If you are ready to take your Scrabble game to the next level, WordsRated has highlighted some key techniques you can incorporate into your game to put you ahead of the competition!
- Beginner players are encouraged to make use of the highest value letters and place words on premium letter squares.
- Using prefixes and/or suffixes to existing words can be a great way to reuse previous tiles played by other players when playing from a difficult rack.
- Blocking the opponent from landing on premium squares can also be a great strategy to prevent other players from scoring high.
- At an intermediate level, players should start to learn how to balance their rack, make use of challenges and master playing parallel words.
- Bingos of at least 7-letters can also be played to gain a helpful 50 point bonus.
- Experienced Scrabble players can try counting letters and playing with a timer to prepare themselves for the challenges of tournament play.
- Players should make sure to play frequently to develop their skills, especially against opponents of a similar or higher level.
Beginner Scrabble strategies
There are a number of tips and tricks beginner Scrabble players can learn to improve their game right off the bat. Check out the list below and see if there are any strategies you can implement to surprise your opponents the next time you play!
High value letters
Certain Scrabble letters have much higher points values than others and using them can significantly increase your score. Try to learn longer words that feature these letters and if possible, place them on letter multiplier squares to reap the benefits.
Example: The five highest scoring letters in Scrabble
| Letter | Points | Number of tiles |
| J | 8 points | 1 |
| K | 5 points | 1 |
| Q | 10 points | 1 |
| X | 8 points | 1 |
| Z | 10 points | 1 |
Premium letter squares
During a game of Scrabble, players will have the option to place letters on various premium squares (letter or word multipliers). As a general rule, aim to place higher value letters on letter multipliers and higher value words on top of word multipliers. Landing on multiple premium squares in one turn is an even greater way to see your scores skyrocket!
Example:
[T] [R] [A] [C] [T] [O] [R]
- TRACTOR (normal score: 9 points)
- TRACTOR (normal score plus triple letter for “C”: 15 points)
- TRACTOR (triple word score: 27 points)
- TRACTOR (triple word score plus triple letter for “C”: 45 points)
Blocking the opponent
Knowing that letter multiplier squares are highly valuable, it can be a great strategy to avoid letting other players access these on their turn. To do so, make sure any new words you place have difficult letters placed in the same row or column as unused multipliers, so that other players cannot make the most of them.
Prefixes and suffixes
Commonly used prefixes and suffixes can be used at the beginning and end of existing words on the board. These can help you re-use points from previously used words and can be a great option when you are out of other ideas.
Example:
[D] [I] [S] [P] [L] [A] [Y] [E] [D]
- PLAY (9 points)
- DISPLAYED (16 points)
Regular play
As with any word game or hobby, regular practice is a sure-fire way to improve your skill level. Whether playing against fellow beginners or masters of the game, see each game as an opportunity to get better at the game.
As you play Scrabble, it can be beneficial to have a good understanding of your vocabulary level so you can notice how it improves with regular play. Furthermore, try not to focus too much on winning or losing as a beginner, instead focusing on the quality of words you are able to make.
Intermediate Scrabble strategies
After passing the beginner stage, players should now be very familiar with the principles of the game and also able to achieve solid average scores. Despite this, there are still some key strategies that need to be mastered to become a more well-rounded player.
Balanced rack
Typically players should aim to keep a healthy balance of consonants and vowels on their rack to give them the best chance of forming longer words. Players could try to use unwanted letters in combination with letters already on the board, saving preferential letters for words of longer lengths. If really stuck, players can instead choose to swap letters, skipping a turn.
Example of a good rack:
[A] [E] [I] [N] [T] [R] [S]
- This features a great balance of common vowels and consonants that can combine well with each other as well as the other words on the board.
- The inclusion of the letter S makes it easy to pluralize any word already on the board before making a word using the S itself.
- Using this rack, even beginner players should be able to form a large number of words.
Example of a bad rack:
[J] [Q] [O] [U] [V] [X] [Y]
- The consonants used are harder to use in combination with other letters.
- The vowels listed are less common than other vowels.
- With this rack, players are likely to make poor plays, exchange tiles and skip turns.
Earn a bingo
A bingo (otherwise known as bonus or Scrabble) is a special scenario in Scrabble upon which a player successfully uses all of the 7-letters in their rack in one turn to earn a 50 point bonus. You will be able to score high even when using low scoring letters if the opportunity arises for you to earn a bingo!
Example:
[C] [H] [E] [M] [I] [S] [T] [S]
- CHEMISTS (standard score: 15)
- CHEMISTS (standard score plus bingo: 65 points)
Use challenges
A great way to strengthen your position in the game is to use challenges if you think one of your opponents has played a word on the board that isn’t part of the Scrabble dictionary. If this is the case, challenging them will force them to prove that the word is accepted and if not, they will be forced to retract their word and miss a turn. Be careful though, if the word is found to be accepted, you will lose your turn instead.
Parallel words
When playing a new word, sometimes it is possible to form multiple words at the same time when words are formed in parallel to a word already on the board. In these special circumstances, it is possible for the player to gain points from the current word played as well as its additional words.
Example:
[Q] [U] [O] [T] [E]
[I] [N]
- IN (2 points)
- QI (11 points)
- UN (2 points)
- Total score = 15 points
Play higher ranked players
Although it can be tempting to keep playing lower or similarly ranked players in matches you have a better chance of winning, the real benefits will come from playing in games where you are the weaker player. When playing against higher ranked players, try to observe how they approach each turn and different game situations so you can implement these elements into your game.
Advanced Scrabble strategies
If your Scrabble game is already above average, a couple of small tweaks to your game could help improve your decision making and enable you to play high scoring words with even more consistency than you do at present.
Count letters
Similar to counting cards in card games, players can try to keep track of the letter tiles already played in a game of Scrabble. Fortunately, all letters played are constantly shown on the board, so you can always have some indication as to what is left on the racks of other players or in the bag.
Learn shorter words
Another great way to get you out of a tricky situation is to memorize as many of the accepted shorter words as possible. Even if your rack may seem impossible to work with, these shorter words can be used even when there is little space on the board and are particularly beneficial if they include the highest value letters.
We suggest trying to memorize the 127 two-letter words first by splitting words into various categories. Once you have eventually got these nailed down, start working on the three-letter word list to really round-off your overall Scrabble game.
Practice time management
When it comes to tournament play, most Scrabble tournaments will make use of a timer which must be adhered to by each player. Due to this, advanced players should always practice to a clock, to improve their word-making ability under pressure.
Start by playing a game and restricting yourself to a more generous time limit and over time, you can start to reduce the total number of seconds allowed. The trick here is to make sure the point scores of your words do not suffer too greatly as you decrease your time limit.
How to cheat at Scrabble
If you are still getting to grips with the game and are struggling to score big on each turn, why not try out a cheat tool such as WordsRated’s Word Finder? To use the tool, simply enter the letters available in your rack into the “letters” field and any potential combination letters from the board into the “includes” field.
Once your letters have been entered, click on “find words” to be provided with a list of playable words for you to use in your next turn. For the best experience, we suggest using the tool as a trusty companion while you get to grips with the game in uncompetitive matches, before entering competitive games where they are not permitted.