A Few Effective Scrabble Strategies

Whether you are someone who morphs into a ruthless and fiercely competitive word fanatic or someone who is just in it to win it (with a bit of fun on the side), there are some amazing strategies you can use to almost always win a game of Scrabble.

Though there is a strong element of chance any time you play, there are ways to counteract the difficulties that “chance” throws your way. Let’s consider some of the most effective Scrabble strategies used by experts, masters and “must win” players:

• The Official Scrabble Players’ Dictionary – No, don’t try to memorize it, but do take the following, recommended terms to heart: AA, OOGONIUM, QANAT, SIBILATE, CWM, XYSTER, EXEQUY, and HORDEOLA…Do you see a common theme here? Difficult, seemingly artificial words, each of them also appears in the OSPD and are on the Official Word List or OWL. There are thousands of others, but this list lets you use Q without U, X and Y in one word and even double A’s. It is great to memorize such obscure terms, and you will want to peruse the word lists to find a few favorites of your own, as well.
• Master Two and Three Letter Words – that include a large number of two and three letter words. It is a very effective strategy to have them on hand, especially as you reach endgame and may be left with some unusual odds and ends. Some very useful two letter options for higher point tiles include XU, AX, OX and XI among others.
• Memorize Many Q Words – Remember, you will want Q without U words and also a nice array of Q without E words. Just consider, you will be hit with ten points for the Q and Z tiles, but can eliminate them with words like ZA, QI, QAT, QIS, ZEP or ZAX.
• Know Suffixes and Prefixes – Sure, you can get some points for pluralizing, but really amp up your play by adding powerful suffixes and prefixes. A good list of suffixes would include -CY, -ITY, -AL, -ENT, -LY, -IEST, -FUL, -ITE and -TION (and that is in addition to -ED, -ER and -ING). The potent prefixes will include IN-, UN-, RE-, EX-, NON-, MIS-, PRE-, and TRI-.
• 100% Vowels – Also memorize the accepted words that are made entirely of vowels, they include AA, AE, AI, EAU, OE, OI.

These simple strategies can help you really gain a serious edge when playing Scrabble.