Scrabble is commonly cited as being the world’s most popular word game. Truly, Scrabble is a popular board game played throughout the world on kitchen tables and in a thriving international tournament scene. Is it, however, accurate to describe Scrabble as a word game?

At face value, a bag of one hundred letter tiles with each player having racks of seven letters at a time from which to form words and place on the board, it may appear to be a word game. On a closer examination, one must question that common assumption.

If Scrabble was truly a word game, one could expect that the most expert players would be those players with the best linguistic skills. These would include authors, journalists, language professors and similar professions. The reality tells a different story. These occupations are a rarity amongst Scrabble players at the top of the international competitive ranks.

If you were to survey the participants at any of the biennial World Scrabble Championships, you would discover a very significant proportion of these elite level Scrabble players come from mathematics, actuarial, accounting, architectural and engineering occupations. These professions reflect the strategic skills, the critical and strategic thinking skills and the mathematical and statistical skills that marks the difference between a winner and loser in Scrabble, or the difference between a masters level competitor and an intermediate or novice player.

Vocabulary is far less important than one might initially imagine in a Scrabble game. Whilst obviously vocabulary plays an important, in fact essential, role in the game, vocabulary alone won’t win many Scrabble games. You could liken it a little to war. In a battle, one side may have a majority of the weapons and even a larger army, though without a solid strategic battle plan the war is all but over before it even begins. Without a strong battle plan, the biggest army with the most weapons will not defeat their opposition.

On the Scrabble board, strategic decisions are made with every move. You may have a great word ready to play, but which is the best position on the board to play it? There will often be multiple positions where a word could be played. Rapid mental calculations need to be made as to which position will produce the highest score. Even then, it may not always be wise to play in the highest scoring position if, for example, it opens up a triple-triple bonus scoring opportunity to your opponent. Settling for a different position on the board for a lower score may sometimes be the better strategic decision.

Likewise, the strategic player considers the balance between vowels and consonants in the rack. It is often the wise choice to play a small scoring word and maintain a well balanced rack than to go for a higher scoring word that leaves you with no vowels at all for your next move.

The strategic player will also consider the statistical probabilities of drawing good tiles from the Scrabble letter bag. Playing away a single tile from your rack in the hope of picking up the Q is generally unwise due to the low probability of actually picking out that Q. The same play for the purposes of picking up a far more common letter that you need to form your next bonus word, such as an E, can more often be rewarding.

To further reinforce the case that Scrabble isn’t primarily a word game, a look at some of the recent victors in international tournaments tells a vivid story. A growing trend is for competitors from countries such as Thailand and Malaysia, where English is not even the primary language, to walk away with the tournament trophies. What these competitors may lack in terms of every day English language vocabulary, they more than compensate with their strategic, mathematical, statistical and logic skills.

About the Author:

Trevor Johnson is the author of the ”
Scrabble Bonus Word Techniques
” ebook series at
http://www.bonuswords.com
(Scrabble is a registered trade mark of Hasbro Inc in the USA and Canada, and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited (a subsidiary of Mattel Inc.))

Article Source: ArticlesBase.com – Scrabble: Not Just A Word Game

Twilight Inspired Jewelry Collection – Scrabble Tile Pendant

Scrabble Magnetic Refrigerator Tiles $12.99 Spruce up your refrigerator with a super set of Scrabble fridge magnets. Create useful reminders, shopping lists and fun messages. Practice your Scrabble skills everyday whilst waiting for the toaster to pop! Who said Scrabble was just a board game?…

JOHNNY DEPP ~ Scrabble Tile Wine Glass Charms ~ Set #2 ~ PAIR & A SPARE ~ Set of 3 ~ Stemware Charms/Markers/Pendants $19.99 JOHNNY DEPP ~ Wine Glass Charm Collection! Set #2 includes 3 different, individual charms so you can easily identify your glass by the charm attached around the stem. Need more? Pick up two, three or more sets for your next gathering. I have many sets for you to choose from. ALL ORDERS SHIP PRIORITY USPS. ***NOTE*** I can ship (6 sets of 3) in a $6.95 – 1 lb. Priority Box so be sure to check ou…

Scrabble Coasters Protect your table and improve your word power all at the same time! Great for parties, as gifts, and just plain old fun!…

Scrabble SCR-228 Players Dictionary $59.99 Franklin Electronic SCR-228 Electronic Dictionary SCR-228 Digital Dictionaries & Diaries…

Super Scribblenauts $16.00 Super Scribblenauts is a unique puzzle/action-platforming game for Nintendo DS/DSi in which solutions to challenges faced in-game literally take shape out of the words and phrases that the player spells out. Loaded with a memory of tens of thousands of nouns/objects, that can now be modified via a new adjective system, the game allows players to bring to life virtually any physical solution that…

World of Mahjongg – Deluxe Edition $9.99 Love Mahjongg games but want a fresh new way to play? HEXAGON MAHJONGG is the ultimate challenge, with six-sided tiles! Choose from five different game modes, elegant tile sets, and a huge collection of unique layouts, gorgeous backgrounds, and Power-Up Tiles…

Scrabble Score & Tile Tracker (Paperback) $4.9 SCRABBLE fans will love these handy perforated scoresheets, which let them study their favorite matches over and over. It contains two-color grids for both two- and four-player games, with spots to note the letters you draw, the word you play, and…

Blankety-Blank Scrabble Crosswords (Paperback) $6.88 Here`s a unique fusion of SCRABBLE and crossword, perfect for lovers of wordplay. Above each crossword there`s a SCRABBLE rack of 7 tiles (six letters and one blank). Scrambling the tiles can produce four words, depending on which letter you …

Scrabble Bingo Crosswords (Paperback) $5.89 In SCRABBLE, a “bingo” is when you play all seven of your tiles in one turn-and it`s worth an extra 50 points. Now, with this collection of entertaining crosswords crafted by puzzle maven Frank Longo, there`s a …

Tunneling to the Center of the Earth (Paperback) $11.55 Kevin Wilson`s acclaimed debut collection of short stories is highlighted by an array of offbeat characters with outrageous ways of earning a living, including a woman who works at a Scrabble factory sorting letter tiles, a sideshow performer whose gim…

SCRABBLE Score & Tile Tracker $5.95 SCRABBLE fans will love these handy perforated scoresheets, which let them study their favorite matches over and over…

Scrabble Score & Tile Tracker $4.35 SCRABBLE fans will love these handy perforated scoresheets, which let them study their favorite matches over and over. It contains two-color grids for both two- and four-player games, with spots to note the letters you draw, the word you play, and your sc

Winning Moves Tile Lock Scrabble $19.99 Your Scrabble words won’t be slip slidin’ away, thanks to this board’s clever “tile-lock” design. There are also soft pads on its bottom that allow you to effortlessly slide the board across a table or rotate it for a better view. And, the compact size of the board, tiles and racks, make the game ideal for travel. You can play Scrabble in a car, train, plane or boat with no worries. Type: Dominoes & Tiles

Super Scrabble $22.32 The best selling word game of all time in a SUPER new version. Larger game board features more spaces and quadruple point squares. Plus, 200 letter tiles in an all-new distribution allow you to make words not possible in the standard game. Classic Scrabble gameplay with More Spaces, More Tiles, and More Scoring Add to your fun! Officially endorsed by the National Scrabble Association: "Super Scrabble is an action-packed, high scoring variation of the world's best word game. We recommend it to players who want to expand their Scrabble experience." Contents: -Game board -History Booklet -200 wooden letter tiles -Drawstring letter storage bag -4 wooden tile racks -Score pad -Rules Type: Board Games Gender: Unisex Age: Teen

Scrabble Score & Tile Tracker (Paperback) $4.9 SCRABBLE fans will love these handy perforated scoresheets, which let them study their favorite matches over and over. It contains two-color grids for both two- and four-player games, with spots to note the letters you draw, the word you play, and your score. Later, players can look it over to see whether or not they made the best possible choice. There’s also a full-color mini SCRABBLE board to write in plays, with all the possible tiles grouped below. This allows you to further analyze past competitions, while a “tile tracker” helps you keep track of which letters are left in the bag during and at the end of the game. A final section features wordlists based on the newly updated Fourth Edition of The Official SCRABBLE Players Dictionary.