What is Scrabble?

Scrabble is essentially a word game which can be played by 2-4 players at a given time on a board which comprises a grid of squares in a 15 X 15 format. The squares are assigned different scoring attributes. There are 100 tiles to draw from and players must draw 7 tiles initially and maintain the same number on their racks till they are exhausted. Each tile has a point value attached to it. If all 7 tiles are used in a word an additional 50 points is added to the players score. The goal is to win by scoring more than your opponent. Scrabble is now increasingly played competitively across several countries on the globe and in several languages.

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Scrabble Word Study Tools

 My colleague Ishika takes you through some useful tools for word study namely Zyzzyva, Aerolith, and Anagram Quizzer. I chip in on my favor...

Showing posts with label zyzzyva. Show all posts
Showing posts with label zyzzyva. Show all posts

Thursday 27 August 2020

Scrabble Word Study Tools

 My colleague Ishika takes you through some useful tools for word study namely Zyzzyva, Aerolith, and Anagram Quizzer. I chip in on my favorite tool for word study Xerafin:


Sunday 23 August 2020

Scrabble Resources

This is repost of an excellent write up by the Scrabble Association of Delhi NCR on scrabble resources you can use to improve your game:



Want to be a better Scrabbler? Read on!

 

There are three routes to traverse towards your destination as a Scrabble champ. You can work on all three simultaneously but if you’re a newbie, then you can start in the order shown.

·         Word Power

·         Strategy

·         Temperament

 

Word Power:

Perhaps MOST critical in learning words, is to ALSO learn their HOOKS (the letters that go at the front (front hook) or at the back (back hooks) to make other words).

Words are learnt as lists: Examples of word lists words that have only 2 letters, only 3 letters (2’s and 3’s), or 4 letter words that take a Z, the most common 7 letter words etc.

 

Most basic word lists: (with hooks)

·         2 letter words

·         3 letter words

·         7 letter words (top 2000)

·         8 letter words (top 2000)

 

There are several other lists that you can move on to as your word power improves:

 

Strategy / Game Play:

In addition to building word power, you also need to develop “board play”. This covers aspects like Board Vision (being able to spot the spaces where you can play bingos etc.), Rack Balancing and Rack Leave (engineering your tiles to get the best combination of letters for a bingo) etc.

 

This is best read about in the SCRABBLE PLAYER’S HANDBOOK:

https://strataji.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/scrabblehandbook.pdf

It’s hosted on the site: http://www.breakingthegame.net/handbook

 

This is a comprehensive guide written with the collaboration of some of the best scrabble players. It provide great insights into how to play the game with little quizzes and examples along the way. Easy to read. Highly recommended.

 

You can also look at the following sites:

·         http://www.youthscrabble.org/index.html Run by Karen Richards, this site explains has very practical “HOW-TOs”  offering tutorials on word play and scoring.

·         John Holgate’s site (5 time Australian Champion): Offers good scrabbling tips http://scrabble.org.au/strategy/index.htm


Temperament is the hardest thing to develop. If you’re the kind who has a live-in-the moment attitude and a positive attitude, you’re half-way there. Developing the right temperament is best learnt from a coach.

Academies / Classes: Ideal to learn strategy and develop the Zen-like temperament required to excel at Scrabble. While classes are typically for beginners or those who are reasonably good but want to improve their game, there are actually coaching sessions for expert players as well!

 

·         Wordaholix: Based out of Mumbai, Wordaholix offers coaching for beginners and experts in either standard modules or customized packages. For more details contact wordaholix@gmail.com or check out http://www.facebook.com/wordaholix

·         Irfan Siddiqui on-line coaching classes: Typically for a few weeks at a time, the coaching sessions are divided into two groups: Group A: for beginners and intermediate scrabblers and Group B: for advanced and expert scrabblers. For more details, email: mohd.irfan.s@gmail.com or WhatsApp +973-333-455-50.

·         Swati Gupta’s Scrabble Training Centre:  Located in Delhi, though originally a brick and mortar centre, the pandemic has moved her online, offering customized coaching, with a lot of interactive games, for beginners and intermediate players. Beginners will require a minimum of 4 sessions. To know more: swati.gupta78@yahoo.co.in.

·         ISC beginners group: Run by Archana Aggarwal and Hema Shah, they offer coaching, tips and practice games on-line. One-to-one coaching sessions are also offered at a nominal cost. For more, reach out to either Archana or Hema

o   Archana: archana.aggarwal70@gmail.com

o   Hema:  kssa.scrabble@gmail.com

·         Listening to Scrabble commentary of the matches taking place from our league matches to international tournaments. You learn a lot about strategy and board play – and a few words along the way. I would recommend this highly. This is the only time you can actually get into the mind of an expert scrabbler – absolutely invaluable. Try not to miss any. To follow the tournaments that are going on, get yourself to the nearest administrator of a scrabble club/ group or a senior scrabbler and you can be added to the whatsapp groups on which the schedules and links are posted.

·         An interesting YouTube channel to watch, particularly for beginners, is David Webb’s channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-8sPGr787Ep8m2JCmkw0tA 

 

And if you want to get in that much needed practice on your own, here are some self-learning tools:

 

·         Zyzzyva:. Offered by Collins https://www.collinsdictionary.com/scrabble/scrabble-tools/, Zyzzyva is an anagramming program typically downloaded on a computer. You can learn not just basic lists but also list of words by probability of occurrence. Provides hooks and meanings of every word. Make sure to use the Cardbox feature to only re-learn those words you don’t know.

·         Anagram Quizzer: An app that allows you to learn on the go. Typically free unless you want to use special features of the program

·         Aerolith: www.aerolith.org Quizzes of 2- 11 words provided daily. Plus word builder puzzles. These are to be completed within a specified time. Helps cement word knowledge. Also provides explanations of the words – with hooks and meanings.

·         Quackle: http://people.csail.mit.edu/jasonkb/quackle/ Helps to simulate games and look at alternative plays (for more experienced players). This site http://www.word-buff.com/free-scrabble-game.html offers an easy ‘how-to-use’ method.

·         Xerafin:  xerafin.net is a website to facilitate learning words for Scrabble or other word games. It features anagramming practice with build-in spaced repetition as well as other mini-games, leader boards, and live chat which make it fun to learn. Visit it at https://www.xerafin.net/ using your google or Facebook login. 

 

Resource People for any of the Word Tools above: If you’re finding it difficult to navigate any of these, you can contact either of the word tool experts:

·         Ishika Shivalingaiah : ishika2k@yahoo.com

·         Rajveer S Rawlin:  Samuelrr@yahoo.com

You can also read Rajveer’s blog at https://rajveersscrabble.blogspot.com (For those who don’t know him, Rajveer was the A division runner up at the 2019 GOA WESPAC tournament.)

 

Practice: Actually playing the game:

In these CoVid times, apps and the internet rule! So the two places you can find other scrabblers are:

 

·       ScrabbleGo: A free app on your phone that you can play on the go. Opponents can either be your friends or random others. There is no time limit on a move or the game. The software doesn’t allow you to make a fake word, so you learn as you play, especially if you experiment with words. It also has a series of other single person games that help with speed and anagramming.

·         Classic Words: An app for Android phones. Helps with practicing game play.

·        Internet Scrabble Club (ISC): www.isc.ro. This is where scrabblers converge for friendly matches and tornaments. You can select the timing of your game, the type (whether you want to play VOID – where you can only make correct words (like ScrabbleGo) – or challenge games with penalties for making a fake word. Explore and choose the setting that suits you. Every player has a “handle” that may or may not indicate their names. Some of our favourite Delhi players are Rudish (actually super polite), Armpit (not smelly!), Zephyr 19(very pleasant indeed) and Vandanag (that’s really her!)..

Once upon a time we used to have Scrabble meet-ups, where we would meet to play games across a board. This differs from playing on-line in several ways:

o   You have to tile-track: you can’t see the remaining tiles in the bag at the click of a button. If you’ve made a mistake in tracking the tiles played, you might lose a game!

o   Board vision: Many top-rated players have been making two-letter phoneys on ISC, purely because of the difference being able to see the spots on the board.

o   Timing: You have to press a clock and watch your time: not automatic as it is on-line. If you forget to press the clock, you will be losing time.

 

So while it’s good to get on-line practice, try to play across a board too. Hopefully, we will start our scrabble meet-ups soon.

Tuesday 7 June 2016

The 100 Most Probable 8 Letter Words in Scrabble

As part of a scrabble strategy it is useful to study words by probability and playability. The below list from Zyzzyva includes the 100 most probable 8 Letter words that you encounter during scrabble games:

Front Hook
Alphagram
Word
Back Hook
Probability
Playability
ADEINORT
AROINTED
1
289
ADEINORT
DERATION
s
2
67
ADEINORT
ORDINATE
ds
3
80
ADEINORT
RATIONED
4
218
AEILNORT
ORIENTAL
s
5
44
p
AEILNORT
RELATION
s
6
56
AEILNORT
TAILERON
s
7
52
AEINORST
ANOESTRI
8
481
AEINORST
ARSONITE
s
9
1310
AEINORST
NOTAIRES
10
1072
AEINORST
NOTARIES
11
1044
AEINORST
NOTARISE
ds
12
2689
AEINORST
ROSINATE
s
13
835
AEINORST
SENORITA
s
14
444
AAEINORT
AERATION
s
15
2
AEEILORT
AEROLITE
s
16
4
AEEIORST
ETAERIOS
17
3
ADEILNOT
DELATION
s
18
39
ADEILORT
IDOLATER
s
19
147
ADEILORT
TAILORED
20
99
ADEINORS
ANEROIDS
21
393
ADEINORS
ANODISER
s
22
771
ADEINORS
DONARIES
23
1404
ADEINORU
DOUANIER
s
24
14
ADEINOST
ASTONIED
25
115
ADEINOST
SEDATION
s
26
592
ADEIORST
ASTEROID
s
27
209
t
AEILNORS
AILERONS
28
870
AEILNORS
ALERIONS
29
837
AEILNORS
ALIENORS
30
337
dgr
AEILNOST
ELATIONS
31
429
AEILNOST
INSOLATE
ds
32
321
AEILNOST
TOENAILS
33
239
AEILORST
SOTERIAL
34
232
AEIORSTU
OUTRAISE
ds
35
68
AEIORSTU
SAUTOIRE
s
36
46
ADEEINRT
DETAINER
s
37
51
ADEEINRT
RETAINED
38
74
AEEILNRT
ELATERIN
s
39
85
AEEILNRT
ENTAILER
s
40
75
AEEILNRT
TREENAIL
s
41
57
AEEINRST
ARENITES
42
662
AEEINRST
ARSENITE
s
43
968
AEEINRST
RESINATE
ds
44
674
AEEINRST
STEARINE
s
45
310
AEEINRST
TRAINEES
46
705
ADEIINOT
IDEATION
s
47
95
ADEIINOT
IODINATE
ds
48
60
ADEIINOT
TAENIOID
49
54
AEINNORT
ANOINTER
s
50
267
AEINNORT
INORNATE
51
225
AEINNORT
REANOINT
s
52
183
AEINORRT
ANTERIOR
53
11
AEINORTT
TENTORIA
l
54
22
AEEIINRT
INERTIAE
55
1
AEELNORT
REALTONE
s
56
8
AEENORST
EARSTONE
s
57
290
AEENORST
RESONATE
ds
58
224
DEEINORT
ORIENTED
59
10
EEINORST
ONERIEST
60
107
EEINORST
SEROTINE
s
61
134
ABEINORT
BARITONE
s
62
1139
ABEINORT
OBTAINER
s
63
762
p
ABEINORT
REOBTAIN
s
64
817
ABEINORT
TABORINE
s
65
539
ACEINORT
ACTIONER
s
66
655
ACEINORT
ANORETIC
s
67
347
ACEINORT
CREATION
s
68
1129
ACEINORT
REACTION
s
69
1244
AEHINORT
ANTIHERO
70
65
AEINOPRT
ATROPINE
s
71
53
ADEGINOR
ORGANDIE
s
72
89
ADEGIORT
ERGATOID
s
73
58
AEGILNOR
GERANIOL
s
74
231
AEGILNOR
REGIONAL
s
75
175
AEGILNOT
GELATION
s
76
304
AEGILNOT
LEGATION
s
77
471
AEGINORS
IGNAROES
78
1708
AEGINORS
ORGANISE
drs
79
2072
AEGINORS
ORIGANES
80
815
EEIINORT
ERIONITE
s
81
5
ADEINRST
DETRAINS
82
383
ADEINRST
RANDIEST
83
530
ADEINRST
STRAINED
84
409
ADEINRTU
DATURINE
s
85
488
ADEINRTU
INDURATE
ds
86
629
ADEINRTU
RUINATED
87
1277
ADEINRTU
URINATED
88
1442
AEILNRST
ENTRAILS
89
1239
AEILNRST
LARNIEST
90
2062
AEILNRST
LATRINES
91
4777
AEILNRST
RATLINES
92
4951
AEILNRST
REINSTAL
ls
93
1320
AEILNRST
RETINALS
94
4196
AEILNRST
SLANTIER
95
1481
AEILNRST
TRENAILS
96
1260
AEILNRTU
AUNTLIER
97
349
AEILNRTU
RETINULA
ers
98
163
AEILNRTU
TENURIAL
99
285
AEINRSTU
RUINATES
100
3233

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Different Words Same Meaning

Citolas, Citoles, Cithrens, Citherns, Cithers, Citterns - A Guitar
Waivode, Waiwode, Woiwode, Voivode - An army leader
Cagouls, Cagoules, Kagouls, Kagoules, Kagools - An anorak
Eulachan, Eulachon, Oulachon, Oulakan, Oolakan, Ulikon - A candlefish
Kiester, Keister, Hurdies, Patootie - The Buttocks
Didakei, didakai, Diddicoy, Didicoi, Didicoy - A Tinker
Cabala, Cabbala, Kabala, Kabbala, Kabbalah, Qabala, Qabalah - a Jewish doctrine
Yoghurt, Yaourt, Yogurt, Yoghourt - A type of curd
Narwal, Narwhal, Narwhale - An Arctic aquatic mammal
Lekythus, Lecythus, Lekythos - An ancient oil Jar
Germen, Germain, Germaine, Germin - Something that serves as an origin
Filemot, Philomot, Philamot - A dull brown shade
keblah, Kibla, Kiblah, Qibla - The direction muslims face while praying
Litchi, Lichi, Lychee, Lichee - A fruit
Poursue, Pursue, Persue, Poursew Pursew - To follow
Pummelo, Shaddock, Pompelo - A citrus fruit
Repreeve, Reprive, Repryve - To delay
Baklava, Baklawa, Baclava - A middle eastern desert
Nilgai, Nilgau, Nilghai, Nilghau, Nylghai, Nylghau - a large antelope
Cassina, Cassene, Cassine, Cassena - an evergreen tree
Narghile, Narghily, Nargile, Nargileh, Nargily - a hookah
Dirdam, Dirdum, Durdum - uproar
Shechita, Shehitah, Shehita - krosher killing of animals
Mezuzot, Mezuzoth, Mezuzah, Mezuza - a Jewish scroll

Combo Words of Two Words that are Good Both Ways

Bedrail - Railbed
Dovering - Ringdove
Hangover - Overhang
Turnover - Overturn
Runover - Overrun
Roadside - Sideroad
Outburn - Burnout
Woodworm - Wormwood
Linecut - Cutline
Outpass - Passout
Outspeak - Speakout
Comedown - Downcome
Upclose - Closeup
Outback - Backout
Pinhead - Headpin
Mateship - Shipmate
Cutover - Overcut
Upstart - Startup
Outshoot - Shootout
Overwing - Wingover
Fantail - Tailfan

Common Words with Not so common Anagrams

Tailors - Oralist, Rialtos, Sliotar
Almonds - Dolmans
Mustard - Durmast
Stadium - Dumaist
Romance - Cremona
Cauldron - Crunodal
Acolyte - Cotylae
Cilantro - Contrail
Decagon - Congaed
Ethical - Alethic
Strongly - Strongyl
Ungrazed - Gazunder
Expires - Prexies
Detangle - Danegelt
Teardown - Danewort
Erasions - Sensoria
Innovate - Venation
Inundate - Antidune
Invocate - Conative
Antidote - Tetanoid
Liaises - Silesia
Coalise - Celosia
Isotherm - Moithers
Heroism - Moreish
Sedation - Astonied
Marries - Simarre
Tsunami - Manitus, Santimu
Cheerio - Echoier


Those Handy Pyramid Words!

Pyramid words are words which start at 2 letters but can be extended to 7 letters and beyond. For example take the word loofahs, we start with lo, next we get to loo, followed by loof, loofa, loofah and loofahs. Thus by knowing loofahs we get to know a total of 6 words. Other examples include:
Abasers, Amenders, Amusers, Barbers, Bingers, Chained,
Chiasmal, Daledhs, Divests, Erasers, Fasties, Godsons, Hookahs, Jambees, Jamboks, Kaingas, Kinases, Lapsers, Maliced, Mentors, Nursery, Parkiest, Poleyns, Reeders, Reposes, Singers, Skaters,Tapetis, Teasers, Ureases, and Woosells.

There are some reverse pyramid words too. Take the word drooped for example, we start with ed, then ped, then oped, then ooped, rooped and finally drooped.Other examples include:
Aemules, Afeared, Borates, Cleared, Demures, Escapes, Glaired, Hamates, Lemures, Mananas, Penates, Retapes, Scraped, Testates, Upreach, Vacates, Whooped, Yslaked and Zananas.