crunkswagga ftw
Someone needs to go out and buy ABC’s Charlie Gibson a Scrabble dictionary – and a copy of the rules of Scrabble. Lil Wayne pulls a fast one, uses TEN tiles, and places crunkswagga for a cool 73 points. In case you are curious, crunkswagga is defined as “A crazy drunk gangsta.”
I would pay money to see Lil Wayne take on Shaq.
Boost Your Scrabble Scores by Playing Parallel Words
When I first started playing Scrabble as a kid, my games were always the same. Someone places a word, and your next play had to go in the opposite direction: build off the beginning letter, the ending letter, or cross the word.
I would imagine many novice players build words the exact same way. However, now that you know all the two-letter words allowed in Scrabble, it’s time to boost your scores by playing parallel words!
What are parallel words?
Instead of “switching directions” when building words, place your tiles in the same direction, and overlap as much as you can. By playing words parallel to each other, you can make multiple words – for multiple points.
Examples of parallel words
It’s the first play of the game, and your opponent has played end. Your rack isn’t great: aadenoq. Not much here, let’s just dump dead or dean for 6 points and move on, right? If we think parallel, however, there’s quite a few options.
In Option 1, if we overlap on the e, you can build two words: dean and ne (9 points). Not bad, but better than 6 points. That play does, however, leave an easy build to the triple word score. Let’s keep looking.
In Option 2, we can overlap and make three words: nada, de and an (12 points). Much better, but you use all your a’s (great for building qat or qaid with your q). Can we do even better?
In Option 3, we’ve found the highest scoring play by playing four words: dean, de, ad and an. Factoring in the two double-word scores, we end up with a final total of 16 points – 10 more than our first option.
The sky’s the limit
In my examples I used low-point tiles to show the principle of parallel words, but imagine the damage you can do with some of the high-point tiles. And don’t stop with four words in one play – I have been the victim of a six-word play (but thankfully, never a parallel bingo).
Good Scrabbling!
Scrabble NOM NOM
Snacking has always been an integral part of the board game experience, so it’s my sacred duty to report Kellogg’s has released a Scrabble Junior version of their Cheez-It snack crackers.
I will admit right up front that I hate Cheez-It crackers. I am suspicious of any food that deliberately misspells a word, and doubly so if that substitution is a Z for an S. And to be even more honest, the last thing I think when I eat these crackers is “Man, this really tastes like cheese!”
However, there are plenty of people that do like these “cheeze” crackers, and I can definitely see the NOM NOM potential. Now you know …
Thanks Slashfood for the heads-up!
Link Dump for February 23
In this edition: a story from Origami Boulders; Scrabble makes the police blotter; Hasbro FAIL; the Scrabble Flickr group; and the combined Scrabble score world record falls in Arizona.
Backyard Scrabble
A couple in Ohio like Scrabble so much, they built an 8-foot outdoor Scrabble board in their backyard.
Link Dump of the Week
Just some of the assorted links I stumbled across during the week of February 6 – 13.
Improve your Scrabble Game with Two-Letter Words
Most beginner Scrabble players think the key to being a successful player is a mastery of every word in the dictionary. However, it’s the smallest words than may yield the biggest points.
Continue reading "Improve your Scrabble Game with Two-Letter Words"
