Teaching your kids how to play Scrabble Junior gives children 5-7 years old a fun tool to learn the spelling of words, while playing a board game with the family. Not only do you give your reading-age child an extra way to learn vocabulary and word spelling, but you also show your son or daughter a window into the world of Scrabble and word games.

It’s never too early to learn better word skills. Because Scrabble Jr. is targeted at children in those pivotal years when reading and writing is their main classroom goal, learning this game gives kids a boost in their studies – often without them exactly realizing they’re studying for class while they play a fun board game.

Kids who are already ahead of the curve want to show off, so why wait until they’re 8-10 to start showing off at big person Scrabble?

Scrabble Junior’s format is a relaxed form of Scrabble, where learning new words and thinking of old words is more important than scoring big points. I doubt you’ll see an article called “How to Win at Scrabble Junior” on this site, but you never know (requests, anyone? ).

Here’s how to play Scrabble Junior.

Play Starts Like Classic Scrabble

Scrabble Junior starts just like classic Scrabble. Put the game board on the kitchen table or coffee table. Everyone gets 7 letter tiles. Decide who goes first in some fair and equitable way, or let the youngest go first.

Use Letter Tiles to Fill in the Words on the Board

Use the letters in your rack to spell out the words on the Scrabble Jr gameboard. This is where Scrabble Junior deviates radically from Scrabble, because there are a select few words already spelled out on the game board.

This means your child is learning specific words. The variation from game to game is determined by which letters you draw. Scoring is done in the same way as regular Scrabble, though; add up the points of the letters in your word.

Keeping Score

Keep score as you would in Scrabble. Also, draw new letters when you’ve placed letters down on the board.Scoring the game and declaring a winner is option. That’s not the point of playing Scrabble Junior with 6-year olds.

Passing Is an Option

If you don’t use letter tiles during your turn, you can “pass” and draw all-new letter tiles. Passing happens a lot more often in Scrabble Junior, since you are more restricted in word plays.

Go Until the Board is Full

Continue until all the words on the Scrabble Junior game board are filled. If you run out of letters in your letter dispenser before this happens, the game ends.

At that point, add up the scores and the winner is the one with the most points. Remember to point out to everyone that anyone learning how to spell better is winning at Scrabble Junior.

Why Play Scrabble Junior?

Your children get to match their letter tiles to the letters on specifically-chosen words on the board, so your child gets used to seeing how these particular words are built.

Word selections include “queen”, “apples”, “buzz” and “television”. Scrabble helps develop peoples’ skill at forming words, so Scrabble Junior helps reinforce all those lessons your children are learning at school.

Many Scrabble Junior game boards come with a full Scrabble board on the other side. If you find your child has mastered Scrabble Junior or tends to get bored with the game, just flip the gameboard over and see how your child does at Classic Scrabble.

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How to Replace Scrabble Pieces and Tiles
Z Words – Scrabble Words with Z in Them
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Here’s how to replace Scrabble pieces & tiles, so every time you lose the “L” piece in your Scrabble set, you don’t have to run out to Target to buy a new Scrabble set. While I’ve been critical of Hasbro for their heavy-handed methods to keep people from playing Scrabble online, I have to praise Hasbro for their attention to customer service when it comes to replacing Scrabble parts.

Hasbro makes it easy to replace Scrabble pieces on their website, so you should never have to go without that extra “E” tile or play 3-man Scrabble, because you lost a tile. You may have to wait up to 6 weeks for your replacement parts, but the cost for replacements are minimal and you can select which game pieces for whichever Scrabble edition you own.

Hasbro Replacement Parts

Go to “Hasbro Customer Service: Repacement Parts“. You will find yourself at a page where games are listed alphabetically.

Click on the “S” link, which includes Scrabble, “Scrabble – 50th Anniversary Edition”, Scrabble Deluxe, Scrabble Folio Edition, Scrabble Spanish Edition and the “Scrabble Deluxe 60th Diamond Edition”.

Also note that Scrabble Express, Scrabble Jr., Scrabble Onyx Edition and Scrabble Wood Edition are on page 2 of the S-games, so if you can’t find the game you’re searching for, click on one of the numbers on the right top corner of the games list.

Select Replacement Parts – US Residents Only

Select whichever game you are missing. The choices are “100 Letter Tiles / 4 Racks / Tile Pouch”, “40 Page Scorepad”, “Gameboard” and “Instructions”. The Scrabble letter tiles will cost you $6.50 presently, while the scorepad costs $2.50, the gameboard costs $5.00 and the instructions are provided at no cost. The methods of payment available are Visa, Mastercard, American Express, check or money order. Make your check payable to “Hasbro Promotions and Direct”.

Mail your check or money order to:

• Hasbro Promotions and Direct
• P.O. Box 693
• Pawtucket, Rhode Island 02862-0693

You can also fax your credit card orders to (401)-431-8082. One thing to remember, though, you should expect to wait 4-6 weeks for delivery to your home. In the days of Amazon and FedEx, that may seem interminably long.

Scrabble Replacements Part Stipulations

As mentions above, this offer only applies to Scrabble players in the United States. Also, people in Arkanasas, Washington D.C., Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Oregon, Puerto Rico, Vermont, the Virgin Islands and Guam will need to add applicable sales taxes to your order, so remember to search what extra taxes you’ll owe.

Make sure you write the correct return address and name on your order, so the Scrabble replacement parts arrive at the same location.

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Z Words – Scrabble Words with Z in Them
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Learning the “Z words” in Scrabble will let you get rid of that pesky Z when you play your favorite word game, while scoring big points from Scrabble words with Z in them. This turns getting a “z” letter tile from a crisis into an opportunity.

Z’s are worth 10 points, but if they get stuck in your hand at the end of the game, you’ll have ten points deducted and one opponent will get a +10 bonus. That’s a huge point swing of at least 30 points, which often will be the difference in winning or losing a game of Scrabble.

So studying the Z words helps you improve your Scrabble game, almost as much as learning 2-letter words, 3-letter words and Q-word-without-U’s will help. I would suggest after you add those three word blocks to your Scrabble repertoire, you focus on Scrabble words with Z in them.

Z Words

MindZine has all the Z words you could ever want to study, with their “All Z Words” list. Print these off and study thems occasionally, so you’ll be able to place Z’s around the Scrabble game board. Focus especially on the smaller Z-words of 2 to 4 letters apiece.

Learning the smaller Z words gives you a chance to improve your scores and your Scrabble endgame, when you might not be able to build longer words.

Z Words in Scrabble

If you want to study not only Z words, but also 2 letters words, 3 letter words and other specific difficult word combinations, go to these “Scrabble Lists” for one-stop Scrabble studying.

Also on the site is this list of specific “Z Words“, from the largest words at the top of the pages, to the smallest words at the bottom of the page.

Smaller Z Words

The list of Z words is huge, so I’ll focus on the smaller words that contain a “Z” for our list. Once again, you’ll find these to be the most helpful in a Scrabble contest.

2 Letter Z Words – ZO

The only “Z word” I’m aware of in Official Scrabble is “zo“, which is a Tibetan breed of cattle. The Zo comes from mating a yak with regular cattle, which apparently can be done.

3 Letter Z Words

• Adz
• Azo
• Biz
• Coz
• Fez
• Fiz
• Lez
• Wiz
• Zag
• Zap
• Zax
• Zed
• Zee
• Zek
• Zig
• Zin
• Zip
• Zit
• Zoa
• Zoo

4 Letter Z Words

Adze, Azan, Azon, Bize, Bozo, Buzz, Chez, Cozy, Czar, Daze, Ditz, Doze, Dozy, Faze, Fizz, Fozy, Friz, Futz, Fuze, Fuzz, Gaze, Geez, Haze, Hazy, Izar, Jazz, Jeez, Laze, Lazy, Lutz, Maze, Mazy, Meze, Mozo, Nazi, Ooze, Oozy, Orzo, Ouzo, Oyez, Phiz, Prez, Putz, Quiz, Raze, Razz, Ritz, Size, Sizy, Spaz, Tzar, Whiz, Zags, Zany, Zaps, Zarf, Zeal, Zebu, Zeds, Zees, Zein, Zeks, Zerk, Zero, Zest, Zeta, Zigs, Zill, Zinc, Zing, Zins, Zips, Ziti, Zits, Zoea, Zoic, Zone, Zonk, Zoom, Zoon, Zoos, Zori, Zyme

Scrabble Words with Z in Them

Those are the Scrabble words of 4 letters or less with a Z in them. Don’t take my word for it, though. The official Scrabble word list changes all the time, so you might want to make sure if you have questions or your opponent uses a “Z word” you aren’t familiar with.

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We’ve discussed Speed Scrabble” before, but I wanted to present you with a detailed, yet efficient, set of Speed Scrabble Rules you could print off and use in your games.

To that end, I’ll try to give you a straightforward set of rules you can use the next time everyone in your Scrabble group or Scrabble Club wants to trick things up a little bit with their favorite word game.

Speed Scrabble Rules

1. If not specifically mentioned, the rules between “Classic Scrabble” and “Speed Scrabble” are the same. If it isn’t overtly mentioned in the following rules summary, consult the Official Scrabble Rulebook from Hasbro that came with your Scrabble set.

2. Do not use a Scrabble board. Build words on the kitchen table, or whatever surface you are using.

3. At the beginning of play, all players receive 7 letter tiles apiece. Game play begins when the youngest player at the table says “Go”.

4. When the word “go” is said, everyone should immediately turn over their Scrabble letters and begin to puzzle out words with those letters. Create your own word tree and never play words off of another player’s word tree.

5. As soon as a player has a word or crossword built using all seven letters they were supplied, that player calls out “Two more letters”. Everyone immediately draws two more letter tiles from the bonepile. Your word tree must connect every letter you have received together; therefore, you cannot built two crosswords separately.

6. Continue to build words, except now with 9 letters instead of 7. You may maintain the word tree you had built before and continue to build words off of it, or you may tear down any or all of the word tree and build words. Once again, you must built one interconnected group of words and not two or more word groupings.

7. When you have your nine letters in a word tree, the person who finishes this part first once again calls out “Two More Letters” and everyone collects two more letters from the letter bonepile. Play continues just the same as before. Therefore, you will start with 7 letters, then add 2 more each round, so you will eventually have 7, then 9, then 11, then 13 and so on.

8. Continue to add letters in pairs to your word tree, rebuilding the crossword as many times as you so choose, until the group runs out of letters. When there are no longer enough letters in the bonepile to add two letters apiece, the person finished with their crossword calls out “1 More Letter”.

9. If there are not enough letter tiles remaining for everyone to receive a letter, the player finished with their crossword first calls out, “I’m out.” At this point, players should stop trying to build words and the game is over.

10. Add up your overall score by adding up the point values of all the letters you have placed in your word tree. If you have built a word which is 7 or more letters long, give yourself +10 points for each such word. If you build a word twice that size (14 letters), you only receive the +10. Therefore, it’s better to place two 7-letter words than one 14-letter word. Go figure.

Whoever finished first gets bonus points, too. That player receives the total point value of all players who still have letter tiles in their hand. Also, those players deduct from their score the point value of all letter tiles in their hand that they did not play. In other words, this is the same endgame rule for conventional Scrabble.

Speed Scrabble Variants

For more Speed Scrabble rule ideas, go to our page on “Speed Scrabble” and read under the heading “Speed Scrabble Variations”, which is towards the bottom of the page. Depending on how imaginative you and your Scrabble group want to be, your Speed Scrabble Rules can be this straightforward, or entirely exotic.

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How to Set Up a Scrabble Group

Figuring out how to set up a Scrabble group in your area will let you enjoy your favorite word game and meet new friends while you do it. If your local area doesn’t have a Scrabble club, it needs one. Here’s 7 steps to setting up a Scrabble club in your local area.

1. Find a Meeting Time

Select a proper meeting time for the people you’re hoping to attract. If you want to attract senior citizens and retired folks, consider weekdays during the day. If you want to draw in the younger generation, select weekends after noon. Saturday and Sunday afternoons work best.

Remember to have a specific time and place for your Scrabble club meetings. Consistency and dependability are going to be required for you, especially in the early days of the Scrabble club.

2. Location is Everything

Find a suitable location for your Scrabble club. If the atmosphere is too cramped, the gaming atmosphere can become stifling and oppressive. Find a Scrabble place that the players are going to find comfortable.

The best places for Scrabble groups include community centers, schools during off hours, churches and fellowship halls, seniors homes or even private rooms in local restaurants. You want plenty of space and a enough privacy that players can concentrate. Refreshments are also nice, as long as they aren’t intrusive.

Certain restaurants work nicely, as long as the management is on board with the club meetings. Generally, if the players purchase foods and drinks, there will be no problems. Private homes also will work, though these tend to be a little more cramped than public settings.

If the time of day is appropriate (weekdays, mornings), a food court in a local mall will work just fine. This works great for seniors, who might enjoy walking the mall either before or after the meetings. Morning time in shopping malls during the weekdays are often time for women and seniors to get their exercise.

3. Determine Fees

Determine whether or not you’re going to ask for a fee. If so, determine how much that fee will be. Not all Scrabble clubs charge a fee. If they do, the fees presumably go to buy more Scrabble sets or rental space for group meetings. No more than $5 should be expected, while as little as $1 can be collected, when fees are charged at all.

If you want to host and not be payed for what you buy, don’t ask for a fee. But if continually supplying refreshments is going to be a problem, ask for a fee up front. Don’t change policy after you’ve been going for a while, or people might resent this. People prefer to know going in.

4. Build a Scrabble Network

Talk to any friends and family who enjoy Scrabble about your Scrabble group. This will form the nucleus of your network.

Next, advertise or publicize your Scrabble group in the nearby area. Put up fliers in local businesses and on the car windows of parking lots. Advertise in local classifieds or e-publications.

Next, post about your Scrabble group online. Go to several Scrabble forums and online communities and post that you are starting a Scrabble club in your area. Be ready to give all the information on the decisions you made above. You should be able to reach Scrabble players in your area, if you live in a city.

5. Social Networking Scrabble

Discuss your Scrabble group on an social network websites you visit. Facebook and Myspace have their own Scrabble sections, so these are good for finding members and players.

6. Register with the NASPA

Register on the North American Scrabble Player Association site. This website naturally draws a lot of Scrabble playing visitors, some of whom will live in your area.

7. Network Your Scrabble Group

When your Scrabble group has its first meeting, make sure to introduce yourself to each new member and make them feel welcome. Also, have a sign up sheet where people can volunteer their contact information. Talk to everyone about online Scrabble games in anticipation of your next Scrabble meeting.

After you’ve gone through the 7 steps above, you’ll know how to set up a Scrabble group and continue to have successful meetings for years. Maybe your Scrabble club will eventually organize a trip to a competitive Scrabble tournament in your area. Good luck.

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How to Teach Spelling with Scrabble

Teachers, tutors and parents are always looking for new ways to teach kids how to spell, from spelling computers to word cards. If you’re looking for a vocabulary resource for how to teach spelling that’s fun and rewarding, Scrabble is a perfect tool.

Scrabble is a word game all about how you spell words, so it’s natural that a word game would be a tool for parents. There are several methods you can use with different effects, so here’s how to teach spelling with Scrabble.

Scrabble Letter Tiles

Instead of using flash cards, using Scrabble letter tiles to teach spelling skills. Take the letters out of your Scrabble set and have your child build the words in their vocabulary study plan with them. This lets the child break down and build words from the component parts, and lets the kid see how words are built.

To make things more entertaining for your student, the two of you can keep track of which words in their study plan are worth the most Scrabble points.

Spelling Scrabble Style

Next, take out 7 random letters from the pile of Scrabble letters and challenge your student to build as many words as they can using those letters. The words can be from 1 to 7 letters long, but must be correct. The two of you might even guess beforehand how many words will be built using this exercise.

When they are finished with the one letter combination, take out 7 more random letter tiles and go through the process again. Not only will this give your child entertaining practice at word creation and reinforce their vocabulary, but it will make them a better Scrabble player the next time they play the game. This exercise has been used by teachers in a different form for many decades.

Teach Stemming Through Scrabble

Scrabble is great for teaching kids about word roots (stems), prefixes, suffixes and pluralization. A word root (sometimes called “stem”) is a word that has the ability to be added to through the use of a prefix or suffix. By teaching lessons with word tiles, you can show kids how certain words are built in the English language.

For example, the word “boot” is a good word root to look at. You can add a prefix like re- to boot to created the word “reboot”. You can added suffixes like -ed, -ing or -less to create words like “booted”, “booting” or “bootless”. Like with most nouns, you can add an -s and create the word boots.

Each of these are different words, so if you can teach a kid one noun, you can often teach the child multiple words. This shows how one word is derived from another in language, as well as introduces the subject of tense (past, present, etc) and pluralization. Not only does this help your child understand the English language better, but you’ll also help make him or her a better Scrabble player.

Positive Reinforcement Helps Teaching

Remember that positive reinforcement is going to help in a teaching and learning environment more than negative reinforcement. Praise the child or student for correct spelling, while positive suggestions are better when the words are spelled incorrectly.

You want the person you are teaching to want to learn more, so positive feedback encourages more learning, to get more positive feedback. Negative feedback and scolding is only going to make the person dread learning sessions.

Playing Scrabble Teaches Word Skills

Finally, if you want another means of how to teach spelling with Scrabble, when your child gets old enough, play Scrabble often. The child will enjoy the challenge of playing games with points on the line, but that child will naturally be building word skills, spelling ability and vocabulary just from the act of playing.

Play well enough to challenge your child and present new words to the child from your own vocabulary. Go over any words they don’t know and be willing to look up words in the dictionary to show them the definition, regardless of whether such a move falls within the official rules of Scrabble. Once your kids has a better vocabulary than you do, you can worry about being a stickler for the Official Scrabble Dictionary rules.

For now, you want to teach your kids to spell with Scrabble.

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How to Play Scrabble on Facebook

Besides, sometimes you and your friends need to have some reason to continue interacting on the Net, so electronic word games give you a good excuse to hang out online and enjoy each other’s company. Facebook Scrabble also lets you meet new friends with similar interests, enjoying some fun Scrabble competition against a computer opponent or against online friends.

1. Find Facebook Applications

First off, you’ll need to find the “Applications” page on Facebook. Go to your Facebook homepage and look in the lower lefthand corner of that page. You should be able to find an Applications link pretty quickly.

2. Find the Scrabble App

Once you click on Applications, you should see a list of apps. One of these will say “Scrabble”. Click on the Scrabble app link.

3. Start a Scrabble Game

Next, click the “Create Game” button. This should set you up for a new game of Scrabble. Remember to choose whether to make this a private game or a public game.

4. Private Scrabble Game – Public Scrabble Game

A private game is for you and 1 to 3 hand-picked opponents from among your Facebook friends. A public game draws from the Scrabble playing public on the Facebook network. This means you can play with people you have never met before.

5. Private Facebook Scrabble

When you choose a private game, you’ll need to make several specifications. First, you need to choose the number of opponents. Get this right or you’ll have to restart the game. Next, type in the Facebook name of the private friends you want to play against.

6. Public Facebook Scrabble

When you select a public Facebook game, you’ll want to select your preferred number of opponents and the speed of the game, which can be slow, fast or medium. If you want a fast game, make sure this is what you select, or you’ll be frustrated when your opponents don’t make moves fast enough. If you want a slow game, avoid the fast games, because you’ll be timed.

Next, select the skill level of your opponents, so you aren’t playing easy opponents or impossible-to-beat Scrabble champs. You’ll also want to enter your preferred Scrabble dictionary and game type, so you are playing exactly the kind of Scrabble you want to enjoy.

7. Play Scrabble Online

A new Scrabble game box will appear on your screen. Quickly, you should see some letters appear on screen, which are the letter tiles in your virtual letter rack.

Point-and-click to move letters onto the game board. Drag them over the space you want to play them, then “drop” the letters. All the normal rules of Scrabble will apply. Once your letters are in place, click on “Play” to end your turn. Your point total will automatically be updated.

8. Wait for Your Turn

When your turn comes around again, a red flag will appear on the bottom right side of your screen or Facebook toolbar. Click on your Facebook window and lay down your new word.

This will continue until all the letters have made it to racks. Like in classic Scrabble, the game ends when all letters have been taken and someone clears their rack of letters. Total up the scores and get ready to play another game.

That’s pretty much how to play Scrabble on Facebook. With the streamlining of online apps for this kind of Internet gaming, you should be able to enjoy Facebook Scrabble with friends or strangers.

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Okay, it’s time to get to the fun stuff: how to play Strip Scrabble. Everyone has heard of Strip Poker, where people bet pieces of their clothing against the value of their cards. But you might not have known that certain free thinking Scrabble players over the years devised a stripping version of their favorite word game.

If you’re going to play a game of Strip Scrabble, here’s how you do it. Remember, it’s legal in 48 states.

1. Set Up Stripping Rules

Before you begin to play Strip Scrabble, make sure everyone understands the rules fully. Since this is a variant game, not even veteran Scrabble players will know the rules by heart. So try to fight through the standard stripper excitement and nail down the rules before you start. The last thing you want is a dispute about what is supposed to be fun (and titillating) for everyone.

One rule you might consider is a “safe word”. This is a word that anyone can say to stop the game immediately, if they no longer feel comfortable. This might get those who are on the fence about playing in the first place on board with this little excursion. Also, it’s a good idea to keep everyone having fun and not getting stressed or feeling pressured.

2. Stripping Rules

Decide when someone strips. These should be clear, specific rules. You don’t want a new stipulation throw in once everyone is half-stripped, or some might feel abused. Common rules are the 5-point rule, where anyone who scores less than 5 points on a round must strip. A similar 10-point rule is also common. Another rule is the triple strip or when someone hits a triple word score. Everyone who isn’t the person with the triple word score has to strip one article of clothing.

My favorite rule involves high score for a round. Every round, you keep track of peoples’ scores for that round. The person with the highest score on that round is safe, while everyone else must strip a piece of clothing. This is not determined by total points on the game, but only the points scored in that round. The round starts with the first person to play and all new rounds starts when that player has another turn.

Yet another variant rule is the 50 point rule: for every 50 points scored, your opponent or opponents must take off an article of clothing.

3. Determine the Definition of “Clothing”

Determine beforehand the definition of “article of clothing”. Everyone should start with the same amount of clothing, or same articles of clothing. Is a pair of socks one or two articles of clothing? Are earrings clothing? Watches? Jewelry? Is a hat or a tobaggon an article of clothing? Sunglasses?

Whatever the decisions made, make certain everyone has the same number of pieces of clothing on.

4. Choose a Stop Point

Decide before the game starts when everyone quits. You might choose to end the game when the first person is in their underwear. You might continue until all but one player is in their underwear (or less). You might simply go until all the pieces are off the board, at which point the game ends, regardless of what is left on.

Along those lines, you might give the person who goes out gains an article of clothing for every 10 points in everyone else’s hands, while everyone else loses 1 piece of clothing for every 5 points worth of tiles left in their hand. Or you might simply decide to keep going until all but one is completely naked.

Whatever the case, decide before you play.

5. All Other Scrabble Rules are the Same

Otherwise, conventional Scrabble rules are in effect. This involves scoring, which words qualify, challenges, drawing new tiles and going out.

6. Strip Scrabble For Larger Groups

If you are playing at a party, consider getting an extra set of Scrabble for every 4 people participating, rounded up. This lets you play tournament strip Scrabble. Another option for a Strip Scrabble Tournament is to have people change out after one game, with losers staying in their skivvies.

That’s pretty much how to play Strip Scrabble. Sounds fun, huh?

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We’ve discussed how to improve your Scrabble scores before on this blog, but this is a subject that most Scrabble players are going to want to explore, so I decided to readdress the subject of word game improvement. I’ll try to avoid referring back to Scrabble Pages this time and instead give you heads-ups on other Scrabble resources.

1. Get an Official Scrabble Dictionary

Buy a Scrabble dictionary like “The Official Scrabble Players Dictionary” by Merriam-Webster, which retails for $16.47 right now on Amazon with free shipping on $25 purchases. There are others, as well.

Once you have a Scrabble dictionary, occasionally open the book and look down the word list. Consider starting a “word of the day” program to build your vocabulary.

2. Read Scrabble Strategy Guides

Another solid purchase would be a Scrabble strategy tips book like Everything Scrabble by Joe Edley and John D. Williams Jr. Everything Scrabble came out with a Third Edition in 2009 and it will help you in studying everything else I’m about to tell you.

Included are board strategies, a discussion of the letter “Q” and Q-words, mastering two-letter words, bonus squares, parallel play, triple triples, getting better tiles, improving your skills with the big value letters (J, X, Z) and studying words with no vowels. Included are examples of great Scrabble play.

If you don’t want to buy a Scrabble book, which retails right now for $11.55, you can learn everything online that the book tells you, though you’ll have to search longer and harder for that information.

3. Learn the 2 and 3 Letter Words

Two and three letter words are more flexible, because you can put them in tighter spaces and build parallel words. Two letter words often help you get rid of difficult letters or hit a hard-to-hit double or triple word scores, and certainly help you in the later stages of the game. Scrabble experts suggest that learning these words will improve your scores by an average of 30 to 40 points per game.

The great thing about two-letter Scrabble words is that there really aren’t that many of them, so memorizing them should be easy. 3-letter words are a little more plentiful, so that will take a little longer.

4. Look for Stem Words

Looking for stem words on the Scrabble board will let you add prefixes and suffixes onto already played words. Study the board to find these possibilities and uses them to build longer words whenever you can, especially if the prefix or suffix builds into a double or triple letter score. Avoid giving your opponent too many chances to do the same, by limiting the times you build stem words.

5. Triple Triples

If at all possible, build a triple word score into a triple word score. This is difficult, but using the technique in #4, you might be able to find a word already built that you can add an additional prefix or suffix onto to create this situation. This usually gives you a huge boost in winning the Scrabble game.

6. Learn the Q Words

Especially focus on Q words that don’t have a U in them. This frees you of the need to luck into a U to get rid of the Q tile. Placing a Q on the board is going to give you a 30 point swing, because you get 10 points, while avoiding losing 10 points by getting stuck with the tile at the end of the game, while also giving the player who goes out 10 points. Q’s don’t have to be the beating they are for beginning Scrabble players.

7. Rearrange Your Letter Tiles on the Rack

Don’t build one word or partial word on your letter rack and leave your letter tiles in that combination. Instead, move your letters around and try to see as many possibilities as possible. The more word combinations you see, the more opportunities you’ll have and the better board positions you’re likely to choose. Maintaining your bearings on Scrabble board position and seeing more word plays by scrambling your Scrabble letters might seem like a minor action, but it’s one of the best ways how you can improve your Scrabble scores immediately.

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Knowing how to layout a Scrabble board is using the confines of the Scrabble board and the various word and letter modifiers and multipliers on the board help you score. Don’t play Scrabble just from your rack. Spend as much or more time looking at the Scrabble board as the letters in your hand. That way, you’ll take in all the possibilities and find better places to play your words.

Remember that using the Scrabble board layout to your advantage doesn’t involve only offensive Scrabble. Learning how to use the Scrabble word layout to your advantage often involves defensive Scrabble. Try not to set your opponent up for huge scoring opportunities by remembering where the double and triple squares are on the Scrabble board.

Build Partial Words on Your Rack

When you are moving letters around on your letter rack, don’t look for just complete words. Look for words that are almost complete, but need one letter to complete them. Focus on words that need one letter at the beginning or the end of the word especially.

Why?

Because you’re trying to build onto already placed words on the Scrabble tree that’s been laid out on the board, so you don’t need to build complete words on your rack. Partial words increase the possibilities. Find partial words on your rack, then look for possible plays on the board layout.

Keep Moving Letter Tiles on Your Rack

For the same reason, don’t build one word and leave your letter combination like that on your rack. Instead, keep moving letters around the rack, to see if there are other possibilities. Sometimes, your brain won’t immediately see a possible word, so if you give your brain a different letter combination to compute, you’re likely to find more word combinations for laying out words on the board.

Be Aware of the Multiplier Squares

The “multipliers” in Scrabble are the double letter, triple letter, double word and triple word scores. Multiplying your score is one of the best ways to rack up a points advantage on your opponent in Scrabble, and the 2x and 3x squares are all about the Scrabble board layout. These squares are arranged in a rough “X-pattern” across the board, flaring out from the center towards the four corners, which end with triple word scores.

Also, there are four triple word scores placed in the squares on the outer rim of the board, exactly between all four corners. Remind yourself when the word layout is set up for a double word score as the words begin to work out from the center of the board. This will happen pretty quickly in Scrabble, perhaps by the start of your first turn.

At the same time, avoid giving your opponent easy double and triple word scores. This is called playing defensive Scrabble and it’s a perfectly legitimate strategy. Don’t put down a good word that is going to set up your opponent for an even better score. That’s what happens with the double word scores. Triple word scores are even worse.

Place Root Words on the Board

When you play words to the board, place root words where you can put stems on them later. For instance, you might place “bright” on the board. Later, you might have the “-er”, “-est” or “-ly” to make the words brighter, brightest or brightly. If you place the word bright near a double or triple word, but leave room for the expanded version of the word, you can score a big total.

One bit of warning, though. Your opponent is going to get at least one shot at playing off that word before you do. Also, you aren’t certain of receiving the necessary letters, so if your opponent sees the possibility and gets those same letters, knowing how to layout the Scrabble board might work against you. This brings me to another point.

Conserve Blank Tiles

Don’t immediately use a blank tile, if you don’t have the opportunity to do something special with it. Use the blank tiles to build bigger words onto double and triple word scores, or to get rid of all 7 letter tiles at once and get the +50 bonus tiles. The blank letter gives you so many opportunities, you should maximize its usage when putting the blank into words on the layout.

Learn the 2 Letter Words

One way to improve you game is to learn the two letter words in Scrabble. This allows you to use the Scrabble board layout to your advantage much easier. You’ll be able to put these two letter words in tighter spots. You’ll be able to points for a word on two lines at once. And in the end game moves, you won’t be as likely to be stuck holding letter tiles.

Learn the 3 Letter Words

Almost as important is to learn the three letter words in Scrabble. Once again, you’ll be able to learn a relatively small number of words that can help you out in tight jams when the board starts to get full, or when you want to be able to use a short word to get a double word or triple word score. Once you know a host of 2 letter and 3 letter Scrabble words, you’ll be able to layout the Scrabble board a whole lot better.

Learn the Q Words

Another way to fit words into the Scrabble layout or to make words fit that normally wouldn’t is to learn the “Q” words that don’t require a “QU”. This makes it so much easier to fit your Q onto the Scrabble board, especially when the “U’s” are all used up and the board is full at the end of the game. Put those 10 points to work for you, not against you.

Ultimately, if you use the Scrabble strategies above, you’ll have the know how to layout a Scrabble board where it’s more to your advantage than the advantage of your opponents. That should produce better Scrabble scores and more wins on Scrabble night.

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