6 Best Tricks to Win Your Next Scrabble Game
Scrabble is a logical game that also runs on probability. It gives you a little time to make a strategy, so you might need to improve your vocabulary to improve your skills.
It is one of the most popular board games you can enjoy online and offline with friends and families. Things go intense when you find someone competitive, and this fun game turns into a competition.
Here are some tips that can improve your skill in Scrabble.
1) Play More
One of the best ways to improve your strategy and vocabulary is by playing as many games as possible. You should try to play against different players to see their strategies and learn new words.
Luck is a primary aspect of Scrabble, so you do not need to be sad if your first opponents beat you soundly. Keep going and learn new strategies and words.
2) Be Smart
You do not need to work hard every time. Sometimes smart work can also do the trick. Instead of opening Google to search for words, you can use a Scrabble word-finder or a dictionary tool for better and quick results.
You can check Scrabble words with 7-12 letters, starting with odd letters like Q, Y, Z, etc. You will love these tools more if you are playing for fun only and do not want to enter a competition.
3) Improve your Basics
The basics of the Scrabble game are studying and remembering two and three-letter words. We often think that these smaller words will be easy, but that is not the case. These also help a lot when you try to match parallel keys. Looking for outstanding parallel keys is another basic you might want to learn to win Scrabble.
4) Practice Hooks
What are Hooks? These are single letters you can add to existing words to make a new word. For instance,
- You can add Y to luck, pick, to make new words,
- You can add B to Lush, G to host, and T to come to make new words(Blush, Ghost, Comet)
One of the most effective hooks to look for are e, y, r, and d. You can place these hooks at the end of the words to make new words like the plane, handy, tamed, tamer, iced, smelly, and more.
5) Learn as Many Q-Without-U Words as You Can
The letter Q and Z are the highest scoring scrabble words. However, the words with the letter Q almost always have the letter U at their end. Scrabble only has four U tiles. So, what to do with Q words?
You can remember these words that you can also pluralize by adding S in the end.
- Qabala,
- Qadi,
- Faqir,
- Qintar,
- Sheqel,
- Qoph,
- Mbaqanga.
You can also see this list of more words with the letter Q but not U.
6) Practice Compound Words
My English teacher always asked me about examples of compound words. You might not remember them as clearly as I have. Compound words are two words combined to make a single word.
These compound words can be open, closed, or hyphenated. Here are some examples to clarify things.
- Peanut butter, Ice cream, Real estate, high school (Open Compound Words),
- Snowball, Grandmother, Sometimes, Inside, Upstream (Closed Compound Words),
- Check-in, Father-in-law, Long-term, Up-to-date, Two-fold (Hyphenated Compound Words).
You can always do a vocabulary run as soon as your opponent plays a word. You can try to add a word to its beginning or at the end to make a new word. Remembering some compound words that come in handy during this time.
Your opponent will think that you could only add a single letter like S, D, and R at the end of their word. But, if you take their word as a compound word, you can extend it over a triple way. They will not see this move coming. You can also play at the back and front of a word in the same turn. You could win two double-word scores if you successfully do that.
Wrapping Up
The most important thing to win any game is to learn the basics thoroughly and practice them as much as you can. You can improve in Scrabble by mastering the two and three-letter words.
Using specific tools to learn and memorize difficult words is also a great option. I suggest not to use Google that much because these tools can give you answers more quickly and accurately.
