Blog

Words from Africa

Some very interesting words come from Africa, with all sorts of unusual letter combinations that can be useful in squeezing a high score from a tricky rack. South Africa, whether from Dutch-origin Afrikaans or native African languages, gives us these: NARTJIE a tangerine… Read More

The letter K

The K is a sort of semi-power tile. At five points, it’s not worth as much as the J, Q, X and Z, but it’s worth more than anything else. It appears in four two-letter words, KA (one’s spirit or life force in Ancient Egypt),… Read More

Tile placement

Where should you place your tiles? Scrabble often doesn’t boil down to which words you play, but where you play them. A key point is to try to avoid placing vowels next to premium squares. If you put an I next to a triple-letter square, your opponent may have the… Read More

Using mnemonics to remember longer words

Some people remember sevens and eights with mnemonics to help them get bonus words. Let’s say you have the six letters DELORT and one other. You see that makes five one-point tiles and the two-point D, and you wonder if these relatively common letters might form a seven-letter word with… Read More

Using mnemonics to remember words

Some players use mnemonics, little mental shortcuts, to remember words. You can remember the spelling of EUOI by thinking of: Excessive Units Of Intoxication In a similar way, JIAO, a Chinese unit of currency, can become: John Is Always Out And… Read More

Using blank tiles

Scrabble is the only time in life when drawing a blank is good news. Ideally, use it to play all seven tiles for a bonus fifty points. Let’s say it is the opening move of the game. Your rack is EIKLTW and a blank. You might think: “Well, the K… Read More

Words from India

India has enriched English with dozens of words: BAEL a spiny tree BUSTEE, BUSTI a slum BHANG a drug made from hemp BINDI a decorative dot in the middle of the forehead… Read More

The letter J

The J is the least useful of the four power tiles (J, Q, X and Z), and it’s usually best to play it as soon as you can. It makes two two-letter words: JA (South African for yes) and JO (Scottish for… Read More

Double Trouble

Two of the same letter on your rack at one time is nearly always bad news. Why? Because it drastically reduces the number of alternative ways of arranging your rack. With seven different letters, there are 5,040 different ways of arranging the seven letters. No wonder it takes you so… Read More