Scrabble has a long history of being a perfect catalyst for families, reunions, and gatherings for decades now. Originally called Criss Cross, the game, which was based on the crossword puzzle and anagrams, was developed by Alfred M. Butts, an architect, in 1931. It was redesigned, renamed Scrabble, and marketed by James Brunot in 1948. Since then, the game has captivated the hearts of millions, who play it whenever they find the time and if they need a great excuse to socialize. The rules are simple and require proper knowledge of language. The idea itself simply awakens a certain competitive spirit in you, and to win, you’ll need to know a few tricks beforehand. Now, if you’re planning Scrabble night next Saturday and you want to really impress your guests, we’ll discuss and share some secrets of the craft with you. Let’s see how to win almost every time and how to truly master the game.

Tile Management

The essence of Scrabble is to place the tiles in a specific order with the sole purpose and intent of simply creating more opportunities to create new words later on. Keep a balanced rack, and avoid placing too many vowels or constants in one line; rather mix it up and try to have an even number of vowels and consonants to make your odds better. And yes, if your rack is simply not doing you any favors, it’s better to sacrifice a move and wait for the next round.

Expand Your Vocabulary

As you can imagine, the secret to success in Scrabble is to expand your knowledge of language, specifically to enrich your vocabulary as much as possible and learn new words each day. Scrabble is all about knowing the right word at the right moment, and although sometimes it might be hard to think of a specific word, it’s harder if you never heard of it in the first place. Start by memorizing one new word each day, in alphabetical order. Start with simple words and work your way up to more complex terminology consisting of at least 6 to 8 characters and more. Yes, it does take some time and effort but not only will you become the master of letters, you’ll also expand your current knowledge and become a hit at parties!

An interesting idea is also to play with variations of words to train your mind to see certain patterns in seemingly complete chaos. Unscrambling words means creating words out of letters that, at first glance, seem to make no sense whatsoever. It’s something you have to train; simply adapt your mind to seeing what others don’t. As evident at www.unscramblewords.net, there are many great tools for this purpose alone, offering you tools to play with and train with. Once you’ve mastered the knowledge of thriving in chaos, your opponents will be at your mercy while you’re creating words out of a mess of letters no one seems to understand.

Not All the Squares are the Same

In Scrabble, you’ve probably noticed how some squares are more favorable and make it easier to get a better word for the win. Double Letter Score (DLS), Triple Letter Score (TLS), Double Word Score (DWS), and Triple Word Score (TWS) squares are the preferable options; playing them simply gives you an advantage over the others, especially if you put some “problematic” letters like Q, Z, and X on DLS or TLS. Play the odds, experiment a bit, and don’t be afraid to take a risk. Chances are all the others will play it safe, and that’s where your advantage lies.

Strengthen Your Defenses

Scrabble can be considered a strategic game, and although many perceive it as simple, it actually requires some pre-thinking before making a move. Like in chess, preventing your opponent from getting the premium squares can make the difference between a win and a loss. The best way to go about it is to prevent your opponent from getting access to TWS and DWS squares, as it puts them at a strategic advantage. Also, think of any possible openings you’re creating for them, and for that, you’ll have to think at least 2 steps ahead.

Get them With a Parallel Hook

Yes, you’ve heard us right. You’ll need to hook your opponent but not like in boxing. Hooks are single letters you can add to existing words to create a new one. One simple example is adding S for plural, like cat-cats or boy-boys. Plus, you’ll block them from making a new word themselves, as the hook often “closes” the word, making it almost impossible for them to create a new more complex one. Parallels are adding words, not just letters, to already existing ones and thereby creating new words with more syllables. All in all, a new and complex word.

Pre- and – Suffixes

Prefixes and Suffixes are your best friends in Scrabble. Not only makes it easier to create a new word out of an existing one, but you’ll also make it harder for your opponent to deal with the words at hand. Learning more prefixes and suffixes allows you to use more flexible construction, opening new chances and opportunities to create new and interesting words your opponent probably didn’t think of. And believe us, most people never went back to reading the old grammar book from 6th grade.

Practices Make It Perfect

If you ask any Chess grandmaster how much time they’ve spent playing chess, they’ll probably bomb you with numbers as high as 16 hours a day. Now, you’re not planning to become a Scrabble grandmaster, that’s for sure, but like with everything else, practice plays a role in how good you’ll become. The more you play, the more different situations and combinations you’ll encounter. It helps you plan ahead, stay ahead, and simply deal with problems more effectively than your opponent, as chances are you’ve already played the same or a similar situation alone before. The more, the better, and in your spare time, you can always work on memorizing those words as discussed.

Yes, it seems like a lot of effort but most of these tips, if not all, only take up a small portion of your day. Learning new words you can do while preparing your morning coffee is the same as learning new prefixes and suffixes and thinking about hooks and parallels. Playing a solo game of Scrabble will probably take you something around 40 minutes, maybe less, and altogether an hour a day, more than enough to make you better. Try it, and enjoy!