No doubt about it, Scrabble is one of America's favorite games. But it's also rut-prone. If you're a competitive player and you typically score in the high 300s or more, you probably know all those two and three letter words, but do you actually know what "qi," "xi," and "jo" mean? And even if you do, don't you sometimes get tired of putting down an "xu" on a premium square just to rack up points, even though you have a cool word like "exude" on your rack?
So what's a player to do? Is making up your own rules heresy? Of course not. By agreeing to vary the rules for a game or two, you and your playing partner can break out of those ruts. The new rules might force you to look for longer words and avoid the same old high-scoring strategies. When you go back to the "real" rules, you just might find that your vocabulary is bigger and you score higher than ever before.
So if you're in a Scrabble rut, it's time to get out. Here are some variations.
Long-Words Scrabble
No doubt about it, in competitive play, one of the ways to rack up points is to stack up the two- and three-letter words, and put high-scoring letters on premium squares, preferably using them in two directions and making three or more words at a time. But this discourages players from using the cool words they've found in favor of "ex" and "xi" and "jo" and "za" and "zit" and and "qat" (all acceptable words, according to the Scrabble Dictionary). In long-words Scrabble, players must put down at least three tiles, and they must form at least a four-letter word. If they can't, they have to pass or trade letters.
Note: This can get impossible at the end, so one way to deal with the final rounds, where it is almost always impossible to find four letter words for every turn, is to allow short words after the tile bag is empty. You can also agree to have one, two or three "passes" for a player during the game, so if players really do have the opportunity to put the letter Z down on a triple-square and count it twice by making two short words, they can use a pass to do so. But don't be too quick to loosen the rules; some players find that the tighter the restrictions, the more creative they get.
Another variation of long-words Scrabble is to add points for long words: add 5 points for a four-letter word, 10 for a five-letter word, 20 for a six-letter word, and of course a seven-letter word gets 50 points.
Vocabulary Scrabble
Use any word you want, but you have to know the meaning. You can also play this like a challenge: each player has five challenges available for use during a game. When your partner puts down that "jo" you can challenge him to tell you what it means. If he doesn't know, he loses the points. (Hint: a "jo" is a sweetheart, and yes, it can take a plural, but the plural needs an "es".) This is an especially good variation for playing with children, because it builds their vocabulary.
Scrabble on a curve
This simply means changing the scoring system to handicap adults playing with children or super-competitive players, like Grandpa Bob who has a PhD in semiotics. Depending on the ability differential, you can double the child's score, give the less experienced player a 50-point handicap, or require the more experienced player to only play long-words Scrabble. The point is to make the game fun and challenging for everybody.
Another way to level the playing field (or board, as the case may be) is to play in teams, with one adult and one child on one team, and another adult and child on another. To shake things up even more, you can allow the child to trade from a partner's rack a certain number of times per game.
Speed Scrabble
Tired of playing with Aunt Sally who always takes 10 minutes to find the seven-letter word she is sure is there and then gives up and puts down something like "cat"? Put a timer on her. Try 20 to 30 seconds a player. Another advantage to this variation is a game won't take an hour; you'll be done in more like 15 to 20 minutes. This is a great variation for would-be competitive players. Competition games are timed, so it gets you used to thinking fast and playing under a bit of stress
There are endless ways to shake things up on a Scrabble board. Try these variations or come up with your own, but remember that when you are playing with "normal" players you have to go back to the "real" rules. When you do, you'll probably find you've become a much better Scrabble player.
Karen Berger - Karen Berger is the author of 15 books. Please click on her name to read her full bio.
