Scrabble

One of America’s best loved games is Scrabble.  Scrabble is a word game for two to four players, who score points by forming words from tiles with letters on them, on a game board marked with a grid of 15-by-15 squares. During game play, words can be formed across and down.  The words resemble a crossword puzzle as they begin to fill out the board. All words used must appear in a standard dictionary.

It is permissible to consult a dictionary if there is a question about the authenticity of a word a player is attempting to use. Certain reference works such as The Official Scrabble Players Dictionary and the  CollinsScrabble checker can be used to check if a word is allowed as well.  The use of dictionaries and reference materials during the game is limited by the penalties that almost universally apply to a player whose word use is successfully challenged.

Club and tournament Scrabble is played by hundreds of thousands of competitors around the globe. For many casual players, the seriousness of play, strange and exotic nature  of words, and the unbelievably high scores in tournament games may seem shocking. All tournament games are played using a game clock with set time control. Although private and home games are mostly played with unlimited time, competitive players must be ready to form words on demand, using as little time as possible and scoring maximum points. Nearly every tournament game is limited to 2 players, with each game lasting 25 minutes. For each minute a player uses past his allotment, a penalty of 10 points is assessed against him.

That is some serious gaming.

In recent years, some electronic versions of Scrabble have been immensely popular on mobile phone and tablet platforms.  According to localtv-satellite.com, the official Scrabble app was a latecomer to the iPhone and iPad, and was beaten in its arrival at the app store by the more popular Words with Friends app — a Scrabble clone with similar rules, that can be played against either a random or socially networked opponent.