- Scrabble is ranked as 2nd best-selling modern board game of all time.
- An estimated 150 million Scrabble sets have been sold around the world.
- Around 33% of homes in the United States own a copy of Scrabble.
- However in Great Britain this is much higher, at 53%.
- Every day, around 720,000 Scrabble games are started, which amounts to 30,000 games an hour, 500 games per minute or 8.33 games per second.
- Using the Tournament Word List (TWL), there are 107 playable 2-letter words in Scrabble.
- However, Collins Scrabble Words (CSW) lists an additional 21 playable 2-letter words (totaling 128).
- Drawing letters for the first turn gives a 12.50% chance of forming a 7-letter word.
- The most expensive Scrabble set has a valuation of over $30,000 and is able to read and share the entire board to online viewers instantly using RFID technology.
- With such a huge number of regular players, approximately 4,000 Scrabble clubs are known to be in existence worldwide.
Scrabble letter distributions and values
Originally, the creator of the Scrabble board game decided on letter counts and their values by performing a letter frequency analysis on the New York Times, alongside other sources. Players should be aware that when finding words in Scrabble, the most common letters in the alphabet are more frequent and have lower values, while uncommon alphabet letters are rare in the game and as such, worth more.
For English-language games:
- Blank letters are the only tile with no value.
- “Q” and “Z” are the letters with the highest value, valued at 10 points each.
- “E” is the most common letter in the game, with 12 tiles.
- “J”, “K”, “Q”, “X” and “Z” are the least common letters, with 1 tile each.
- In total, there are 100 tiles in English scrabble but different language variations have varied letter counts and values.
| Letter | Count | Value |
| (blank) | 2 | 0 |
| A | 9 | 1 |
| B | 2 | 3 |
| C | 2 | 3 |
| D | 4 | 2 |
| E | 12 | 1 |
| F | 2 | 4 |
| G | 3 | 2 |
| H | 2 | 4 |
| I | 9 | 1 |
| J | 1 | 8 |
| K | 1 | 5 |
| L | 4 | 1 |
| M | 2 | 3 |
| N | 6 | 1 |
| O | 8 | 1 |
| P | 2 | 3 |
| Q | 1 | 10 |
| R | 6 | 1 |
| S | 4 | 1 |
| T | 6 | 1 |
| U | 4 | 1 |
| V | 2 | 4 |
| W | 2 | 4 |
| X | 1 | 8 |
| Y | 2 | 4 |
| Z | 1 | 10 |
If you are looking to find the best possible word for your next Scrabble turn, it’s time to check out WordsRated’s Word Finder. Simply enter the letters available to you from your rack alongside any board letters you wish to combine them with and click “search” to see a list of suggestions! Other similar games include Words With Friends and Scrabble GO.
Scrabble premium squares
When playing Scrabble, players often look to position their words on top of premium squares to boost to their point scores. It is advisable to place only the highest scoring letters on double or triple letter scores, while double or triple word scores should be utilized with the highest scoring of words.
- There are 4 kinds of premium squares in Scrabble, double letter, triple letter, double word and triple word.
- There are 24 double letter squares and they are more common than any other premium square.
- However, there are just 8 triple word squares, which is less than any other premium squares.
| Square | Color | Count | Value |
| Double letter | Old: Pale blue New: Blue | 24 | Doubles value of a letter |
| Triple letter | Old: Dark blue New: Green | 12 | Triples value of a letter |
| Double word (or star) | Old: Pink New: Red | 17 | Doubles value of a word |
| Triple word | Old: Dark red New: Orange | 8 | Triples value of a word |
World Scrabble Championship winners
The World Scrabble Championship is a tournament held in order to determine the World Champion in English-language Scrabble. From 1991 – 2013 it was held every other year. After 2013 it became an annual event, although no tournament was played during 2020 – 2022 due to Covid restrictions. Winners frequently earn a significant portion of the total prize pool.
- Nigel Richards has won the World Scrabble Championship 5 times, more than any other player.
- The only other player to have won the title multiple times is David Eldar, who won the title 2 times.
- Although the World Scrabble Championship has been won 19 times since 1991, only 14 different players have ever won the title.
- The title has been won 5 times by a player from New Zealand.
- American, English and Canadian players have each won the title 3 times.
| Year | Winner | Country |
| 1991 | Peter Morris | United States |
| 1993 | Mark Nyman | England |
| 1995 | David Boys | Canada |
| 1997 | Joel Sherman | United States |
| 1999 | Joel Wapnick | Canada |
| 2001 | Brian Cappelletto | United States |
| 2003 | Panupol Sujjayakorn | Thailand |
| 2005 | Adam Logan | Canada |
| 2007 | Nigel Richards | New Zealand |
| 2009 | Pakorn Nemitrmansuk | Thailand |
| 2011 | Nigel Richards | New Zealand |
| 2013 | Nigel Richards | New Zealand |
| 2014 | Craig Beevers | England |
| 2015 | Wellington Jighere | Nigeria |
| 2016 | Brett Smitheram | England |
| 2017 | David Eldar | Australia |
| 2018 | Nigel Richards | New Zealand |
| 2019 | Nigel Richards | New Zealand |
| 2023 | David Eldar | Australia |
Highest scoring word in Scrabble
- In 1982, Karl Khoshnaw of Kurdistan-Iraq played the word “CAZIQUES” which scored him 392 points.
- The word (a plural form of a bird from the oriole family) became and still remains the highest-scoring Scrabble move to date.
- In theory, the highest playable word would be “OXYPHENBUTAZONE” which requires a beyond extraordinary game situation and could gain a player 1,778 points.
Opinions towards Scrabble
While luck does play a factor in Scrabble by determining the order in which players take their turns and the letters they draw, a lot of skill is also needed in the game. As a general rule, players who have a larger vocabulary should fare better at the game. People who are skilled at anagrams should also score well, as well as those who understand the best ways to maximize scores through the optimal usage of premium squares.
| Opinion | Percentage |
| Game of skill | 76% |
| Game of luck | 9% |
| Don’t know / Other | 14% |
A graph is given below to compare opinions of Scrabble:
Scrabble rules
Scrabble is a board game that can be played between 2 – 4 players. The objective of the game is to score more points than the other players by placing words on a grid.
When starting the game, each player must take one letter tile out of the bag without looking. Whichever player has a blank tile will start the game, or alternatively the player with the closest letter to the letter “A”. The letters chosen will determine the order of play. Once decided, all letters are then placed back in the bag.
Before the first turn, each player should draw seven tiles from the bag. For subsequent turns, players should pull the number of letters needed to replenish their rack with seven letters, until the bag is empty. The first turn must be placed on the star square in the center of the board. On each turn, a player can either decide to play a word, exchange one or all of their letters or alternatively, pass their turn.
To score points, players must use the letter tiles provided to them to place words on a 15 x 15 board. Each letter has a corresponding points value which will be added together at the end of a turn. Letter and word scores can also be multiplied by special squares on the board, although each special square can only be used one time. Multiple words can even be formed in one turn, in which a player can re-use the standard letter scores from letters already placed.
If a player is able to use all of their seven letters on the board in one turn (known as a Bingo), they will receive a 50 point bonus. This is not applicable to end-game scenarios where players have a reduced number of letters on the rack.
The game will end when either:
- One player has used all their tiles and all tiles are gone from the bag.
- One player decides to pass their turn two times in a row.
At the end of the game, each player’s turn scores are added together and the player with the highest score wins the game.
Note: All words played must be accepted Scrabble words, according to the dictionary that is being used.
Average Scrabble scores
As with most board games, players of different levels demonstrate typical average scores. In Scrabble, experts typically score around 2 to 3 times as many points as beginner players. However, this can vary greatly depending on the number of players playing, alongside other game elements. Playing a 2-player game will usually result in higher scores than in 4-player games, as more game tiles are used by each player.
- Beginner:
- 2-players – 200 points per player.
- 3-players – 135 points per player.
- 4-players – 100 points per player.
- Intermediate:
- 2-players – 300 points per player.
- 3-players – 200 points per player.
- 4-players – 150 points per player.
- Advanced:
- 2-players – 400 points per player.
- 3-players – 265 points per player.
- 4-players – 200 points per player.
- Expert:
- 2-players – 450 points per player.
- 3-players – 300 points per player.
- 4-players – 225 points per player.
Scrabble Popularity
Up until the emergence of Wordle in 2022, Scrabble was the most popular word game played across the world. It’s popularity remains very high even today, trailing only Wordle:
- Since 2010, the peak popularity of Scrabble was in January 2012.
- The peak year for Scrabble over this period was 2011, as the popularity rose as the year progressed, peaking in early 2012.
- After 2011 and 2012, another peak in the game’s worldwide popularity came in 2020, which was an excellent year for games in general amid the pandemic outbreak and frequent lockdowns.
- As of 2023, the popularity of Scrabble remains at around 42% of the peak year 2011.
| Year | Average Scrabble popularity (based on Google Trends data) |
| 2010 | 38.00 |
| 2011 | 69.58 |
| 2012 | 65.00 |
| 2013 | 41.92 |
| 2014 | 25.42 |
| 2015 | 22.08 |
| 2016 | 21.50 |
| 2017 | 26.08 |
| 2018 | 35.83 |
| 2019 | 37.08 |
| 2020 | 47.17 |
| 2021 | 38.00 |
| 2022 | 32.75 |
| 2023 | 29.17 |
