It could be argued that using a Scrabble calculator program is a form of cheating, since you’re using an outside source to figure out your best possible plays. The truth is, anyone who would use a Scrabble calculator program during a tournament or something is obviously acting outside of the rules. These Scrabble calculator programs are good for friendly play online or on your smartphone or tablet. If you want to be totally above board, tell your competition that you’ll be using a Scrabble point calculator program and make sure they don’t take issue with it.

Thanks to the wonders of the Internet and modern technology, you can even download software to help you calculate Scrabble point totals. These programs, sometimes called “widgets,” are add-ons to existing programs. Most people are familiar with widgets for browsers, simple programs that take you immediately to a website or portal without having to type in URLs and passwords. Scrabble software, sometimes called word widgets, are designed to run in your web browser to help you strategize while playing Scrabble games on your computer.

Scrabble Calculator Programs

Scrabble calculators are not anything like the programs and website people use to cheat at Scrabble. Those Scrabble helper systems are essentially playing Scrabble for you, combining Scrabble tile letters into different combinations and spitting out lists of legal word plays to choose from. Scrabble calculator programs are a bit different.

With a Scrabble calculator program, all you do is type in the letters of a play you want to make, click a few buttons where appropriate, and the program will calculate the score you’d earn for that play in a game of Scrabble. Of course, these calculators would be useless without features like bonus word score point totals, so the best Scrabble calculator programs incorporate things like blank tiles points and any bonuses you earn at the click of a button.

For example, if you’re using a Scrabble score calculator and you want to find out how much the word “porches” is worth, type in the letters and you get your answer: fourteen points. If you want to know how much that word would earn you on a double word score space, you can click that option and get your answer: twenty-eight. The same goes for triple word score, for forty-two points, or you can even click both double and triple for a point total of eighty-four.

If you’re lucky enough to land a bingo, since “porches” is a seven-letter word and makes you eligible for a bingo, you’ll find that play is worth 134 points in Scrabble. The best of these Scrabble calculators also let you turn any of the letters into a blank tile to learn how that affects scoring. Blank tiles are a big part of Scrabble, and any Scrabble calculator that doesn’t give you point tallies for words including blanks is not going to be as useful.

Kate Spanos’ Scrabble Score Calculator is an example of a top-notch Scrabble calculator program online. The page itself is no-nonsense, with the Scrabble calculator program itself sitting front-and-center. With support for six languages as well as Words with Friends, the Scrabble Score Calculator at TheKateSpanos.com is full-featured and really helpful if you’re trying to work out points while playing Scrabble.

Another way people use Scrabble calculators during Scrabble games is to verify that point totals are legal and accurate. Opening a Scrabble calculator program during a traditional tabletop game of Scrabble will help you make sure that you’re totaling points accurately, and can prevent squabbles over points later on in the game.

When looking for a Scrabble calculator program, the key is to find one that’s easily accessible, easy to use, and stuffed with extra Scrabble features like a dictionary or other helper program. Everyone has a different favorite Scrabble calculator, so try out a few different ones before you settle on a calculator to use in your next game.

Download a Software Word Widget

Free software to help you with Scrabble calculations and plays is available in the form of widgets. This software is small, usually downloads in seconds, and can park right in your web browser for easy access. The best part? These small programs are usually DIY affairs available free of charge.

For an example of a user-created, totally free software widget to help with your Scrabble game, check out Keilly’s SOWPODS Word Checker. This is the perfect example of what word checker widgets can be: free to the user, created by a Scrabble fan, and full of features to make it compatible with all forms of Scrabble. Using Keilly’s free word checker widget, you can pick from two different Scrabble word lists: TOWPODS, the traditional word list for American and UK Scrabble games, or TWL, the new American Scrabble standard.

Word checker programs shouldn’t be mentioned in the same breath as Scrabble solvers, anagram makers, and the like. Word checker programs for Scrabble do little more than check to make sure a word is legal for Scrabble then tell you how many points that word is worth. Sure, some strict Scrabble players may frown on using a widget to get help with Scrabble words, but for the most part, online Scrabble is a friendly contest. Have no fear of playing the wrong word, or an illegal word, or a word that’s not worth many points. Just download a Scrabble calculator program or word widget and continue mopping the floor with your favorite Scrabble opponents.

In the game of Scrabble, the most common way of gaining an advantage is to use some form of Scrabble helper program. These became useful only when Scrabble made its way onto the computer, and especially in Scrabble and other word games played on social media sites.

Since many people play Scrabble games online, competing against friends or other players on the game’s network, the use of Google and eventually Scrabble-specific helper websites to find good words has become really popular. Words with Friends, the popular Facebook Scrabble rip-off game, is taken very seriously by those who play it, and they have no problem using Scrabble anagram makers, solver programs, and blank tile finders to give themselves an edge against their Facebook opponent.

The same is true for Scrabble online games, like those played on Android phones, iPhones, iPads, and other mobile devices. Like using the old Game Genie system for video game consoles, or flipping through a dictionary cleverly hidden in the bathroom during a Scrabble marathon, using these programs is controversial. Some players will insist on an honor code against using Scrabble assistance programs, though there’s really nothing stopping you from consulting an online Scrabble helper when competing in a Scrabble game.

Here’s a look at the three most popular types of Scrabble cheating methods: the anagram maker, the solver program, and the blank tile finder.

Scrabble Anagram Maker

An anagram, by definition, is a word made from the scrambled letters of another word. Knowing that, it’s easy to see how using an anagram maker will help you form words with your Scrabble tiles.

People use anagram makers for Scrabble help by typing the letters in their Scrabble hand into a program or a website that forms anagrams. The site or program then jumbles the letters into every possible word combination, and the player can sift through and find the best possible play based on the anagrams reported.

Anagrammer.com is one of the more popular Scrabble anagram makers used online to gain an advantage when playing word games with friends. Simply type in the letters in your hand and Anagrammer.com will tell you all the various word combinations possible with those letters. Anagrammer.com has other features to make the system more useful, such as an option to type in words already on the board to form new words, the ability to test a word for legality in Scrabble, and other features to make your anagrams more likely to score you big points.

Scrabble Solver Programs

Scrabble solver programs are similar to anagram makers, except that these sites are specifically designed for Scrabble. Anagrammer.com is an example of both an anagram maker and a solver program, since the site adjusted to serve the Scrabble-centric traffic they were getting. Adding Scrabble-specific features to an anagram maker turns that program into a Scrabble solver program.

Scrabble-Solver.com is one of the most-visited Scrabble solver programs online, probably in part because of the name and in part because it ranks high in Google for Scrabble helper search terms. Not only does Scrabble-Solver allow you to create Scrabble words from your tile list, but it contains list of special words, like 2-letter words, Q words, V words, etc. But Scrabble-Solver.com has something not all Scrabble helper programs have: with Scrabble-Solver, you can search for word beginnings and word endings, providing you much more adaptable Scrabble assistance. You can also search your results by word length, specific letters, etc.

Scrabble Blank Tile Finder

If you’re playing Scrabble, including blank tiles in your search for Scrabble help is a must. If you really want to gain an advantage over your Scrabble competition, you need to find a Scrabble helper that allows you to add blank tiles to your searches. Without a blank tile finder for Scrabble cheats, you aren’t taking full advantage of what the Internet has to offer.

Thankfully, most Scrabble helper programs and websites have been updated to include the ability to search using blank tiles or wildcards. Here’s a look at one of the most popular Scrabble programs that specifically includes a blank tile search feature.

The Word Finder 

The Word Finder is a website dedicated to helping you with all sorts of word games, from Words with Friends to Draw Something to America’s favorite, Scrabble. The Word Finder website now includes ten sections for help with various aspects of word games: Draw Something Help, Words with Friends Help, Scrabble Help (anagram), Crossword Help, Scrabble Word Lists, Scrabble Help w/Board, Sudoku Help, Literati Help, and a Create Your Own Wordsearch section.

All of the sections at The Word Finder are blank tile or wildcard formatted, when applicable. You can search for Scrabble words with a letter list (up to twelve letters, for some reason) that includes blank tiles, increasing the options that the Word Finder spits out for you. When words including blank spaces or wildcards are included, your options for play go through the roof.

If you’re involved in a serious back-and-forth contest of wits playing Scrabble, or any other popular online word game, there are Scrabble help programs and websites set aside for helping you come up with word combinations based on the letters in your hand. These programs may not be totally above-board, but in a casual contest, they’re usually a part of word gaming. If you need an advantage in a word game, anagram makers, solver programs, and blank tile finders are free, easy to find, and easy to use.

Scrabble is one of the world’s most popular board games, and it has always made an appearance in various video game consoles and computer programs. The technology of Scrabble games for computers and smartphones improves as those devices improve; the Scrabble video games released in the 1990s look nothing like the latest and greatest Scrabble apps for Android phones, iPhones, and tablet devices.

Thanks to the popularity of Scrabble-style games on Facebook and other social media sites, Scrabble is once again a hot gaming property. It didn’t take long for several Scrabble apps to appear for the Android, iPhone, iPad, and smartphone market. Let’s take a look at the world of Scrabble Android apps, apps for the iPhone, and other Scrabble games available for all sorts of different mobile devices.

Android Scrabble App

Electronic Arts has the exclusive rights to all video game style versions of Scrabble, thanks to a deal EA made with Hasbro years ago. EA is a popular name in game design, responsible for games on all platforms, from Nintendo to Sony games, and on into the smartphone and computer game market. EA has had a ton of success with various video game style versions of Hasbro board games, though so far, user reviews indicate that EA’s Android Scrabble app leaves plenty of room for improvement.

EA has the right to release the only official Scrabble game for Android devices. That means that all other Scrabble style games can’t use the Scrabble name and have to go out of their way to make their games legally distinct from Hasbro’s Scrabble product. Armed with that much exclusivity, you’d think EA would release the best possible Android Scrabble app.

Like EA’s ad copy indicates, the Scrabble app for Android is essentially identical to America’s Favorite Word Game in every way except that you play on your Android-capable smartphone. The EA Scrabble app for Android is totally free, and features cross-platform play, where you can play Scrabble against people with devices that aren’t necessarily Android-friendly, including iPhones and other devices.

The downside to the game being free is two-fold; first, there are lots of big ads that tend to slow down game play. If EA offered a pay-to-play version of the game that was ads-free, they’d probably have a better product on their hands. The second problem with the game’s free status is that EA doesn’t seem to want much to do with supporting the product they released. There have been no updates to fix bugs or improve game play, so the game is the same now as when it was released two years ago.

And there are plenty of bugs that need fixing, according to user reviews on the Google store where the app is available. One user says that after a few days of no problems, he ran into a bug that causes the game to crash. Other users echo this story; it’s hard to believe that EA wouldn’t address this issue with an update or a software fix.

If you want to play Scrabble on your Android phone, for now your options are limited to a single free-to-play ad-supported version of Scrabble put out by EA, one that doesn’t offer a way to pay to take the ads away and doesn’t appear to get much support from EA in terms of fixing bugs and making improvements to the game.

Tablet Scrabble App

Tablets come in many flavors, though by far the most popular tablet devices are Apple’s iPads. If you like Scrabble and you own an iPad, you can get an official download of EA’s version of Scrabble specially designed for the iPad, available on the iTunes store.

The first thing you’ll notice when you look up the Scrabble app for tablets is the high price: $9.99 for a game that’s available for free for smartphone users. The expense is due to the extra work it took to port Scrabble to tablet size, though it’s unlikely that even the most dedicated Scrabble fans would buy a tablet Scrabble app for $10. Since the EA Scrabble app for tablets doesn’t provide support for the latest iPad, the version with Retina display, EA has not taken full advantage of the technology available with the latest tablets.

iPhone Scrabble App

Unfortunately, EA’s iPhone Scrabble app is plagued by many of the same problems as the other devices listed here. The latest version of EA’s Scrabble app for Apple products is compatible with all sorts of Apple devices, including iPhones and the iPad. This app is available in a free version, but it’s ad-supported.

Complaints about EA’s iPhone Scrabble app include all the common EA mobile game complaints: lack of technical fixes, lack of game improvements, problems with the app crashing, and a lack of auto correct support in the game chat window. With user reviews all over the Apple app store, surely EA has heard their customers complaints. Not releasing a new, more compatible and better-featured version of the Scrabble app is a sign that EA is not all that dedicated to smartphone app versions of their Hasbro games.

Single Player Scrabble App

All of the versions of Scrabble apps listed above are avaialble in single player versions. Playing single player takes care of some of the problems with the EA smartphone Scrabble apps: no more concerns about the chat window crashing or lag problems between moves. But a single player game of Scrabble is just not as much fun as the traditional player-vs-player mode.

If EA wants to improve its Scrabble app, it should correct all the bugs that users complain about, most noticeable in multi-player games, offer a less-expensive version of the game for tablet devices, and allow players to pay a fee to remove ads if they want. EA has a lot of room to grow, in terms of their smartphone board game apps, but if you just desperately need a Scrabble fix and you have an Android phone, iPhone, or iPad, you can download EA’s smartphone-capable apps from app stores or iTunes.

If you want to expand your Scrabble game, consider adding C words to your Scrabble strategy. Memorizing the following lists of short Scrabble words that start with C will give you an edge against players who overlook the humble C Scrabble words.

2 Letter Scrabble Words with C

The first thing to learn when adding C to your short Scrabble word strategy? There is no acceptable Scrabble word on the two-letter word list that starts with C. Two letter words are valuable in Scrabble, especially when clearing your tile collection to refresh your letter set. Unfortunately, you can’t form any legal two-letter Scrabble words by starting with a C.

To make things even more complex, on the entire acceptable list of two-letter Scrabble words, there’s not a C to be found. That means there are no legal Scrabble words that start or end with a C. Nothing to see here, move on.

3 Letter Scrabble Words with C

When looking for Scrabble words that start with C, the three-letter word list is the place to start the heavy memorization. There are a number of legal Scrabble plays at the three-letter word level that begin with C. Memorize Scrabble words to give yourself an edge when you’re dealt one of the two C tiles in the Scrabble game.

CAB CAD CAM CAN CAP CAR CAT CAW CAY CEE CEL CEP CHI CIS COB COD COG COL CON COO COP COR COS COT COW COX COY COZ CRY CUB CUD CUE CUM CUP CUR CUT CWM

Of that list, CWM is a Scrabble pros favorite, worth a full ten points without any bonus scoring.  COZ is another good play at the three-letter level, worth fourteen points without taking bonus points into consideration.

4 Letter Scrabble Words with C

When you start looking for four-letter Scrabble words, your choice of plays grows exponentially. The addition of a single letter swells the number of C words available from just 37 at the three-letter word level to 230 legal four-letter Scrabble words that start with C.

CABS CACA CADE CADI CADS CAFE CAFF CAGE CAGY CAID CAIN CAKE CAKY CALF CALK CALL CALM CALO CALX CAME CAMP CAMS CANE CANS CANT CAPE CAPH CAPO CAPS CARB CARD CARE CARK CARL CARN CARP CARR CARS CART CASA CASE CASH CASK CAST CATE CATS CAUL CAVE CAVY CAWS CAYS CECA CEDE CEDI CEES CEIL CELL CELS CELT CENT CEPE CEPS CERE CERO CESS CETE CHAD CHAM CHAO CHAP CHAR CHAT CHAW CHAY CHEF CHEW CHEZ CHIA CHIC CHID CHIN CHIP CHIS CHIT CHON CHOP CHOW CHUB CHUG CHUM CIAO CINE CION CIRE CIST CITE CITY CLAD CLAG CLAM CLAN CLAP CLAW CLAY CLEF CLEW CLIP CLOD CLOG CLON CLOP CLOT CLOY CLUB CLUE COAL COAT COAX COBB COBS COCA COCK COCO CODA CODE CODS COED COFF COFT COGS COHO COIF COIL COIN COIR COKE COLA COLD COLE COLS COLT COLY COMA COMB COME COMP CONE CONI CONK CONN CONS CONY COOF COOK COOL COON COOP COOS COOT COPE COPS COPY CORD CORE CORF CORK CORM CORN CORY COSH COSS COST COSY COTE COTS COUP COVE COWL COWS COWY COXA COYS COZY CRAB CRAG CRAM CRAP CRAW CREW CRIB CRIS CROC CROP CROW CRUD CRUS CRUX CUBE CUBS CUDS CUED CUES CUFF CUIF CUKE CULL CULM CULT CUNT CUPS CURB CURD CURE CURF CURL CURN CURR CURS CURT CUSK CUSP CUSS CUTE CUTS CWMS CYAN CYMA CYME CYST CZAR

Many of these are good plays, thanks to the affinity for C words to include obscure letters like Y, W, and Z.

5 Letter Scrabble Words with C

Forming five-letter Scrabble words with C will increase your options of available words, though playing a fully-formed five-letter word that starts with C is much more difficult than building three- or four-letter words. Here’s the complete list of all 665 legal five-letter Scrabble words that start with C.

CABAL CABBY CABER CABIN CABLE CABOB CACAO CACAS CACHE CACTI CADDY CADES CADET CADGE CADGY CADIS CADRE CAECA CAFES CAFFS CAGED CAGER CAGES CAGEY CAHOW CAIDS CAINS CAIRD CAIRN CAJON CAKED CAKES CAKEY CALFS CALIF CALIX CALKS CALLA CALLS CALMS CALVE CALYX CAMAS CAMEL CAMEO CAMES CAMPI CAMPO CAMPS CAMPY CANAL CANDY CANED CANER CANES CANID CANNA CANNY CANOE CANON CANSO CANST CANTO CANTS CANTY CAPED CAPER CAPES CAPHS CAPON CAPOS CAPUT CARAT CARBO CARBS CARDS CARED CARER CARES CARET CAREX CARGO CARKS CARLE CARLS CARNS CARNY CAROB CAROL CAROM CARPI CARPS CARRS CARRY CARSE CARTE CARTS CARVE CASAS CASED CASES CASKS CASKY CASTE CASTS CASUS CATCH CATER CATES CATTY CAULD CAULK CAULS CAUSE CAVED CAVER CAVES CAVIE CAVIL CAWED CEASE CEBID CECAL CECUM CEDAR CEDED CEDER CEDES CEDIS CEIBA CEILS CELEB CELLA CELLI CELLO CELLS CELOM CELTS CENSE CENTO CENTS CEORL CEPES CERCI CERED CERES CERIA CERIC CEROS CESTA CESTI CETES CHADS CHAFE CHAFF CHAIN CHAIR CHALK CHAMP CHAMS CHANG CHANT CHAOS CHAPE CHAPS CHAPT CHARD CHARE CHARK CHARM CHARR CHARS CHART CHARY CHASE CHASM CHATS CHAWS CHAYS CHEAP CHEAT CHECK CHEEK CHEEP CHEER CHEFS CHELA CHEMO CHERT CHESS CHEST CHETH CHEVY CHEWS CHEWY CHIAO CHIAS CHICK CHICO CHICS CHIDE CHIEF CHIEL CHILD CHILE CHILI CHILL CHIMB CHIME CHIMP CHINA CHINE CHINK CHINO CHINS CHIPS CHIRK CHIRM CHIRO CHIRP CHIRR CHITS CHIVE CHIVY CHOCK CHOIR CHOKE CHOKY CHOLO CHOMP CHOOK CHOPS CHORD CHORE CHOSE CHOTT CHOWS CHUBS CHUCK CHUFA CHUFF CHUGS CHUMP CHUMS CHUNK CHURL CHURN CHURR CHUTE CHYLE CHYME CIBOL CIDER CIGAR CILIA CIMEX CINCH CINES CIONS CIRCA CIRES CIRRI CISCO CISSY CISTS CITED CITER CITES CIVET CIVIC CIVIE CIVIL CIVVY CLACH CLACK CLADE CLADS CLAGS CLAIM CLAMP CLAMS CLANG CLANK CLANS CLAPS CLAPT CLARO CLARY CLASH CLASP CLASS CLAST CLAVE CLAVI CLAWS CLAYS CLEAN CLEAR CLEAT CLEEK CLEFS CLEFT CLEPE CLEPT CLERK CLEWS CLICK CLIFF CLIFT CLIMB CLIME CLINE CLING CLINK CLIPS CLIPT CLOAK CLOCK CLODS CLOGS CLOMB CLOMP CLONE CLONK CLONS CLOOT CLOPS CLOSE CLOTH CLOTS CLOUD CLOUR CLOUT CLOVE CLOWN CLOYS CLOZE CLUBS CLUCK CLUED CLUES CLUMP CLUNG CLUNK COACH COACT COALA COALS COALY COAPT COAST COATI COATS COBBS COBBY COBIA COBLE COBRA COCAS COCCI COCKS COCKY COCOA COCOS CODAS CODEC CODED CODEN CODER CODES CODEX CODON COEDS COFFS COGON COHOG COHOS COIFS COIGN COILS COINS COIRS COKED COKES COLAS COLDS COLED COLES COLIC COLIN COLLY COLOG COLON COLOR COLTS COLZA COMAE COMAL COMAS COMBE COMBO COMBS COMER COMES COMET COMFY COMIC COMIX COMMA COMMY COMPO COMPS COMPT COMTE CONCH CONDO CONED CONES CONEY CONGA CONGE CONGO CONIC CONIN CONKS CONKY CONNS CONTE CONTO CONUS COOCH COOED COOEE COOER COOEY COOFS COOKS COOKY COOLS COOLY COOMB COONS COOPS COOPT COOTS COPAL COPED COPEN COPER COPES COPRA COPSE CORAL CORBY CORDS CORED CORER CORES CORGI CORIA CORKS CORKY CORMS CORNS CORNU CORNY CORPS CORSE COSEC COSES COSET COSEY COSIE COSTA COSTS COTAN COTED COTES COTTA COUCH COUDE COUGH COULD COUNT COUPE COUPS COURT COUTH COVED COVEN COVER COVES COVET COVEY COVIN COWED COWER COWLS COWRY COXAE COXAL COXED COXES COYED COYER COYLY COYPU COZEN COZES COZEY COZIE CRAAL CRABS CRACK CRAFT CRAGS CRAKE CRAMP CRAMS CRANE CRANK CRAPE CRAPS CRASH CRASS CRATE CRAVE CRAWL CRAWS CRAZE CRAZY CREAK CREAM CREDO CREED CREEK CREEL CREEP CREME CREPE CREPT CREPY CRESS CREST CREWS CRIBS CRICK CRIED CRIER CRIES CRIME CRIMP CRIPE CRISP CROAK CROCI CROCK CROCS CROFT CRONE CRONY CROOK CROON CROPS CRORE CROSS CROUP CROWD CROWN CROWS CROZE CRUCK CRUDE CRUDS CRUEL CRUET CRUMB CRUMP CRUOR CRURA CRUSE CRUSH CRUST CRWTH CRYPT CUBBY CUBEB CUBED CUBER CUBES CUBIC CUBIT CUDDY CUFFS CUIFS CUING CUISH CUKES CULCH CULET CULEX CULLS CULLY CULMS CULPA CULTI CULTS CUMIN CUNTS CUPEL CUPID CUPPA CUPPY CURBS CURCH CURDS CURDY CURED CURER CURES CURET CURFS CURIA CURIE CURIO CURLS CURLY CURNS CURRS CURRY CURSE CURST CURVE CURVY CUSEC CUSHY CUSKS CUSPS CUSSO CUTCH CUTER CUTES CUTEY CUTIE CUTIN CUTIS CUTTY CUTUP CYANO CYANS CYCAD CYCAS CYCLE CYCLO CYDER CYLIX CYMAE CYMAR CYMAS CYMES CYMOL CYNIC CYSTS CYTON CZARS

Adding lists of C words to your Scrabble memorization list will go a long way to improve your game. Though C is one of the more obscure letters in Scrabble, it shouldn’t be overlooked, thanks to long lists of four- and five-letter legal Scrabble words that start with C.

DIY Scrabble tile coasters are coasters you make for coffee mugs or other drinking cups using the pieces of the Scrabble game. The DIY movement takes the phrase “Do It Yourself” as its mantra, hence the phrase DIY Scrabble tile coasters. Since the tiles and other parts of the game are in neat little squares, it was only a matter of time before someone realized you could attach different letters tiles to make all sorts of crafts, including a very basic square-shaped drink coaster.

Let’s look at a few different DIY Scrabble tile coasters and other Scrabble tile projects. All of these projects are easy to do at home with a few simple tools and a good supply of Scrabble tiles.

How to Find Extra Scrabble Tiles

Anyone who has ever tried to make a Scrabble craft using Scrabble tiles knows you might end up needing a boatload of Scrabble tiles before the project is finished. Depending on the size and scale of your Scrabble tile DIY project, and whether or not you want to spell out actual English words, you could find yourself needing several sets of Scrabble tiles to finish the job.

You may think that a set of Scrabble tiles would accurately represent English well enough that you could form lots of English words with just one Scrabble tile bag, but that’s simply not true. To cut down on scoring using plurals, the inventors of Scrabble included a limited number of S tiles, many more of which are necessary to write any decently-long sentence in English. Other aberrations between Scrabble tiles and written English mean that most Scrabble tile projects require some extra tile shopping.

The first thing to do is find out if any of your friends or neighbors have an old worn-out or unwanted Scrabble set you can have, for easy access to free Scrabble tiles. Unless your Scrabble tile coaster project doesn’t require a specific set of letters, you’ll almost have to borrow a few tiles from another set.

If you can’t get the right tiles donated from friends and neighbors, you’ll need to purchase more Scrabble tiles on your own. Before you head to the toy store to buy out their Scrabble board game section, check out online retailers for additional Scrabble tile sets. eBay is the first place you should look; there’s always a few auctions of lots of Scrabble tiles, from vintage editions, miniature editions, etc. That way you don’t have to buy the whole game just to get a couple of extra S or E tiles.

Amazon is another retail site that has a wide variety of Scrabble tile sets to choose from. You can find special “low-vision” Scrabble tiles designed for people with visual impairment, or tiles from any Scrabble set that ever existed. At either Amazon or eBay, expect to spend about $20 for a set of 100 extra Scrabble tiles.

How to Make a DIY Scrabble Tile Words Coaster

A coaster is a wonderful craft gift that’s functional as well. If you grew up with a mother like mine, you understand the importance of coasters. If you want to prevent your coffee table or dining room table from warping or scuffing thanks to coffee mugs and water glasses, you have to use a coaster.

If you have a special mother or father in your life, remember that Mother’s Day and Father’s Day are coming up in the next few months. Making them a special set of Scrabble tile coasters is a great way to show you care with a handmade gift, and play into their love of words, Scrabble, or board games at the same time.

Here’s a quick guide to making your own Scrabble words coaster.

This project will make four drink coasters with unique messages, all related to drinks and drinking. Get it? Each coaster is made of four Scrabble tiles across and four Scrabble tiles up and down. With just 64 Scrabble tiles, you can make four coasters as a gift to the Scrabble fan in your life.

You’ll need:

• 64 scrabble letters (the letters you need depends on the message you spell out, more on this later)
• 1 thin cork board
• 1 x-acto knife
• super glue
• hot glue gun
• spray adhesive or sealer

This project spells out the following words with Scrabble tiles. You’ll need all the letters below to make this specific craft, though you can spell out any message you want.

BEER, BREW, HOPS, AGED , VINO, WINE, POUR, CORK, STIR, LIME, SALT, _RIM, ICED, JAVA, HOT_, _TEA

1. Arrange 16 letters in a square shape to spell out 4 words that you want your coasters to say.

2. Glue the Scrabble letters together with a thin layer of super glue. Let each letter dry for at least 15 seconds before you move on to the next letter. This should take no more than five minutes per coaster.

3. Place each coaster on the cork board, then trim the additional cork away using your x-acto knife, following close along the edge of the blocks.

4. Use a hot glue gun to attach the cork to your Scrabble words. You should let your hot glue gun project cool for at least an hour before you mess with it anymore.

5. Spray a thin layer of sealer or adhesive over each coaster to protect the Scrabble tile’s wood from the moisture of the cup or mug that sits on it. Personally, I like Rustoleum’s clear enamel spray. Be sure to let each coaster dry for a full day before you take a look at them or wrap them up for a gift.

This simple DIY Scrabble tile coaster project doesn’t take long, doesn’t require a lot of craft know-how, and will delight any Scrabble fan in your life. Customize your coaster messages or use the words in the example, either way, your gift of a DIY Scrabble words coaster will be a beloved and functional part of someone’s home for years to come, as long as you follow the instructions and seal the coaster properly.

The Balderdash board game is a different kind of word game from Scrabble and Upwords, two of the other game titles I’ve discussed this week.

Balderdash tests your knowledge of words and the meaning of words, but it also helps to have a gift for (convincing) writing and bluffing. I’ve heard Balderdash described as a trivia game, too, and I suppose the board game is in its own way–if by trivia you mean the definition of terms.

A Basic Description of the Balderdash Game

When you begin a game of Balderdash, every competitor rolls a die to determine who is the first “dasher”. You could say it’s this person’s turn to be what other games might call the dealer or judge. The dasher draws the top card from the Balderdash deck and rolls a die to determine which of the listed words on the card will be used. This word has a definition written on it for each word, and the dasher writes that definition onto a sheet of paper provided by the game.

At the same time, everyone else writes their definition for the same word. These contributors have several options when writing their version of the word’s meaning. If you know the definition or think you know the definition, you can write a real definition. If you don’t know the definition, you try to write what you think the word’s meaning is, or at least a convincing-sounding definition for the term. Even if you know what the word means, if (for tactical reasons) you think you can write a misleading definition that is more likely to fool a person, you can write a fake definition instead.

Reading the Balderdash

Once everyone has written their definition, they hand these to the dasher, who mixes them up randomly. The dasher looks through the definitions submitted and those who wrote the right definition are awarded three points, but if more than one person writes the correct definition, the round is abandoned, with the correct players receiving their points. Then the dasher reads out the definitions one-by-one.

At this point, people are asked to guess which definition is right. If you guess the correct meaning, you receive 2 points. If you wrote a fake definition and one or more people choose your definition as the correct one, you receive 1 point for every person who guesses incorrectly. Finally, if no one guesses the right definition, the dasher is awarded three points.

Finishing a Balderdash Game

Once points are added up for a round, you move your game piece one space for each point you acquired in the game. If no one has won the game by moving their game piece to the final square, then the person to the left of the dasher becomes the dasher for one round.

In the event of a tie at the end of the game, you have several options for selecting the winner. The most common way to break ties in Balderdash is to arm wrestle, with the winner obviously winning the game. If your group decides that’s a perfectly horrible way to choose a final victor, you have the option of either declaring the tied opponents each a winner, or having a sudden death round to determine who wins or loses.

Review of Balderdash

Balderdash is a fun game for wordsmiths who enjoy pretending they could write a dictionary, for funny men who think they could write good comedy, or for con men of any persuasion (though writing skills would help). While you can impress your friends with your vocabulary and your mastery of obscure words, most of the fun is when a player either has to guess at a word’s definition or deliberately tries to fake a definition to throw people off the trail.

Balderdash Words & Examples

A classic example of a Balderdash word would be “phlebotomy”, the practice of drawing blood for medical testing. One player might write that phlebotomy is the study of flea bites or the medical treatment of flea bites. While you might think that’s so ridiculous that no one would ever guess that, if people at the table aren’t immediately familiar with the work of a phlebotomist, you have to ask yourself whether they would guess “drawing blood” over one of those other definitions.

Other examples might be “coquinate” (to cook), “masticate” (to chew), “namelings” (people with the same names), “rogitate” (to ask frequently), “sagittiferous” (bearing arrows), “theomeny” (God’s wrath), “rimestock” (almanac with runic writings), “gelicide” (frost), and “myriander” (consisting of ten thousand men).

Balderdash and Fictionary

Balderdash is based on a previous board game named Fictionary. Other word games derived from Fictionary include Flummoxed, Weird Wordz, and Dictionary Dabble. Those searching for Fictionary online or in a store should also be aware that Fictionary is sometimes called either “Dictionary” or “The Dictionary Game”

Beyond Balderdash

My favorite version of Balderdash is “Beyond Balderdash“, a 1993 expansion of the game into a bit more of a trivia game. If your family or friends aren’t interested in matching wits over dictionary definitions, you might persuade them to play Beyond Balderdash, instead.

Besides using unusual or uncommon words, Beyond Balderdash tests your knowledge of film titles, dates, names, and even acronyms. The same game mechanic is in place, but like Trivial Pursuit, you have different categories, with a die roll every round determining which category the dasher presents to the contestants. Those who may not have an expansive vocabulary, but who love movies or personalities, may find a more satisfying game experience with Beyond Balderdash.

Upwords is marketed by Hasbro in over 20 different language. In fact, Hasbro has full rights to market Upwords internationally, which means it has rare control over the Internet publishing rights for Upwords. Scrabble, on the other hand, is complicated somewhat by licensing agreements in Europe involving Mattel.

Scrabble Upwords Game Rules

Scrabble Upwords is for 2 to 4 players and the average game time, according to Hasbro, is between 45 to 90 minutes. While Scrabble is played on a 15×15 tile board, Upwords is played on a 64-space grid that is 8×8. You might think this makes Upwords a more limited game than Scrabble, but Upwards is played in three dimensions, not the two dimensions that Scrabble is played in. In Upwords, you have the ability to place letter tiles on top of one another, building up from the original word.

The title characteristic is the major difference between Upwords and Scrabble. Building words upwards also helps players score more points. While you might think this makes scoring more complicated, Hasbro in fact simplifies the scoring in Upwords so that it’s a matter of simply counting game tiles in your word.

Scoring in Upwords

If you build a word with all letters on the ground level of the Upwords game board, you score 2 points for each letter. Otherwise, you only count 1 point-per-word for any word you build in Upwords. You do count any letters that have built upon. So if you build the word “S-H-A-V-E“, but it was built on the top of the word “S-H-A-R-E” and it was built on the word “S-N-A-R-E“, then you would receive not only 5 points for the five letters in “Shave”, but also two points for the extra two letters that are under the word “Shave” for a total of 7 points.

As you can see, once the game gets going, it’s much to your advantage to be able to build on top of words that already exist and have been built upon.

Upwords Game Tiles

I should mention that the Upwords game tiles are built so they stack easily on top of one another, much like many plastic lawn chairs are built to do. This means you can built stable letter towers that are easy to see and read.

Special Rule – No Pluralization

I have a brother-in-law whose pet peeve in Scrabble is when people pluralize a word to move on to the next turn. He would love Upwords, because the rule states you can’t pluralize a word by building an “S” on the end to get points and end your turn. You can place a complete pluralized word on the board, if you wish. This keeps players from using the plural gambit too often in Upwords and making the “S” letter tile to powerful.

Special Rule – No Bonus Squares

Unlike Scrabble, Upwords has no bonus square multipliers. Since the bonus squares are a key part of any Scrabble game and Scrabble player’s strategy, many Scrabble players who first play Upwords find this unsatisfying.

The inclusion of such a rule, since players can play endlessly on top of other words, would tend to make a farce of Upwords, since the best strategy for players would be to build and rebuild minor word variations (like the ones given above) in the corners and edges of the Upwords board. Since you don’t have this rule, players are allowed to focus their eyes over the entirety of the board, much like you would in Scrabble games when the bonus squares (in one part of the Scrabble board) have already been utilized.

Comparisons to Scrabble

Like Scrabble, Upwords requires that players have 7 letter tiles at all times. When you play letters, you receive new letters from the unused letter pile. This means that Upwords is going to have a quite similar feel to it when playing, enough so that Hasbro now markets the game as “Scrabble Upwords“. Differences abound, though.

Perhaps because it’s on a smaller board or perhaps because it offers more word variations due to its 3-dimensional nature, Upwords tends to play faster than Scrabble in my experience. Over the years, I’ve found that home games of Scrabble at family reunions and impromptu get-together “friendly” games tend to go slower than competitive Scrabble, perhaps because the less experienced players don’t see opportunities as quickly.

Because Upwords offers opportunities for building up and scoring points by making relatively minor changes to already existing words, the game moves faster with less experienced players. In a friendly game, you’ll occasionally have a player you would prefer to prompt because they let their turn bog down, so game durations vary wildly from group to group, but that’s my general experience.

Upwords Online Review

While I still prefer good ole Scrabble to most other word games out there, Upwords is a nice change-of-pace game for groups who feel intimidated playing with experienced or competitive Scrabble players, or who feel Scrabble afficionados tend to have too many word games tactics and strategies from their years playing Scrabble. Playing Upwords lets you enjoy a more straightforward point-counting system and still have all the fun of board games about words.

Unlike many popular word games, Boggle is a test of pure word skill without a whole lot of randomness or luck added in.

That’s because all players are finding words from the same grid of letters, so a player won’t lose because they got a lousy set of letters (like Scrabble) or because they got harder questions than the other players at the table. Everyone is on the same playing field.

How to Play Boggle

A Boggle game begins when you take the 16 letter-dice and roll them onto a table or flat surface. All sixteen dice contains six different letters, one on each side. Once they are rolled, you take the letters (face up) and place them inside a 16-cube grid in a 4×4 pattern. The 16 letters facing up are the letters everyone at the table is going to be using for the next round of play.

Building Words in Boggle

Once you have the letters in place, a timer is set in motion. Everyone has 3 minutes to find as many words in the grid as possible. To build a word, the letters in the word must be adjacent to one another, either vertically, horizontally, or diagonally. Your word doesn’t have to stay in the same straight plane as it would in a game of Scrabble, so you can have a word that goes vertical, then horizontal, and even diagonal, if you wish.

The letters in the word must be in sequential order, so if you spelled the word “bison,” the “B” would have to be adjacent to the “I”, the “I” would have to be adjacent to the “S”, and so on. Also, you cannot use the same letter twice in the same word. So if you spelled the word “tart”, you would have to use two different “T” letters and the word couldn’t wrap back upon itself. Words must be at least three letters long and plural versions of a word are accepted.

Keeping Score in Boggle – Rules

With these Boggle rules in place, you have 180 seconds to write down as many words on the board as you can. Each player is given a pencil and a scratch sheet of paper to jot down the words they see. At the end of three minutes, everyone reveals their words, goes over where they found them, and points are awarded for correct words. How those points are awarded is where Boggle starts to get really interesting.

All duplicated words are eliminated. So if two of the players find the word “DOG”, it’s thrown out. It doesn’t matter if two or four players write down the same word, it gets tossed no matter what. Once all duplicate words are eliminated, then players move on to determining which words are valid. As in Scrabble, dictionaries can be referred to when settling disputes about spelling.

Once words have been confirmed, you count up how many points each player gets, based on the length of the words. The longer the word you have, the higher the score.

Boggle Point Chart

8+ Letters – 11 Points
7 Letters – 5 Points
6 Letters – 3 Points
5 Letters – 2 Points
4 Letters – 1 Point
3 Letters – 1 Point

As you can see, Boggle places a high premium on finding long words. A jump between a 6 and 7 letter word is 2 points, while a jump between 7 and 8 letter words is a whopping 6 points.

Boggle Strategy

Boggle strategy tends to involve finding all the small, obvious words quickly, then concentrating on finding longer and higher scoring letter combinations. Some players focus on finding as many mid-level words as possible, while others search for a few big letter combinations.

Resolving Ties in Boggle

If you have a tie after a round of Boggle, most people resolve the tie by a count of long words. If you need to resolve word disputes, it’s recommended you buy an Official Scrabble Dictionary, which is suitable for Boggle use as well.

“Qu” Tile in Boggle – Scoring the Qu

Since the “Q” would be useless in most situations, given how unlikely “U” would be to appear adjacent on the grid, Boggle includes the Q and U together in a “Qu” letter box. Though it’s only one tile, the Qu counts as two letters when adding up scores. So if you built the Q word “quote” with Qu-O-T-E, it would count as a five letter word, even though it only uses 4 dice.

Boggle Game Variations, Including Online Boggle Games

You’ll still find a Travel Boggle, sometimes called Boggle Folio, still marketed. Kids can play a version called Boggle Junior, too. Most of the Boggle variants are found online, though.

You can play online Boggle on Facebook with either the Prolific or Scramble applications. Parker Brothers also has licensed online Boggle games to various Internet gaming websites, so you can play classic Boggle in an electronic setting with little trouble.

Word games are good distractions because they’re educational and fun at the same time. I remember playing word games in school when the teacher needed to kill some time or when I would finish an assignment early. Word games train your brain to think more clearly about words and language, and allow for a little friendly competition.

There are all sorts of word games, from simple games you can draw with a pencil and paper to more complicated online word games that require a video game system or computer to play. Here are three of the world’s most popular word games, a brief history of each, and different ways to play them.

Hangman

Today’s schools are so politically correct, it isn’t common to find teachers playing hangman with their students anymore. Watered-down versions of the game are still played, like “Wordman” where a character walks off a chalkboard if the students don’t guess the word in a certain number of tries.

The original Hangman game was a word game played with pencil and paper. One player thinks of a word or phrase and the other players has a certain number of guesses to get the word right. Every wrong guess ends with the player holding the pencil drawing another part of the hanging man until eventually the entire man is drawn out, hanging from a noose, on the page. Different players use different numbers of guesses, but a standard game of Hangman allows six guesses–one for the head, one for the body, and one each for the arms and legs.

Hangman appears to have come from Victorian England, because the first known mention of a version of Hangman comes from a games book published in 1894 in England. The game was called “Birds, Beasts, and Fishes”, and in this version of the game, the first player writes the first and last letter of an animal and the other player has six guesses to guess the rest of the word.

To play a fun online version of Hangman in different categories, check out the Storyman game at eastoftheweb.com.

Codeword

The name “codeword” refers to at least two different types of games–the better-known version of codeword gives a player ten guesses to figure out a five-letter word by guessing one word at a time. The other version of codeword is an enhanced crossword puzzle where certain numbered spaces in the crossword puzzle represent a different letter, spelling out a secret codeword after the crossword is complete.

Both games are relatively new inventions, especially considering that the more popular version of codeword, spelling out a five-letter word with ten guesses, comes from a classic 1980s board game involving numbers instead of letters. Crossword puzzles have been around since 1890, so its possible that the crossword version of codeword has been around longer than the more familiar “word guess” version.

For a fun “word guess” game of codeword, check out the codeword games at Brainbashers.com.

Word Search

The lovable, friendly old word search is a much maligned word game–regarded by many word game fans as too juvenile to maintain a true word gamer’s attention. But the humble word search was most people’s first word game, handed out in elementary school to kill time or during holiday parties as a learning opportunity / fun activity.

A book of word searches is the perfect companion on a boring transatlantic flight, long bus trip, or to kill time during a jury duty wait or any other less than exhilarating activity. There are word searches for every skill level, including so called expert level word searches that use a giant pool of letters and more difficult words to find to increase the skill level required to complete the word search.

The first word searches in America appeared in a small circular newspaper in Oklahoma in 1968, though a Mexican newspaper had been publishing something similar to today’s word searches for decades before that. The word search spread through American schools when teachers in the small Oklahoma town where the paper was circulated sent them to their teacher friends around the country as an educational classroom distraction. The explosion of word searches since that time is evidence of their popularity and use in the classroom setting.

For a great collection of word searches of different skill levels, check out the collection of word sleuth games at abcteach.com.

Apples to Apples is one of the most popular board games at family gatherings around my house these days. Apples to Apples lets the people with big vocabularies show off (a little) without alienating those who aren’t wordsmiths.

Without turning the game into a complete luck fest, Apples to Apples lets all kinds of people–including kids–compete in legitimate contest. My nephew 9 and 10 year old nephews enjoy Apples to Apples and don’t need a whole lot of prompting, as long as you’re patient and explain words to them. This is a game which (like Scrabble) helps build word knowledge in a round-about way. The chance for fun is great and my family (at least) laughs and laughs when we play.

I’m impressed at how Apples to Apples does all this, because it is one of the least complicated games you’ll ever play. Apples to Apples is a game of comparisons and the fact the game involves quite subjective comparisons is what keeps it fresh and makes it challenging without making it too serious. Here are the basics of how to play Apples to Apples.

Apples to Apples Basic Setup

Apples to Apples requires nothing more than the board game, a kitchen table, and enough seats for everyone. You don’t even need a pencil and paper to keep score.

Apples to Apples Cards

The game pieces are also simple: two different types of Apples to Apples cards. The green Apples to Apples cards are adjectives, while the red Apples to Apples cards include nouns of all sorts. These tends to be people, places, and eras. The people and places are often from the past, though you’ll find plenty of current references. Examples might include Confucius, Carl Sagan, Rush Limbaugh, Democrats, Ghost Towns, The Planet Saturn, and Pond Scum.

Each of these red cards contain a short, one-sentence explanation of the person, place, or time, for those who don’t know who or what is on their card. All players keep 7 red cards in their hands throughout the game, drawing a new card when they play one of their old ones.

Apples to Apples Judge

The green cards are used by the judge, a position which changes each turn. The judge position moves clockwise around the board, much like the dealer in a home game of poker would. When it’s the judge’s turn, they select a green card. This card will have an adjective on it: “Silly” for example. Besides the one word, you’ll also have three synonyms on it. For example, you might see Silly, Frivolous, Irrational, and Ridiculous on the card.

Playing Apples to Apples

Everyone in the game who isn’t a judge on a turn selects a card from their hand. This card is supposed to match the adjectives on the judge’s card as closely as possible. When everyone has turned in a card to the judge, then the judge mixes up the cards so he/she doesn’t know whose card is which.

The judge then calls out the cards (usually to laughter or approval), then selects the card which most closely resembles the adjectives offered. This is often done by process of elimination, which also serves to let you explain to people why you’re rejecting their card. When you have a match, the winner of that round is the person whose cards you selected. The adjective card is awarded for safe-keeping by the winner and the first one to collect seven such cards wins the game.

That’s all there is to Apples to Apples. You continue around the table until a winner is declared. It sounds simple in theory, but in execution, it’s hard to predict who’s going to win. Some of the reasons why follow:

Selecting a Card Each Hand

You’ll have plenty of hands where you don’t have a card that exactly matches the judge’s word. When you don’t have a perfect match, you have to decide whether to select a card with some tenuous connection and hope everyone else also has lousy matches, or whether you should get rid of a card that isn’t likely to be chosen in subsequent rounds (which is hard to predict) and take the loss that round. Another reason luck plays a hand is that you might play a card that’s a good match, but an opponent plays a card that’s just a better match. Finally, the subjective or arbitrary nature of the judge might ruin even the best-played cards.

For example, I have a lovable doofus of a nephew who, God bless him, isn’t what you would call book-smart. He’s a good guy, but seems air-headed, if guys can be air-headed. One time we were playing, we get the card “Silly” and everyone turns in their cards. No one had a really good match and my card, “Knock-Knock Jokes”, was the only card even approximately silly, frivolous, or ridiculous. But my nephew was the judge that turn, so anybody’s card was still in the running. Eventually, the contest for which came closest to “silly” was “Knock-Knock Jokes” and “The Planet Saturn”.

Indignantly, I asked my nephew (in perhaps a breech of etiquette), “Why in the world is the Planet Saturn still out there?”

He answers, “Because Saturn is cool”. Someone else pointed out the adjective was silly, not cool, to which my nephew replied that he thought silly things were cool. Well, obviously.

This example spells out why the game is so much fun. Not only does it get you talking about words and vocabulary, but it brings out people’s quirks in big doses. I’m not the type to blurt out things when it’s someone else’s turn. I also should point out that my nephew wasn’t trying to make a mess of things, either.

When Not to Play Apples to Apples

I should mention a few things about games of Apples to Apples. If you have family or friends of a different political persuasion than you, you’ll find plenty of awkward moments. Because you have cards like “Barack Obama”, “George W. Bush”, “Dick Cheney”, “Rush Limbaugh”, “Republicans”, and “Democrats”, you’ll find that political comments get thrown out there a lot.

Our larger family is split pretty evenly between Democrats and Republicans. So when the word was “Influential” and I put out the card “Republicans”, I hesitated, even though I assumed I wasn’t making much of a political statement.

I assume that either major party would be the textbook definition of influential, given each has 60,000,000-plus voters (some of those voters quite influential) in the most powerful country in the world. When you consider all the broadcast networks, lobbying firms, and cottage industries devoted to getting their word out there and influencing people, either the Democrats or Republicans would be considered massively influential organizations.

But apparently my G.O.P. kinsman is so partisan that he can’t even admit that “The Republicans” as a whole are more influential than George Lucas, who survived the cut longer than my card. I had no idea George Lucas wielded that much power and influence. Heck, he may be a Republican, for all I know.

So if that remotely resembles your family, you might think once or twice before playing Apples to Apples. In our family, those moments are quickly forgotten, though they do make it into blog post reviews of Apples to Apples. Read more about how to play Apples to Apples here.