple points. It’s important to use these yourself and deny them to your opponents. It’s also a great game for teaching children new words and spelling if not played too seriously.
I have played this game since I was a kid. It is a favorite at family reunions, dinner parties, and other get-togethers. Scrabble takes a fair amount of time to play, but does not dominate the entire evening by taking hours and hours.
This game is easy to learn (hence playing as a kid), although somewhat hard to score. Fun for the whole family, especially the wordsmith know-it-alls. Very good social game until someone gets all consonants or makes up a word.
Scrabble would make a great present for a relative who is a librarian, english teacher, or just likes word games. The pieces also make great crafting materials if you don’t like the game!
IF you don’t know what scrabble is what rock have you been living under?
Make a crossword with opponents to score the most points from words that are put onto a tiled board that has bonus points if tiles are laid on them.