Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/11/24/the-dark-art-of-playing-world-class-scrabble.html
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Long story short: playing a word like this is legal so long as it’s not challenged.
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Scrabble at that level is bullshit. They add weird words to the ‘Scrabble’ dictionary just to make it harder/easier (depends on your perspective). Either way they just make it more arcane and inaccessible/exclusive. (Probably their intention at this level.)
The idea of a ‘Scrabble’ dictionary is anathema to me. They should just cite one or two commonly used and respected versions such as the Oxford Shorter.
Is there a ‘Scrabble’ dictionary in each foreign language version?
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This is why I stopped playing “Words with Friends”; it became less about knowing fancy words and building them out of the available letters, and more about strategically filling the high-points bonus boxes with certain high-point tiles, and blocking other moves. All those years learning vocab, only to find out I was playing Stratego all along.
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If anyone’s curious:
- dzo, a (male) yak/cow hybrid
- ch, variant of ich, obsolete form of the personal pronoun “I”
- foyned, past tense of foynen, the Middle English version of foin (itself archaic), “to thrust, stab, prick”
- ghi, variant spelling of ghee, a clarified butter used in South Asian cooking
(Wiktionary FTW.)
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I’m a firm believer that if someone can’t give a general definition of a weird word they’re playing they shouldn’t be allowed to put it down. And sure someone could memorize the definitions but at least they could explain themselves when they play it, making it less of a bullshit move.
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Qi, Xi, Za, Ox, Qat, Haj, etc.
I used to play with a pair of librarians. I definitely got to be a scrabble bastard. It is freaking ruthless.
I recall games where we’d have one corner of the board almost totally filled. I recall games where if my per-play point average was dropping below 25, I’d just resign myself to defeat.
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I always lose because I spend all my time trying to piece together obscenities.
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A few years back the world Champion in French language scrabble didn’t speak French.
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I’m disappointed in the holidays this year because only now has my family come around and started playing “double-down” scarabble. Use multiple sets, draw 12 tiles instead of 7, and extend to the 2nd board based on how the first board fills up.
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I play acronyms-only scrabble. Concocting and explaining silly-but-plausible acronyms is fun!
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Dems da rules.
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Scrabble and similar games are always going to lead to debate about what’s a “real” word and what’s not. That’s why there’s an official list - otherwise any kind of organized play would be impossible. And once there’s a list, people will memorize the list to gain an advantage.
I know the article is somewhat tongue in cheek, and obviously people should play with whatever rules they can agree on, but it still seems a bit in poor taste.
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Had a great game of Beatles Scrabble with a friend late one night. Every word had to have some connection to the band… Abbey, Epstein, Cavern… he won with an arguable “Skelter” (only) but it was only a friendly game and like I said, it was late.
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I mean, that’s what Scrabble’s always been if you play to win. Otherwise it’s just Boggle.
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I’ve only one word for this:
OXYPHENBUTAZONE
(played across three triple word squares, after the X, HEN, TA and ON are already on the board.)
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Not smart enough to create meme/vid/gif, but woulda liked to post scrabble scene from Charlie’s Angels — Enemy…
I have a friend (called Orla) who is a serious Scrabble player. Once she invited my wife and me to a “friendly” games session at a pub one Sunday afternoon. One of our opponents sniffed and sighed every time we put down a word. We were relegated to the “losers” table. I can’t recall how we did there - I think we weren’t absolute losers. It did discourage us from going back. Don’t imagine that those obscure two-letter words will win the game for you - If Orla doesn’t get three or four seven letter words in a single game, she thinks she’s played badly. Online scrabble calls it a “Bingo”. Scrabble tournaments don’t allow you entry unless you can provide documentary evidence of a game where the combined scores are more than six hundred. My wife plays with me and we sometimes get more than seven hundred - but we don’t dare play with Orla.
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