In 1931 Alfred Butts translated his lifelong love of crossword puzzles into a board game. A key to the game was Butts' analysis of the English language. Butts studied the front page of The New York Times to calculate how frequently each letter of the alphabet was used. He then used each letter's frequency to determine how many of each letter he would include in the game. He included only four "S" tiles so that the ability to make words plural would not make the game too easy.

HISTORY OF SCRABBLE

HISTORY OF SCRABBLE

Butts initially called the game "Lexiko", but later changed the name to "Criss Cross Words", after considering "It", and began to look for a buyer. The game makers he originally contacted rejected the idea, but Butts was tenacious. Eventually, he sold the rights to entrepreneur and game-lover James Brunot, who made a few minor adjustments to the design and renamed the game "Scrabble", a word meaning "to grope frantically" (from the Dutch "Schrabben", to scrape or scratch)

The Official

Scrabble Board Design

Key:2×LS = Double letter score3×LS= Triple letter score2×WS / ★ = Double word score3×WS = Triple word score

Scrabble Board is composed of 225 squares and 100 tiles. It can

be played by two or more person.

POINTS PER LETTER

BEFORE THE GAME

Player’s Turns. Put all letter tiles into the tile

bag or any suitable container.

Draw for the first play. The player

drawing the letter nearest the

beginning of the alphabet plays

first. A blank supersedes all other

tiles. Return the tiles into the bag

and reshuffle. Each player draws 7

tiles and places them on his/her

track. Turn of players follow

clockwise.

Word Judge. To decide word challenges, a

word judge is elected by the players

who may be one of them. He or she

may also act as the scorekeeper

who keeps a tally of each player’s

score, entering it after each turn.

BEFORE THE GAME

BEFORE THE GAME

Dictionary. Before the game begins,

the players must first agree

on the dictionary to be used

in settling challenges on

what words to allow or not

to allow.

PLAYING THE GAME

Start of Play. The first player forms a word

with two or more of his/her

letters and positions it on the

board to read across or down with

one letter on the center (MB) square.

Placing a word diagonally on the board

is not allowed.

PLAYING THE GAME

Completing a Turn. A player

completes a turn by

counting and

announcing the score for the

turn. The player then draws as

many letter tiles as played,

thus, always keeping 7

letters on his/her track.

PLAYING THE GAME

Subsequent Turns. Play proceeds to

the left. The second player,

and then each in turn, adds

one or more letters to

those already played to

form new words. All letters

played on a turn must be

placed in one row across or

down the board to form

one complete word.

PLAYING THE GAME

Forming New Words.New words may be formed by:

-Adding one or more letters to a word or letters already on the board.

- placing a word at right angles to word already on the board. The new word must use one of the letters already on the board or add a letter to it.

- placing a complete word parallel to a word already played so that adjacent letters also form complete words.

PLAYING THE GAME

Blank Tiles. The two blank tiles

may be used as any

letters. When playing a

blank, the player must

state which letter it represents.

It remains that latter for

the rest of the game.

PLAYING THE GAME

Replacing Tiles. Any player may use his or her

turn to replace any or all of the tiles

in his/her rack, discarding them face

down, drawing the same number of

new tiles from the bag, and mixing

the discarding tiles with those

remaining in the bag. Replacing tiles

is considered a turn and the score is

zero.

PLAYING THE GAME

Passing. A player may voluntarily miss a turn.

Instead of placing tiles on the board or

replacing tiles, a player may also

decide to pass whether or not he/she I

s able to make a word or words.

Passing a turn scores zero.

PLAYING THE GAME

Challenge. Any word may be a challenged before

the next player starts a turn. If the word

challenged is unacceptable, the

challenged player takes back his/her letter tiles,

loses that turn and scores zero. If the word

challenged is acceptable, the score is

entered and the game continues with no

penalty to the challenger.

Turn Score. The score of each turn is the sum of

the letter values in each word formed or

modified on that turn plus the additional

points obtained from placing letters on premium

squares. The score value of each letter is

indicated by the number at the bottom of the

tile. The score value of a blank is zero.

SCORING THE GAME

SCORING THE GAME

Premium Letter Squares. The premium letter

square “DOUBLE LETTER SCORE”

doubles the value of the letter placed on

it, and “TRIPLE LETTER SCORE” triples the

value of the letter placed on it.

SCORING THE GAME

Premium Word Squares. The premium square “DOUBLE WORD SCORE”

doubles the score of the word when one of the letters is placed

on it, and “TRIPLE WORD SCORE” triples the score of the word

when one of its letters is placed on it. Count LETTER premiums if

any, before doubling or tripling the WORD score. If a word is

formed that covers TWO double word squares, the score is

doubled then redoubled (4 times word score). If a word is

formed that covers TWO triple word squares, the score is triple then

retripled (9 times word score).

SCORING THE GAME

Pearly Twins. The two blanks by

themselves have no score value

but when a blank is played on a

premium word square, the value of

the word is doubled or tripled as

indicated.

SCORING THE GAME

Multiple Score. When two or

more words are formed in

the same play, each is

scored. The common letter

is counted with full

premium value, if any, for each

word.

SCORING THE GAME

Bingo Score. Any player who plays 7

tiles on a turn, scores a

bonus of 50 points added to

the total of his/her score for

the turn.

-The game ends when all the tiles have been drawn and one of the players has used all the tiles in his/her rack. The game also ends when all possible plays have been made or all players have passed twice in a consecutive turns.

ENDING THE GAME

-At game’s end, each player’s score is reduced by the sum of his/her rack unplayed letters. In addition, if a player used all tiles on his/her rack, the sum of the other players’ unplayed letters is added to that player’s score.

ENDING THE GAME

-The player with the highest final score WINS the game. Players who tie for the highest final score shall equally be considered as winners (DRAW).

ENDING THE GAME