M is for monetary unit

It's time for the next installment of the ABC Wednesday series, where I go over some of the basics of competitive scrabble... this week: M!


Well, this isn't really a 'basic concept' of competitive scrabble, but I couldn't think of one that started with M. Anyways, some of the craziest 'scrabble words' are often currencies from other countries. In fact, I often feature a 'currency of the month' in my scrabble podcast on iTunes.

In the scrabble dictionary, though, it's usually called a 'monetary unit of ______'.
Here's a few fun ones (with countries listed) for you, from ATT to ZLOTY:




ATT Laos BAIZA Oman    CRORE India     DIRHAM Morocco   EYRIR Iceland


FORINT Hungary      GOURDE Haiti      HAO Vietnam       INTI Peru


JEON South Korea     KHOUM Mauritania     LAARI Maldives


MILESIMO Chile     NGWEE Zambia    OUGUIYA Mauritania


PARA Yugoslavia     QINTAR Albania    RIAL Iran    SATANG Thailand


TAKA Bangladesh    VATU Vanatu    XU Vietnam   YUAN China  ZLOTY Poland

L is for LEAVE

No, I'm not telling you to leave, dear readers, I'm talking about the tiles you 'leave' on your rack after you make a play!
Yes, so after skipping K as part of the ABC Wednesday series, I'm back on board with L.
So your 'leave' is very important because it's going to set you up for what's going to happen on your next turn. Take a shot at these three randomly generated racks, pretending you're going first,  and see if you can find the best play:
1. EIIOOTT
2. AEFNSTU
3. EIIOQTU








1. So you may have been tempted to play TOO or TOOT or even TIE, but those all leave you with all or nearly all vowels! In this case, you're better off keeping the E or ET or even EIT and exchanging the rest. Besides, no one's even played so you can pretend you're not even losing a turn!
2. FUN, while it only scores 12 points, is actually the highest rated play. This is because AEST are great tiles to build a 7 or 8 letter word from, and because U is probably the least useful vowel. FAUN and TUFA are also rated highly (since they leave EST and ENS), but those are less common words.
3. This was a trick question, because QUOIT is actually a word!  If you didn't know that word, hopefully you found QUOTE, QUITE or QUIET. QUOIT is best because it leaves you with EI- it's hard to explain, but certain vowel combinations are better than others. Just try and think of words that have an E and I in them versus two I's, or an O and an I, and hopefully that will explain how EI beats out OI or II. Regardless of this, though, playing QUOTE for 48 points (by placing the Q on the double letter score and getting the opening double word score) is a good example of when scoring points can cancel out the leave rule, assuming you didn't see a better play. If you score a lot on a turn, say 40 or more points, it's sometimes worth sacrificing the balance of tiles on your rack for a turn or two.

That's all for this week! Thanks for reading.
And hey, while I have your attention, you may want to check out a list of casual scrabble clubs here.

J is for JEFE

OK, I'm not going to make this post very long today-
but I chose the title because JEFE was one of the first 'non-normal' J words I learned for scrabble, since my first name is Jeff. I'm always on the hunt for new words, and one of the easiest ways to find them is to use someone's first name and figure out what scrabble words it's closest to, or if that doesn't work, what scrabble words you can make from it with a blank or two.
So go ahead, leave your first name in your comment and I'll try and find the most interesting scrabble word that I can derive from your name.

I is for...

It's time again for the ABC Wednesday entry, where I try and cover some of the basics of competitive scrabble, while somehow trying to relate it to the current letter of the week. Up this week: I!

 

Ok, so I couldn't come up with a specific term used in competitive scrabble that begins with I, but I thought I'd use this opportunity to talk about the actual letter and some words that use it, etc. In fact, I even changed the font for this post so that you don't think the I's are just lowercase L's. Many people are afraid of having I's on their rack, and for good reason: while having one I out of 7 tiles isn't too bad, as soon as you get 2 or more, you're in trouble. In fact, this principle applies for almost every letter, but even more so for vowels other than E. So, quick tip: if you have a doubled letter on your rack, try to get rid of one. On the other hand, here's some I-heavy words to help you get rid of more than one I.

ILIA- plural of ILIUM, a bone of the pelvis

IXIA- a flowering plant

BIDI- a cigarette of India (also spelled BEEDI)

 HILI- plural of HILUM or HILUS, a small opening in a bodily organ (don't forget the front hook of C!)

IMPI- a body of warriors

TITI- an evergreen tree or shrub

Wait, you have 3 I's to get rid of? Don't worry:

IRIDIC pertaining to IRIDIUM

IRITIC adj, IRITIS, inflammation of the iris

IMIDIC adj, IMIDE, a chemical compound

If you have four I's, (speaking of which, FOUREYED is good, though not FOUREYES*), well I can't help you! There are no words 8 letters or less with that many. So you'd better exchange. 

H is for HOOKS!

It's time again for the ABC Wednesday entry, where I try and cover some of the basics of competitive scrabble, while somehow trying to relate it to the current letter of the week. Up this week: G!

 

We've already gone over 'fishing', which is a generally bad practice, however 'hooks' are definitely good to know. A 'hook letter', or 'hook', is a letter that will spell a new word when it is played with in the front of or at the end of a word already on the board. The most commonly used hook is S, of course, which is usually added to the end of a word. For this reason, most people will hold on to an S until it can be used to score a decent amount of points.

Knowing hooks can make the difference between having a place to put that great word or having it just sit on your rack. It can also gain you a turn if your opponent tries one that isn't good. (In competitive scrabble, you lose your turn if your opponent 'challenges' your play and the word isn't acceptable.) This most famously occurs in competitive games with -ING words; it's often difficult to remember which ones take an S and which don't. Adjectives are another culprit of the attempted S additions. More on that later...

The fun part, though, is learning some of the more unusual hooks (usually 'front hooks' that completely change the word when added to the beginning) and then surprising your opponent with them. Here's just a few words that you can add an S to the front of that you may not know about:

MAZE, HEAL, WASH, EDGY

CREAK, LATCH, WAGER, WIVES

just to name a few. 

To end, here's a quiz: which of these words take a S back hook in scrabble?

WEIRD

FEEDING

OUTER

PARKING

STRANGE

SURFING

Answers in the comment section...

Of course, I haven't even touched on all the words you can add 'Y', 'D', or 'R'  to, as well as the many other aspects, but you get the idea. When you see a word on the board, the first thing you should think is, 'what letter can I add to the front of back of that?'

G is for GOOD

It's time again for the ABC Wednesday entry, where I try and cover some of the basics of competitive scrabble, while somehow trying to relate it to the current letter of the week. Up this week: G!

'Is GHAZI good?' Someone might ask at a local scrabble club.

'Good' in this case, means "good (or acceptable)  in tournament scrabble play".

And yes, GHAZI is a 'muslim war hero' according to my scrabble word study program.

On the other hand, a phony is a word that is usually referred to as 'not good'. GOOGLE* is not good (yet) in competitive scrabble. The asterisk is there to signify it as such.

Some other interesting G scrabble words:

AG agriculture, (noun)... this is the only other two letter G word, which makes the letter G a tough one to over (or under)lap on a board.

GHI a kind of liquid butter made in India... I've always like this one since it lets you put a G in front of HI. Also spelled GHEE.

GEEZ interjection, used as a mild oath... I love the definitions they give for these types of interjections. Also spelled JEEZ, this is what is called a 'highly playable' 4 letter G word. Meaning, it will pop up most often in competitive scrabble games of all the 4 letter G words. In fact, I'm going to list the most 'playable' G words for the next three:

GROSZ a Polish coin... I actually have a feature on my scrabble podcast called 'currency of the month' because there are so many interesting coins/ currencies that make great words. Plural of this one is GROSZY or GROSZE.

GIAOUR  a non-Muslim.. well I guess we're sticking with the Muslim related theme. I'm pretty sure this is considered highly playable because it's a great way for a player to get rid of excess vowels. GUAIAC is another crazy one with similar CVVVVC pattern. (it's a medicinal resin.)

GODETIA a showy annual herb.... as opposed to a conservative, humble annual herb. This is a highly probable 7 letter word, also and an unusual word, so it's a good one to end with.

Thanks for reading!

F is for FISHING

It's time again for the ABC Wednesday entry, where I try and cover some of the basics of competitive scrabble, while somehow trying to relate it to the current letter of the week. Up this week: F!

Fishing, in scrabble, is the (usually erroneous) practice of playing only 1 or 2 tiles for very few points in the hopes of 'fishing' out the tiles from the bag that will give you what you're looking for on your next turn.

This often results in NOT getting exactly what you were looking for, in which case, the temptation is often to 'fish' again, and before you know it, you have a string of turns in which you've racked up single digit scores and your opponent has racked up a double digit lead.

So for the most part, if you are making a two tile play, make sure it's one that scores decently! (i.e. 20 points or more) You'll have to use a parallel play and one of the premium tile squares for this to happen, usually. 

There are a few instances, however, when fishing is acceptable or even the best play. Here are just a few examples:

1. You have a rack such as AEINQST, (and there's no U to play through- can you find the word?), and there are no places to play the Q for a lot of points. You're still usually better off just playing Q(I) somewhere (yes, even for only 11 points) and keeping the rest of the letters. In this case, your chances of 'bingoing' on your next turn are very high.

2. You are losing by 50 or more points, and there are very few tiles left in the bag. You realize that the only way for you to win the game at this point is to figure out what tiles might be in the bag, and play off the right tiles on you rack in order to bingo. With just the right luck (and skill at setting up spots to bingo on the board), you can come back and win the game.

3. You have a dream word, say 'QUIXOTRY' that you've always wanted to play, and you have IOQUX already on your rack, so you play off the other two tiles in the hopes ofgetting a T and Y and playing through an R on the board.

Ok, actually example number 3 is pretty silly, but it actually happened during one of the highest scoring scrabble games on record. 

There are other times when fishing is acceptable, but the general rule is: don't do it.

I will leave you with a poster of all the 7 and 8 letter '-FISH' words that are currently acceptable in scrabble. It's actually for sale on cafepress and was done by a very talented scrabble player/ artist. Thanks for reading!

E is for EXTENSION

It's time again for the ABC Wednesday entry, where I try and cover some of the basics of competitive scrabble, while somehow trying to relate it to the current letter of the week. Up this week: E!


No, I'm not talking about this kind of extension: 

I'm talking about extending plays that are already on the board. It can often be a pretty basic play, such as adding -ING to a word to extend it to a double or triple word score. In fact, the most useful extensions are ones involving extending a five letter opening play by three letters to hit the triple word score. (These are sometimes called 'snapbacks' due to the manner in which they allow you to 'snap back' your score.) 

Say your opponent plays ZINGS to open. If they're smart, they'll put the Z on the double word score, and score 50 points. If you're lucky, you'll be able to play GLA(ZINGS), GRA(ZINGS), or SEI(ZINGS) to come back with 50+ points yourself.

Of course, the expert players will often memorize obscure ways to extend words just for the rare chance to actually make the plays. I've read about players making plays such as 

GASPER(EAUX), LAMB(REQUINS), and PACLIT(AXEL). Ok, actually the last one is one of my dream plays, but the first two are legit. On the other hand, I did get to make this play a while ago. There are also plenty of front-extensions, I just am up too late at night to be able to come up with them.

Bottom line: don't forget to look for possible ways to extend words already on the board, rather than just adding your own.

D is for DOUBLE WORD SCORE

It's time again for the ABC Wednesday entry, where I try and cover some of the basics of competitive scrabble, while somehow trying to relate it to the current letter of the week. Up this week: D!


OK, actually in addition to the Double Word Score spots, you should keep an eye out for all the 'hot spots' on the board- easy to find because they're highlighted in a different color. This is important, because you may find a great word to play, but if it's not going over one or more the hot spots, you probably aren't going to score very well with it. 


Another simple thing you can do is to look for the double and triple letter score spaces (or DLS and TLS as we scrabble nuts like to call them)- and try and find a way to play high-point tiles on them. Better yet, play through two hot spots at once! For example, using the word QUIET, if the Q is on a TLS and the T ends on the DWS (I'll let you figure that one out) space, you'll score 68 points. Not too shabby.


Enough on that though. Here's some interesting D words:


DEE  the letter D [n]
DUH  used to indicate that something just stated is too obvious [interj]


DIDO a mischievous act [n]
DIDY a diaper [n]


and some longer ones...


lowest probability: DUMDUMS a type of bullet [n]
lowest prob with one vowel: DYBBUKS a wandering soul in Jewish folklore [n]


some 8 letter words with lots 'o vowels:
DIECIOUS or DIOCIOUS unisexual [adj]
DOUPIONI a silk yarn [n]


See, I just learned something too. I'll let you know when I get to play one of those last three in a game.

C is for CHALLENGE

It's time again for the ABC Wednesday entry, where I try and cover some of the basics of competitive scrabble, while somehow trying to relate it to the current letter of the week... here we go again!

The challenge I'm referring to here is not the noun defined as"difficulty in an undertaking that is stimulating to one engaged in it." Though, that is a good description of a good competitive scrabble game. To challenge, in competitive scrabble, means that you are questioning the validity of your opponent's last play. In North American scrabble, if you are correct (and the word is not valid), then the other player removes their tiles and loses their turn. On the other hand, if you are incorrect (and the word IS valid), then you lose your turn. 

Though this is really the rule in regular 'living room' scrabble, few people play this way (probably because it would end in an argument over whether or not the word is really a word). Of course, there is an official 'tournament word list' that is used so that everyone is on the same page. 

The addition of the possibility of playing phony words really ups the stakes and keeps you on your toes. Often times, people will play a word that they themselves are not 100% sure of- it's part of the risk. Other times, players will intentionally play all their tiles and make a phony word just to rack up points, especially if they think their opponent is unlikely to challenge. And there are even other times where a player will play a word in an effort to get their opponent to turn it into a phony (usually by adding an 'S' to it), so they can challenge and gain an extra turn. Lastly, it's an often followed practice to play the more unusual word (if the option is there) in an effort to draw a challenge, for example, playing 'STYGIAN'(which means gloomy) instead of 'STAYING'. 

OK, so now it's time for a quiz: which of the following words are acceptable in the current scrabble dictionary, and which aren't?

-QWERTYS

-DENOTER

-TEXTING

-ETESIAN

-OUGUIYA

-MOLTAGE

-KYLIKES

-GOMERIL

-FLINTER

-OUTYELP

I'll post the answers in a comment later.

B is for BINGO!

It's time again for the ABC Wednesday entry, where I try and cover some of the basics of competitive scrabble, while somehow trying to relate it to the current letter of the week...actually it's Thursday eve as I post this! Where does the week go?



When I say 'bingo', I'm not talking about the popular game of chance often found in church meeting halls. A bingo, in scrabble, is when a player is able to use all of their tiles in one turn, for which they are awarded an additional 50 points. It may not surprise you to know that in most cases, the player who is able to 'bingo' the most in a game is the player who will win. Better players are able to bingo an average of 2 or more times per game. In a recent record-breaking game, a player actually played all his tiles in 8 out of 9 of his turns! 


For most casual players, though, the idea of playing all of one's tiles seems like an unreachable goal. Fear not, though, it's not as difficult as you might think! Here's a few tips for getting there:


1. Start out with the assumption that there may actually be a word contained on your rack. The first hurdle to get over is to even look for longer words- there are plenty of ordinary words that you may not ever see, simply because you didn't try. Add to that the open letters on the board with which to play through, and there are unlimited possibilities. 


2. Look for common letter combinations. The most obvious of these is if you have ING on your rack. There are 3,628 ING words alone (made of 7 or 8 letters, and good in scrabble), so chances are you may be able to spot one. There are plenty other common 2 and 3 letter combos, which I'm sure you can figure out.


3. Balance your rack.  Balancing your rack means keeping a good blend of consonants and vowels, and not keeping too many high point tiles at once. The better you get at doing this, the more often you'll be able to bingo. I'll talk more about this in a future post.


4. Study words! Ok, most people may not be at the point where they're actually going to learn new words for the sake of playing scrabble. If you aren't there, you may just find it fun to write down all the letters from each turn and then after you play, use an anagram generator (a website that will find words for you) to look and see if you missed anything. If you are ready to study words for the sake of scrabble, you can do a search for 'high probability bingos' and find dozens of lists to start learning. The top of most of these lists will feature words that can be formed from the letters AEISNT or AEIRST.  
       


I'm going to close out with a few examples of bingos- click on the links below and see if you can find the answers before hitting the 'Forward' button.


Example 1

Example 2

Example 3

A is for AA

It's time again for the ABC Wednesday entry, where I try and cover some of the basics of competitive scrabble, while somehow trying to relate it to the current letter of the week...

AA may look like a typing error, but it is actually a word. Pronounced 'ah-ah', it is a type of lava.
This brings up two important topics related to crossing over from becoming a 'living room' player to a competitive scrabble player:
1. Getting past the "that can't be a word because I've never seen it before" syndrome.
This is the most commonly heard sentiment from people who are just starting to play with higher level players. While there are many archaic, scientific, and otherwise unheard-in-normal-conversation words, the basis of their inclusion in the Scrabble dictionary is that they were found in one of the major dictionaries that exist. In fact, there's even a 'dictionary committee' if you'd like to take up a complaint. So just because you've never seen AA (or heard it, for that matter) doesn't mean it isn't a word. Instead of complaining about it, learn it and use it against your next opponent. When your family members decide to stop playing you, you can find plenty of places online that will give you competition.

2. Learning the 2 letter words is the first step to becoming a better scrabble player.

I did a quick search, and this site, while slightly dated, gives a pretty good overview of the 101 'twos'. I've read that learning the twos can actually raise your score by an average of 100 points. Who knows if this is accurate, but you'll definitely be able to play more overlapping words, which is one of the key ways to score more per turn. For example, if your opponent opens up with RETAINS, and you have AAEIMNT on your rack, you could play AMENTIA above it, creating 7 two letter words. Assuming you know the word AMENTIA, that is. Of course, more often it will be finding a spot to hook that last letter in your cool word so that it has a place to go on the board.
OK, here's a few more interesting A words:
lowest probability (7 letters): ASPHYXY asphyxia (unconsciousness caused by lack of oxygen)
longest scrabble word to contain 5 As: ANAGRAMMATICAL (ironically)
other interesting AA words:
BAA (to bleat) and AAL (an east Indian shrub) (good to know after you play AA and want to 'hook' another word to the front or end of it)
AALII a tropical tree
AAHING to exclaim in amazement, joy, or surprise
AARRGHH interjection used to express disgust (also AARGH and AARRGH) These ones come in handy for other reasons, also.

Z is for Zyzzyva

I recently decided to start participating in a fun blog project that involves posts featuring the sequential letters of the alphabet.

So, for the time being, on Wednesdays I'll be blogging with a focus on certain letters, as well as talking a little about some of the basics of competitive scrabble. Stay tuned!

Zyzzyva is the most widely used word study program (as far as I know) when it comes to tournament scrabble players. Anytime you see words listed here, they are likely generated via the Zyzzyva program. As you may imagine, there are a lot of smart people who play competitive scrabble. (Yes, even smarter than me. I know, it's hard to believe.) So it goes to reason that there are more than a few computer programmers out there who have come up with useful software and websites to study words, analyze games, and even track tournament performance and rankings. I'll highlight some of these in other months when the right letter shows up.

The word zyzzyva itself (pronounced [ziz-uh-vuh], in case you were wondering) means 'a tropical weevil', and has the distinction of being the last word in the scrabble dictionary, as well as the least probable 7 letter word in scrabble. I'm pretty certain it has never been played in an official club or tournament game, as there would be much talk of it in the scrabble email list and blog world. (Yes, such a thing does exist.) It's so unlikely to be played because you would need the Z, both blank tiles, and both Y's to play it.
But let's get to some more Z words...

ZZZ used to suggest the sound of snoring [interj] This word was added the most recent edition of the scrabble dictionary. Not that it will ever be played by anyone, for the same reasons listed above.

ZA a pizza [n] This word was also added to the most recent edition, and is probably the most played Z word in scrabble. If you catch the triple letter score space right, you can score 60+ points for it.

ZANIEST and ZEATINS (a chemical compound found in maize) are the two most probable 7 letter "Z" words. In fact, the letters AEINST can be combined with every letter except J, Q, and Y to form a scrabble word. (more on that another time.)

A few of my favorite 4 letter "Z" scrabble words: ZOEA (a larval form of certain crustaceans), ZEBU (an asian ox), and ZORI (a type of sandal).

ZEE is the word which means the letter Z.

And to finish off, two awesome Z extension words (playable in scrabble if one word was already on the board):

ZWITTERIONIC and ZEPTOSECOND! A zeptosecond is a apparently a little longer than a yoctosecond. Thanks for reading.

Y is for YES!

Another blogger recently left some comments on my blog and turned me on to ABC Wednesday, a fun interactive blog that goes through the alphabet and encourages people to post on whatever the relative letter happens to be that particular week... 

A blog that focuses on words and letters? YES! Sign me up! So for as many Wednesdays as I'm able, I'll be focusing on whatever letter is featured that week, from a scrabble point of view. 

So here are a few Y-related words and their definitions, all of which are 'good' (good, in scrabble terms, means acceptable according to the TWL, or Tournament Word List):

WYE  the letter Y [n] (anagram= YEW)  Most of the letters have a word form to them, my favorite being H. But you'll have to wait a few weeks for that one.

SYZYGY the configuration of the earth, moon, and sun lying in a straight line.[n] This is the shortest good word that uses three Y's.  also SYZYGAL and SYZYGIAL (adj)

YA you [pron] is the first Y word in the scrabble dictionary. Incidentally, learning all the legit two letter scrabble words is considered to be the first step to becoming a scrabble addict, er, I mean, improving your score.

YWIS certainly [adv] is the last word. It's an alternate spelling of IWIS. 

There are a few other Y words that are also like this (in that there isn't a vowel after the Y):

YCLAD clothed [adj]

YCLEPED or YCLEPT called; named [adj]

YLEM hypothetical matter from which elements are derived [n]

YPERITE a poisonous gas [n]

YTTERBIA and YTTRIA a chemical compound [n]

YTTRIUM a metallic element [n]

and finally, I'm going to list what scrabble players call an 'extension', which is a word that you would only be able to play in scrabble by extending an existing word on the board:

YOCTOSECOND!!!!!

according to google, it's one septillionth of a second. It is now my dream to be able to play this word during a scrabble game.

Thank you for spending quite a few yoctoseconds if you've made it this far down the page.