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Tips from the Champions – Philip Nelkon

Philip Nelkon, four-time National Scrabble Champion, tells us his top tips. 1. Always consider taking a few points less on score in order to avoid leaving a large imbalance of vowels and consonants amongst the letters left on your rack. 2. The blank is the most valuable letter in the set, hang… Read More

Around the World in 15 Words

Scrabble is played globally, so here are some of the new words that originate from countries and regions around the world. TANAISTE(Irish) in Irish politcs, the vice-Taoiseach or deputy prime minister of the Republic of Ireland HAUN(Scots) a hand MARRA(Northern English) mate SICARIO(Spanish) a hired gunman or assassin especially in… Read More

It’s all in the Mind

What’s inside the head of a World Scrabble Champion? Craig Beevers sheds some light. What mental preparation is involved for playing in a World Scrabble Championship?It’s no different to any other tournament really. Ideally you would skim through the most useful words, ie short words and bonuses that are the… Read More

Tips from the Champions – Barry Grossman

Barry Grossman, author of Play like a Scrabble Champion, tells us his top tips. 1. There are several places on the board to play a 5-letter word where you can double the score of the first or last letter, and also double the whole word. So learning some words beginning or… Read More

Tips from the Champions – Allan Simmons

Allan Simmons, four-time British Champion and winner of other national titles, tells us his top tips. 1. Make yourself look for seven-letter words (or eight-letter words using a letter on the board) no matter how unlikely your rack is. Even very unlikely-looking racks may be hiding a common word that you… Read More

New Three-Letter Scrabble Words

Get to grips with some of the new three-letter words in the Collins Official Scrabble Wordlist 2015, out now. GRRan interjection used to express anger or annoyance (4 points) RYU(Japanese) a school of martial arts (6 points) VOMto vomit (8 points) EEWan interjection used to express disgust (6 points) VOGair pollution… Read More

Delightfully Odd-Looking Scrabble Words

Although they look like they’ve been made up for Scrabble, these new strange-looking words are all supported by current usage away from the Scrabble board… DHIKRSufi religious ceremony (13 points) PACZKIRound filled doughnut (23 points) SHVITZSweat (21 points) RUDISTIDCone-shaped extinct mollusc (10 points) MIKVAPlace for ritual bathing by Orthodox Jews… Read More

Tips from the Champions – Craig Beevers

Craig Beevers, the current World Scrabble Champion, tells us his top tips. 1. Know your short wordsTwo and three letter words can enable you to score 20-30 points move after move without any big plays. Once they’re second nature you’ll have lots of parallel play opportunities at your fingertips, making… Read More

Discover the New Scrabble Words, 2015

Over 6,500 new words have been added to the Collins Official Scrabble Wordlist – influenced by all parts of life, including social media, slang, technology and food, plus English from around the world. Delve into some of the new words below! LOLZLaughs at someone else’s or one’s own expense (13… Read More