Some players start every turn by looking at their rack, working out a word on it they would like to play, then looking for somewhere to play it.
You do certainly need to look at your rack, but at the same time, look at the board. See what letters are available to play through. See what part of the board you can, or want to, play in. Is there a hook opportunity you can use – for instance, QUINS (short for quintuplets) is on the board and you have the Y for QUINSY?
Is there a premium square, or combination of premium squares, you might be able to get on?
Is there a row or column you would like to block because you are ahead and you think your opponent might be closing in on a bonus?
Examine the board together with your rack. That way you will respond to the game as it develops, rather than just playing in random places.
By Barry Grossman
Barry is a leading UK Scrabble player and winner of several tournaments. He is the author of Scrabble for Beginners (Chambers), Need to Know Scrabble, Scrabble – Play to Win and The Little Book of Scrabble Trickster. He has also contributed to numerous other books on the subject of words and word-games, has been a series champion of Channel 4’s Countdown, and has written four comedy series for BBC Radio 4. He lives in Hertford.
All opinions expressed on this blog are those of the individual writers, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions or policies of Collins, or its parent company, HarperCollins.
