Scrabble General Questions. Scabble Board Game FAQ

How can I improve my SCRABBLE game skills?

Learn the 96 two-letter words, as well as the three-letter words that can be formed from these two-letter words by adding a letter either to the front or back (ex: ya, pya, rya, yah, yak, yam, yap, yar, yaw, yay). By learning and taking advantage of these few hundred words you will probably increase your scores at least 50 points per game. Also, read Everything SCRABBLE®, published by pocket books, isbn 0-671-86686-9, written by Joe Edley, two-time national SCRABBLE champion, and John D. Williams, Jr., executive director of the National SCRABBLE Association. This is the only current all-purpose book that can take a novice or intermediate player to a higher plateau of skills. This book has many strategy hints, word lists, puzzles, methods for finding seven- and eight -letter words quickly, examples of master SCRABBLE play and more!

What is the total face value of all the Scrabble tiles?Scrabble letter distribution is as follows:

A-9, B-2, C-2, D-4, E-12, F-2, G-3, H-2, I-9, J-1, K-1, L-4, M-2, N-6, O-8, P-2, Q-1, R-6, S-4, T-6, U-4, V-2, W-2, X-1, Y-2, Z-1 and Blanks-2.

Total face point value is 187.
There are 225 squares on a Scrabble board.
Point value is as follows:

(1 point)-A, E, I, O, U, L, N, S, T, R
(2 points)-D, G
(3 points)-B, C, M, P
(4 points)-F, H, V, W, Y
(5 points)-K
(8 points)- J, X
(10 points)-Q, Z

How many of each letter tile is included in a Scrabble game?
Scrabble tile letter distribution is as follows:

A-9 B-2 C-2 D-4 E-12 F-2 G-3 H-2 I-9 J-1 K-1 L-4 M-2 N-6 O-8 P-2 Q-1 R-6 S-4 T-6 U-4 V-2 W-2 X-1 Y-2 Z-1 Blank-2

Is there an "official" dictionary for SCRABBLE Players?
Yes, Merriam-Webster's Official SCRABBLE® Players Dictionary, 3rd Edition (OSPD3). For club and tournament play, it is the Official Tournament and Club Word List (OWL), also published by Merriam-Webster, Inc. It is derived from the Official SCRABBLE® Players Dictionary, Edition and The Official SCRABBLE® Players Dictionary, Third 3rd Edition, supplemented with nine-letter words and their inflected forms taken from Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, Tenth 10th Edition. This book contains words only, no definitions or part-of-speech labels, and includes all inflected forms spelled out in full.

I looked up a legitimate word using the SCRABBLE online dictionary
and it wasn't there. Why not?
The SCRABBLE online dictionary offers only words found in the The Official Scrabble Players Dictionary, Fourth Edition. The Official Scrabble Players Dictionary lists over 100,000 playable two- to eight-letter words. For a word to be included in The Official SCRABBLE Players Dictionary, it must be found in two of the five most popular American dictionaries.

Additionally, The Official Scrabble Players Dictionary lists shorter words and longer words are included as inflections of the shorter word. The SCRABBLE online dictionary is only able to search the shorter listings. For example, searching for FOCUS in our online dictionary will also turn up FOCUSED and FOCUSING, but searching for either of the longer words will turn up no results.